The Eclipse of the Utopias of Labor

Since industrialization, the definition of labor and meaningful work has shifted dramatically. In The Eclipse of the Utopias of Labor (Fordham University Press), Rabinbach collects essays that describe the shift from the 18th-century concept of man as machine to the late 20th-century idea of digital beings. The Eclipse of the Utopias of Labor is a follow-up to the Human Motor, Rabinbach’s study of the science of work. This new study of the evolution of labor brings together texts like Jacques de Vaucanson’s Digesting Duck to Karl Mark’s Capital, to tell the story of how society, the body and labor utopias worked to shape future societies.