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The End of Work

by Jeremy Rifkin, Robert L. Heilbroner (Foreword by)

3.65 of 5 stars 3.65 · rating details · 212 ratings · 23 reviews

Jeremy Rifkin argues that we are entering a new phase in history - one characterized by the steady and inevitable decline of jobs. The world, says Rifkin, is fast polarizing into two potentially irreconcilable forces: on one side, an information elite that controls and manages the high-tech global economy; and on the other, the growing numbers displaced workers, who have f...more

Hardcover, 350 pages

Published December 28th 1994 by Tarcher

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Aug 09, 2011 Deborah Alvarez added it · review of another edition

We should get paid to not work. Very provocative, but necessary. The warning bells should've gone off a long time ago because of the opposing facts that companies don't want employees, but employees want companies. And with technology being more powerful than organized labor, who will win? Companies, of course, unless there's an intervention of government to legislate equality in the face of capitalism, and the intervention needs to start now.

"The End of Work" is an insightful confirmation of my...more We should get paid to not work. Very provocative, but necessary. The warning bells should've gone off a long time ago because of the opposing facts that companies don't want employees, but employees want companies. And with technology being more powerful than organized labor, who will win? Companies, of course, unless there's an intervention of government to legislate equality in the face of capitalism, and the intervention needs to start now.

"The End of Work" is an insightful confirmation of my thinking that we must place value on other important aspects of society other than working, since the role of labor has been shrinking and will continue to shrink and disappear because of the neverending advances of technology that allows corporations to re-engineer and downsize their labor. I am halfway through this book, and although the author has briefly suggested ways to structure societies so that we do not turn into a nation or world of welfare cases, I will reserve that information until I finish reading.

The US (and consequently, the industrial world) service and consumer markets have been able to absorb displaced workers from the dwindling labor intensive industries, but soon, this will no longer be the case. Corporations are increasing productivity with less labor, and this trend will continue until there are but a few workers needed, and then a life of leisure will be in store for all of us or a major problem if we continue to only value those who provide labor.

What fact has been clouded by fiscal policy and government cash infusions to prop up consumer spending and keep the economy on a somewhat even keel is that employees are needed less and are being paid less, which reduce the ability of consumers to buy products, which eventually will hurt these producing companies. Because of technology allowing corporations to re-engineer, the company is leaner, flatter, more efficient and paying less wages with less labor and middle management needed. Where are all these low-skilled workers and middle managers going? They are staying on unemployment, taking low-paying jobs, or working part-time, not being able to maintain their standard of living, having to buy food at the community pantry, getting welfare assistance...all because corporations see labor as a burden to their bottom line and refuse to allow workers to share in their increased productivity in the form of shorter work hours or higher pay.

CEOs are paid enormous salaries, shareholders are being taken care of, but who is taking care of the workers who have been downsized, or if they still are working, are being stressed to the maximum by companies who have designed ways to produce more with less people. The government is trying just a little bit, but since I've heard it been said many times by friends, neighbors, family, pundits and politicians that only working people deserve a roof over their head, food in their bellies, and proper health care, we all need to think differently on the value of work and realize that we all won't be so lucky to work and toil.(less)

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Oct 30, 2012 Kjell Hansen rated it 4 of 5 stars

A few weeks ago, I serendipitously found this title staring out of the shelf at me in Value Village while I was looking for a Halloween costume accessory. Besides Martin Ford's "The Lights in the Tunnel" which I'd read a year or two earlier, I honestly had no idea that there were other books on the subject. The End of Work is a much more solid, well-researched and carefully argued book than Ford's. And it's from 1995. Incidentally, it helped me discovered that there was a Wikipedia page on Techn...more A few weeks ago, I serendipitously found this title staring out of the shelf at me in Value Village while I was looking for a Halloween costume accessory. Besides Martin Ford's "The Lights in the Tunnel" which I'd read a year or two earlier, I honestly had no idea that there were other books on the subject. The End of Work is a much more solid, well-researched and carefully argued book than Ford's. And it's from 1995. Incidentally, it helped me discovered that there was a Wikipedia page on Technological Unemployment, for the first time.

