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Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job Paperback – 9 Feb. 2021

by Gavin Mueller (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 29 ratings
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    176 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Verso Books
  4. Publication date
    9 Feb. 2021
  5. Dimensions
    14 x 1.19 x 20.98 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1786636778
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1786636775
  8. See all details
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Product description

Review

Breaking Things at Work convincingly translates Luddism into a framework for understanding a surprising range of practices. Unearthing inventive moments of resistance from the factories and docks to the free software movement, Mueller's account of the past bears directly on our view of the future: what it is, where it occurs, and to whom it belongs.
-- Jenny Odell, author of How to Do Nothing

Forget the space age utopias of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. The propagandistic technophilia of capitalism is a lure. As Gavin Mueller's sober, breakthrough book shows, these cyber-dreams are a cover story. We should not revel in the productive powers of the machine, but wonder at how it is so consistently used as a weapon in class struggle from above. Our quaint notions of technological progress are no match for a machine that programmes the relentless imperatives of capital at our expense. As we face a new, pandemic-induced cybernetic offensive in the workplace, Mueller digs deep into the history of workers struggles, recovering its traditions, making a persuasive case for Marxist neo-Luddism. Nothing could be more valuable or timely.
 --Richard Seymour, author of The Twittering Machine

A compelling examination of the ancestors of today’s accelerationists.
 --Erik Baker, Real Life Mag

From the Back Cover

In the 19th century, English textile workers responded to the introduction of new tecnologies on the factory floor by smashing them to bits. For years 'the Luddites' roamed the English countryside, practicing drills and maneuvers that they would later deploy on unassuming 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 of the antagonistic relationship between workers - all workers, including us today - and the so-called progressive gains secured by new technologies. The luddites weren't primitive or even anachronistic - they are still a force, however unconsciously, in the workplaces of the 21st century world. Breaking Things at Work is an innovative rethinking of labor 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 high, 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.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Verso Books; 1st edition (9 Feb. 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1786636778
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1786636775
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 14 x 1.19 x 20.98 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 29 ratings

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Gavin Mueller

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
29 global ratings

Top review from United Kingdom

ian mcintosh
5.0 out of 5 stars Great wee book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 March 2023
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Top reviews from other countries

Trina Sen
5.0 out of 5 stars compelling (and wonderfully short!) read for any Marxist(-adjacent) or Luddite-curious
Reviewed in the United States on 3 May 2021
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Trina Sen
5.0 out of 5 stars compelling (and wonderfully short!) read for any Marxist(-adjacent) or Luddite-curious
Reviewed in the United States on 3 May 2021
This book is an amazing (and short! just 136 pp. minus endnotes) read, and it makes a great gift for any Marxist(-adjacent) or Luddite-curious friend! I should know, I have already gifted eight copies and not stopping anytime soon. Before I started the book, I was apprehensive about whether I (as a non-academic, white collar worker with a short attention span and who doesn't read as much as she'd like to) would be able to understand the intellectual history and references that are being critiqued, but the author puts everything into an easily digestible context. I learned so many things from this book. One thing that really stuck with me was how Marxist-Leninist ironically, among other things, adopted uber-capitalist Taylorism in their approach to managing workers. And while I was skeptical that it's possible to really escape the continuing automation of the world, the author actually offers hopeful and practical ideas on ways we can resist and reframe the discussion on our collective future. Highly recommend!
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