Lost in Work

Since the Industrial Age, capitalism has subjugated and exploited workers.

Industrialization, the advent of globalized capitalism and the erosion of collective bargaining forced many workers into servitude and drudgery. In the early 20th century, the industrialist Henry Ford and the industrial efficiency innovator Frederick Taylor, for example, sought to eliminate all unnecessary movement from their assembly lines. They aimed to control every aspect of workers’ productivity, including how much time they took for bathroom breaks. Today’s information-era work was supposed to relieve the monotony of factories, but some employers made these promises only to dispel the need for unions and public services – under the cloak of neoliberalism. In some instances, technology has only made intrusions into workers’ personal lives more sophisticated.

Capitalist owners possess virtually all power in the workplace, and some wield it coercively. Except for the wealthy, everyone must work, many under dehumanizing and often dangerous conditions that prevail in an increasing percentage of employment today...