Ok, so the review: It's evident that Rifkin did his homework. The book is grounded in a nice historical context, peppered with great quotations, oodles of footnotes, etc. The density of statistics listed in the books midsection was admittedly rather eye-glazing. And I can only imagine that the author cringes every time he comes back to this book and sees his phrase "information superhighway," "symbolic analysts," or considers his failure to foresee the effect of widespread piracy on digital media, but then again, who else was forecasting that shit in '95? Regardless, some sections will feel dated. His grasp of the history of computers and of AI also lacks and marks him as an outsider to the field. An understanding of the human mind grounded in evolutionary biology (Edelman) and an understanding of computers grounded in the math of formal systems (Hofstadter) seem like the sort of background necessary for a comparison, so the reader is best off assigning themselves that complementary reading.

But for the most part, the book feels very relevant. One big difference from Ford's work, is that Rifkin's proposed solutions to the challenges of technological unemployment feel much more convincing, are significantly more fleshed out, and there is nuance, with e.g. the welfare-alternative proposals of others like Milton Friedman elaborated alongside the author's. It's really helpful.

Will this book factor into my perspective on society, the future, and my own career trajectory? Yes. More so, I imagine, for anyone who has not yet been exposed to serious arguments about automation, technology-driven unemployment and consumer purchasing power declines.

Depending on how well we can address the challenges ahead of us, society will either end up in a safe, gleaming techno-utopia of free-time as technologically-enabled leisure, or a dirty, inequitable and politically volatile hell-hole of free-time as poverty and depressive loss of meaning/self-worth. Okay, just kidding. Presenting those futures as mutually exclusive is just a rhetorical tactic. In all pragmatic likelihood, the future will probably continue to be an unsatisfying and fascinating dystopian/utopian mixture of both. It's good to be prepared for the future though, not survivalist style, but in the sense of having a greater context in which to look at your life and see if what you're doing with it now constitutes an informed choice. Whether you'll look back in 20 years, wishing you'd known what kind of world we'd be living in sooner, used your time better and made significantly different life choices.

I plan to read more of Rifkin's work soon.(less)

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Nov 20, 2012 Luke Echo rated it 2 of 5 stars

Rifkin must have had some very busy researchers on this one. It reads like a compendium of statistics and anecdotes on everything and anything. Its also very boring.

The main issues other than boredom come towards the end with his savior "the Third Sector" (the volunteer sector, NGOs, Community and Church Groups etc..) as though somehow these groups will be able to meet the failings of the market /government.

But its hard to see how volunteering is really going to provide food, housing or medical...more

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May 18, 2013 JP rated it 3 of 5 stars

A more intelligent argument than most I have heard for something other than a market economy (for which I remain an advocate). Rifkin argues that the advances in technology are quickly taking us to a state in which few workers are needed. The resulting unemployment and free time should lead to increased participation in the third sector of volunteerism and community service. He also makes a decent case for a negative income tax for certain low incomes, which in my opinion, beats the alternatives...more

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Oct 24, 2012 Kraychik rated it 1 of 5 stars

Blaming technological innovations for unemployment, a tired and old canard. Rifkin's ideological ancestors many thousands of years ago certainly complained that the development of the wheel increased unemployment, much like Obama blamed ATMs for displacing jobs for bank employees. Rifkin stops short of predicting that the future will be some form of Star Trek utopia where all of our needs, from basic to advanced, are fulfilled by machines. Rifkin seems to vie for dictatorial/technocratic society...more

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Aug 10, 2011 Christian Krüger rated it 3 of 5 stars

