Work: The Last 1,000 Years,Used

Tracing the complexity and contradictory nature of work throughout historySay the word work, and most people think of some form of gainful employment. Yet this limited definition has never corresponded to the historical experience of most peoplewhether in colonies, developing countries, or the industrialized world.That gap between common assumptions and reality grows even more pronounced in the case of women and other groups excluded from the labour market.In this important intervention, Andrea Komlosy demonstrates that popular understandings of work have varied radically in different ages and countries. Looking at labour history around the globe from the thirteenth to the twentyfirst centuries, Komlosy sheds light on both discursive concepts as well as the concrete coexistence of multiple forms of labourpaid and unpaid, free and unfree. From the economic structures and ideological mystifications surrounding work in the Middle Ages, all the way to European colonialism and the industrial revolution, Komlosys narrative adopts a distinctly global and feminist approach, revealing the hidden forms of unpaid and hyperexploited labour which often go ignored, yet are key to the functioning of the capitalist worldsystem.Work: The Last 1,000 Years will open readers eyes to an issue much thornier and more complex than most people imagine, one which will be around as long as basic human needs and desires exist.