The End of Work

The global economy is undergoing a fundamental transformation in the nature of work that will reshape civilization in the twenty-first century, says economist Jeremy Rifkin. In this compelling and disturbing, yet ultimately hopeful book, Rifkin argues that we are entering a new phase in history — one chacterized by the steady and inevitable decline of jobs. Sophisticated computers, robotics, telecommunications, and other Information Age technologies are fast replacing human beings in virtually every sector and industry. Near-workerless factories and virtual companies loom on the horizon.

While the emerging "knowledge sector" and new markets abroad will create some new jobs, they will too few to absorb the vast numbers of workers displaced by the new technologies. EVery nation will have to grapple with the question of what to do with the millions of people whose labor is needed less, or not at all, in an ever more automated global economy. Rethinking the very nature of work is likely to be the single most pressing concern facing society in the decades to come.

Jeremy Rifkin warns that the end of work could mean the demise of civilization as we have come to know it, or signal the beginning of a great social transformation and a rebirth of the human spirit.

• Part I: The Two faces of Technology
1. The End of Work
2. Trickle-down Technology and Market Realities
3. Visions of Techno-Paradise
• Part II: The Third Industrial Revolution
4. Crossing into the High-Tech Frontier
5. Technology and the African-American Experience
6. The Great Automation Debate
7. Post-Fordium
• Part III: The Decline of the Global Labor Force
8. No More Farmers
9. Hanging Up the Blue Collar
10. The Last Service Worker
• Part IV: The Price of Progress
11. High-Tech Winners and Losers
12. Requiem for the Working Class
13. The Fate of Nations
14. A More Dangerous World
• Part V: The Dawn of the Post-Market Era
15. Re-engineering the Work Week
16. A New Social Contract
17. Empowering the Third Sector
18. Globalizing the Social Economy

Yet another book about the "new" economy and its effects. Do they never tire?