Description
Book SynopsisLabor Avoidance is about work, something everyone hates, and something everyone longs to escape. At the same time, human nature is to sustain life that is physical, and thus constant labor is a necessity. This is what humanity, from Eden to our own post-industrial society, has always tried to reduce or avoid by making somebody else do it. Historically, this nature and origin of labor-avoidance is responsible for war, colonialism, slavery, and now, contract employment in market society. This book explores American capitalism and how labor (and the desire to escape it) has become responsible for so much human struggle and misery throughout history.
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1. Between Nature and Society Chapter 2. Our “Human Nature” Chapter 3. The Origins of All Things Chapter 4. Trouble in Paradise Chapter 5. Eden Revisited Chapter 6. Between “Here” and “There” Chapter 7. We Must Still Eat to Live Chapter 8. Somebody Else’s Labor Chapter 9. Somebody Else’s Energy Chapter 10. Somebody Else’s Life Chapter 11. Romans, Nazis, and Americans Chapter 12. To Work or Not to Work Chapter 13. The Talented, Best, and Brightest Few Chapter 14. The No-Labor Promise Chapter 15. The Golden Age of America Chapter 16. Capitalism Destroys America’s Golden Age Chapter 17. A Day in the New Paradise Chapter 18. Adam Smith Never Knew Capitalism Chapter 19. To Work or To Play Chapter 20. Master or Slave Chapter 21. The Beginnings of Good and Evil Chapter 22. From Tools to Machines Chapter 23. Here Comes the Lazy Body Chapter 24. The Sweet Stench of Power Chapter 25. The Daring Escape that Failed Chapter 26. What Was, What Is, What Might Have Been Chapter 27. Two Variations and a Recapitulation Chapter 28. Freewill and the Law Chapter 29. Robinson Crusoe and “Friday” Chapter 30. Crime as Short-Cut Labor Chapter 31. The Obsolete Science of Economics Chapter 32. Shared Labor, No Labor Chapter 33. Jesus, Jefferson, Smith, and Marx Chapter 34. The “New World” Becomes “Old” Bibliography Index