Das vorliegende Buch ist die zweite Auflage einer Betrachtung über „Das Ende der Arbeit“. Bei seinem ersten Erscheinen hat es für Wirbel gesorgt. Viele seiner Prognosen haben sich leider bewahrheitet. Nach wie vor beschwört ein Großteil der politischen Akteure die Notwendigkeit vom Wirtschaftswachstum, um der Arbeitslosigkeit den Kampf anzusagen. Ein wunderbares und beliebig einsetzbares Totschlagsargument beim Abbau von sozialen Sicherungen. Dabei kann man den Medien und auch Rifkin eine gegent...more Das vorliegende Buch ist die zweite Auflage einer Betrachtung über „Das Ende der Arbeit“. Bei seinem ersten Erscheinen hat es für Wirbel gesorgt. Viele seiner Prognosen haben sich leider bewahrheitet. Nach wie vor beschwört ein Großteil der politischen Akteure die Notwendigkeit vom Wirtschaftswachstum, um der Arbeitslosigkeit den Kampf anzusagen. Ein wunderbares und beliebig einsetzbares Totschlagsargument beim Abbau von sozialen Sicherungen. Dabei kann man den Medien und auch Rifkin eine gegenteilige Entwicklung entnehmen. Das Saysche Theorem - ein günstigeres Angebot, infolge effizienterer Produktion, bewirkt eine stärkere Nachfrage – ist theoretisch u.a. von Marx(Grundrisse der Politischen Ökonomie) und praktisch widerlegt. Wo die Technisierung und wachsende Flexibilisierung von Kapital (Stichwort Globalisierung) möglich ist, wird die Arbeitskraft relativiert und immer mehr überflüssig. Kurz der Arbeiter wird von der Maschine ersetzt. Neu entstehende Bereiche sind so dünn und speziell, dass sie den Verlust nur unzureichend kompensieren. So kommt Rifkin im ersten Teil zum Fazit, dass die Massenarbeitslosigkeit kein Phänomen ist. Was es für die sozialstaatliche Gemeinschaft bedeutet, soll nur skizzenhaft genannt werden. Die Folgen des Arbeitsverlustes reichen von Resignation bis Aggression. Die materiellen Auswirkungen für die Betroffenen und ihre Teilhabe an der Gesellschaft sind dabei noch nicht einmal angesprochen. Doch nicht nur die Arbeitslosigkeit selbst, sondern auch die bloße Angst davor führen zu einem anderen Selbstverständnis der Berufstätigen und Heranwachsenden. Im Wettbewerb mit anderen Beschäftigten muss der individualisierte Arbeitnehmer, unter sich flexibilisierenden Arbeits- und Lebensbedingungen, sein „Humankapital“ stets weiterentwickeln. Voss subsumierte die Entwicklung unter den Begriff des Unternehmers und sprach in einem gleichnamigen Artikel (sehr lesenswert!) der Zeitschrift kritische Soziologie vom „Arbeitskraftunternehmer“. Hierauf hätte auch Rifkin stärker eingehen können und müssen.

Das Buch wäre aber uninteressant, wenn es bei der bloßen Anamnese bleiben würde. Rifkin geht im zweiten Teil des Buches auf mögliche Lösungen ein. Er spricht nicht nur von der Notwendigkeit kürzer Arbeitszeiten, um mehr Menschen am Arbeitsmarkt teilhaben zu lassen, sondern setzt auch beim Begriff der Arbeit an und dehnt in u.a. auf gemeinnützige Tätigkeit (nach Rifkin der dritte Sektor) aus. Der Gedanke ist allerdings nicht sehr neu. Bereits Hannah Ahrendt hat in ihrem Buch „vita activa“ (um 1960) vergleichbare Ansätze entwickelt. Rifkin kann man hierbei zunächst in seiner Dialektik widersprechen. Er verfolgt begrifflich einen Altruismus (ausdrücklich zu finden im Vorwort zur aktualisierten Auflage). Doch Altruismus selbst ist nicht notwendig, sofern es ihn überhaupt gibt. Vielmehr kann der eigene Egoismus, also die Suche nach dem eigenen „Glück“, altruistisch wirken, in dem es sich aus dem Verhältnis zu den Mitmenschen schöpft. Doch die Begrifflichkeiten lösen nichts an dem eigentlichen Dilemma. Der Mensch ist zunächst einmal so hinzunehmen wie er ist und kann auch nicht an die schönsten Theorien angepasst werden. Auch die Nutzung bestehender politischer Steuerungsmechanismen ist nicht zu erwarten. In der Politik fehlt es im täglichen Aktionismus an Nachhaltigkeit. Weshalb die weitere Entwicklung durchaus auch weniger optimistisch betrachtet werden kann, als wie es Rifkin getan hat.

