Ana C. Dinerstein Livres

Sensing a future beyond work lurking in an age of crisis, the ‘post-capitalist’ utopias of today spread the idea of a permanent escape from work aided by the automation of production, a universal basic income and the reduction of working hours to zero. By skilfully unpicking the political economy of contemporary work and its futures, this book mounts a forceful critique of the post-work society vision. Dinerstein and Pitts reveal that transitional measures towards a world beyond work do not do enough to break away from the key features of capitalist society, and instead potentially stifle the capacity for transformative social change. Proposing an innovative alternative, the authors envision the construction of ‘concrete utopias’ that shape and anticipate non-capitalist futures.

This book opens up a unique intellectual space where eleven female scholar-activists explore alternative forms of theorising social reality. These‘Women on the Verge’ demonstrate that a new radical subject– one that is plural, prefigurative, decolonial, ethical, ecological, communal and democratic- is in the making, but is unrecognisable with old analytical tools. Of central concern to the book is the resistance of some social scientists, many of them critical theorists, to learning about this radical subject and to interrogating the concepts, methodologies and epistemologies used to grasp it. Echoing the experiential critique of capitalist-colonial society that is taking place at the grassroots, the authors examine how to create hope, decolonise critique and denaturalise society. They also address the various dimensions of the social (re)production of life, including women in development, the commons, and nature. Finally, they discuss the dynamics of prefiguration by social movements, critiquing social movement theory in the process. This thought-provoking edited collection will appeal to students and scholars of gender studies, social, Marxist and Feminist theory, postcolonial studies and politics.