Inventing the Future...

Discovering this book:

Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work

by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams
Verso Books

A major new manifesto for the end of capitalism

Neoliberalism isn’t working. Austerity is forcing millions into poverty and many more into precarious work, while the left remains trapped in stagnant political practices that offer no respite.

Inventing the Future is a bold new manifesto for life after capitalism. Against the confused understanding of our high-tech world by both the right and the left, this book claims that the emancipatory and future-oriented possibilities of our society can be reclaimed. Instead of running from a complex future, Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams demand a postcapitalist economy capable of advancing standards, liberating humanity from work and developing technologies that expand our freedoms.

This new edition includes a new chapter where Srnicek and Williams respond to their various critics.

Reviews

• “A conceptual launch pad for a new socialist imagination.”
  – Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums
• “A powerful book: it not only shows us how the postcapitalist world of rapidly improving technology could make us free, but it also shows us how we can organise to get there. This is a must-read.”
  – Paul Mason, author of Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future
• “Neoliberalism and austerity seem to reign supreme – the idea of a society not run for profit seems impossible. Or does it? The fascinating Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams argues for a radical transformation of society.”
  – Owen Jones, New Statesman books of the year 2015
• “In Inventing the Future, Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams take on the two key questions of the left, if I can characterise them broadly: why are we so bad at saying stuff, and do we have anything to say? Their diagnoses of the shortcomings of what they call ‘folk politics,’ are perceptive, clear, brutal, but respectful. Their prescription for the future can seem vertiginously sudden—you’ll need to either get on board with a basic citizen’s income, or form a better refutation than ‘it sounds expensive,’ and fast. But critically, they identify our urgent task: to own modernity.”
  – Zoe Williams, Guardian
• “Inventing the Future is exactly what we need right now. With immense patience and care, it sets out a clear and compelling vision of a postcapitalist society. Equally importantly, it lays out a plausible programme which can take us from 24/7 capitalist immiseration to a world free of work.”
  – Mark Fisher, author of Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?
  
  
  
  

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Link to the publisher: https://www.versobooks.com/books/2315-inventing-the-future