Zusammenfassend ein angenehm leicht zu lesendes Buch, um sich mit dem Thema vertraut zu machen. Wer sich in das Thema vertiefen möchte, findet (neben bereits genannten Quellen) ganz gute Ideen und Literaturhinweise im Handbuch der Wirtschaftsethik (besonders Band 1) und Briefs gesammelten Aufzeichnungen. Ulrich Briefs setzte sich mit der Theorie vom Grenzwert der Moral auseinander, welche sehr erkenntnisreich ist.(less)

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Jun 13, 2011 May added it · review of another edition

Shelves: business

I read this book on the suggestion of a friend. In general, I'm not a fan. Here are some highlights.

On the positive side of the book, Rifkin has obviously done a very thorough job researching employment throughout the century, various periods, etc. He also makes some interesting points with respect to the manner in which technology rids people of jobs. He does articulate that the net result is that production increases past the point of which the economy can absorb the excess.

However, where I r...more I read this book on the suggestion of a friend. In general, I'm not a fan. Here are some highlights.

On the positive side of the book, Rifkin has obviously done a very thorough job researching employment throughout the century, various periods, etc. He also makes some interesting points with respect to the manner in which technology rids people of jobs. He does articulate that the net result is that production increases past the point of which the economy can absorb the excess.

However, where I really disagree with him is on the following points. First, he has not really normalized his data to incorporate those that were not included in the count during the different periods in question. He also fails to see some of the other fairly pertinent changes that have occurred throughout history as well that also impact unemployment rates, i.e. changing population demographics due to war, the opening of communist economies, the end of dictatorship/regimes.

Further, he does not quite articulate the need to reinvest. He hints at it a bit, but he does not see that with each economic downturn and rise in unemployment, society has created a better secondary net. The loss of jobs is at the lowest level, and I get that it effects those that are the poorest. However, cheap goods leads them to have a slightly better time of fulfilling basic needs. In other words, though the poor continue to be poor, we should consider at each period what the poor had at resources and judge technology along those lines as well. Alternatively, you could comparatively do the analysis across countries with varying levels of technological access (though of course, that would be a mess to neutralize second order affects).

He somewhat completely misses that the end game is for people to become smarter as a whole. Or that the increase in goods does make life - from a basic needs standpoint - easier.

I do agree with him that people need to think past the rat race and try to figure out how to evolve and think of creation of things outside of material goods to be exchanged for in the name of greed. I get that. And perhaps an alternative solution is to fulfill basic needs but foster enlightened understandings/education of what "choice" of livelihood really means. I recognize that only the greatest of optimists would think that people would not just choose to be a lazy stump and watch reality tv all day, but hey, maybe.

Still, I'd like to see the conclusion be to improve education; not to hate technology or see it as the enemy. Instead, an enlightened group can use technology to make long lasting changes for the better. Moreover, if technology is the way of enlightenment, than how about we train more people to be equip to be a part of it. Let's face it; there are quite a few blue collar jobs were flat out dangerous. It might not be the worst thing in the world that some of those jobs have become slightly mechanized.(less)

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Sep 10, 2011 Barbara rated it 5 of 5 stars

It was written in 1995 and I'm just now reading it in 2011. The author gives a good historical background to bring the reader up to the current era. Much of what he has hypothesized has come to pass, some is yet to be realized, but I do think that the only thing that is uncertain is the time-frame. Human labor will be phased whenever and wherever it is possible. The question will be how will societies that have been previously organized around human labor be organized in the future when it is mo...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Greg Linster rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: economics

I read this book because I'm writing my M.A. thesis about technological unemployment and the future of the digital economy. Given all that's going on with technology today (e.g., driver-less cars), I figured this would be an interesting read. And, for the most part, it was.

On one hand, I think Rifkin presciently diagnosed an interesting problem, and in a Marxian vain. However, I think he makes some grand assertions in the book that don't quite align with reality. Rifkin also peppers readers wit...more

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Sep 25, 2010 Ramona rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very interesting hypothesis of our impending future, with the recession passing by, the ideas in this book are fairly relevant if not a scary potential outcome for the world economy. It's history and theory rolled into one, a bit dry and the writing style is a bit slow.

