In the Nineteenth-century, English textile workers responded to the
introduction of new technologies on the factory floor by smashing
them to bits. For years the Luddites roamed the English
countryside, practicing drills and manoeuvres that they would later
deploy on unsuspecting machines. The movement has been derided by
scholars as a backwards-looking and ultimately ineffectual effort
to stem the march of history; for Gavin Mueller, the movement gets
at the heart of the antagonistic relationship between all workers,
including us today, and the so-called progressive gains secured by
new technologies. The luddites weren't primitive and they are still
a force, however unconsciously, in the workplaces of the
twenty-first century world. Breaking Things at Work is an
innovative rethinking of labour and machines, leaping from textile
mills to algorithms, from existentially threatened knife cutters of
rural Germany to surveillance-evading truckers driving across the
continental United States. Mueller argues that the future stability
and empowerment of working-class movements will depend on
subverting these technologies and preventing their spread wherever
possible. The task is intimidating, but the seeds of this
resistance are already present in the neo-Luddite efforts of
hackers, pirates, and dark web users who are challenging
surveillance and control, often through older systems of
communication technology.
General
Imprint: |
Verso Books
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
February 2021 |
Authors: |
Gavin Mueller
|
Dimensions: |
210 x 140 x 15mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
176 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-78663-677-5 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-78663-677-8 |
Barcode: |
9781786636775 |
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