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Nov 05, 2009 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Intriguing book. Few months since I read it but thing that sticks in my head is the rise of the 'third sector' - voluntary and charity initiatives - in the running of society.

Is bout 10 years old so slightly dated but still very relevant.

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Jun 25, 2012 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great book about the current technological economic trend. We all got to work and think very differently than pre-Roosevelt era. Government can not keep spending to save us. We must build our own biz's-small or large.

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Aug 06, 2011 Eric added it · review of another edition

La fin du travail a été écrit en 1995, en plein débat sur la réduction du temps de travail. Meme si les premieres parties (plutot historiques et qui resument fort bien la problematiques sans pour autant apporter de grandes nouveautes) reste pertinentes, les dernieres (qui proposent des solutions) datent un peu.
L'edition que j'ai lue comporte d'ailleur une preface actualisee de Jeremy Rifkin qui date de 2004... et qui montre bien que l'histoire va tres vite (n'est ce pas Mr. Fukuyama).
La Fin du T...more

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Jan 27, 2012 George Tevelde rated it 4 of 5 stars

the book is great for 1995, but now the concepts he talks about have got come true and we are now entering the 'next stage' of work development

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Sep 20, 2012 Jim Robillard marked it as to-read

I've been thinking about this topic quite a bit and just happened to stumble across this at HPB. Looking forward to reading it.

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Aug 07, 2010 Chris Davis rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was good but not for everybody. It focuses on unrealistic realities like people have satiable desires, which they do not.

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Jan 02, 2011 Efthimios Mavrogeorgiadis rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: economics, labor

Interesting ideas but quite repetitive throughout.

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Mar 01, 2008 Ken rated it 2 of 5 stars

There is so much Rifkin could have done with this book, but didn't. I was disappointed that more time wasn't spent discussing the transition to an automation economy. But alas, Rifkin is a socialist, and we can't see eye to eye on things economic. Bottom line: as the world becomes more automated, those who want to derive the benefits of automation had better become owners of the means of production.

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Aug 25, 2010 Maria rated it 1 of 5 stars

Was für eine unsägliche deutsche Übersetzung. White collar worker werden da doch tatsächlich als Weiße-Kragen-Arbeiter bezeichnet. Die deutschen Sätzen ziehen sich trocken und träge über das Papier. Nach knapp 30 Seiten habe ich das Buch entnervt weggelegt. Vielleicht gebe ich dem Original mal eine Chance.

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Apr 21, 2008 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, sociologically-inclined

as the general population ages with less people to replace them, and professional and non-professional employment declines, this one is an eye-openeer on wtf will happen and how we should deal with the phenomena.

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Mar 29, 2008 Reuel rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very interesting historical analysis of work and unemployment issues in the U.S., particularly of the problems encountered by African Americans.

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Jul 22, 2011 Yann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophie, usa, économie, politique

Une analyse intéressante, des perspectives avancées. Date d'y à 15 ans déjà.

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Oct 20, 2007 Samuel rated it 2 of 5 stars

Interesting but flawed logic.

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May 20, 2013 Dean C. Moore rated it 4 of 5 stars

May 16, 2013 Bridgier marked it as to-read

May 16, 2013 Dennis rated it 4 of 5 stars

May 15, 2013 Ad En rated it 3 of 5 stars

May 14, 2013 Marlet Bluesreggaerockandroll is currently reading it

May 14, 2013 Marge Neumeister marked it as to-read · review of another edition

May 12, 2013 Patrizio rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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“It is not uncommon in the modern world for people to retreat into the world of books to escape from the realities of the outside world. The printed word evokes the modern notion of security, with the emphasis on detachment, privacy, autonomy, predictability, and enclosed artificiality.” — 8 people liked it

“Today we are raised with the notion that to be secure is to be financially autonomous. Amassing wealth is viewed as the primary rite of passage to a secure, autonomous existence.” — 3 people liked it

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