The work we do brings us meaning, moulds our values, determines our social status and dictates how we spend most of our time. But this wasn't always the case: for 95% of our species’ history, work held a radically different importance. How, then, did work become the central organisational principle of our societies?

‘When I conceived of this book, I argued that it would take something extraordinary – perhaps a climate change-induced calamity sometime in the future – to force us to contemplate the kinds of changes that automation and the environmental costs of our obsession with work demand of us. Now, confined in my home like hundreds of millions of others across the globe, I am beginning to suspect that it may happen a whole lot sooner’ James Suzman

'A fascinating exploration that challenges our basic assumptions of what work means' Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens

The talk will be followed by a conversation and Q&A. Questions can be submitted in advance at www.litfest.org

James Suzman is an anthropologist specialising in the Khoisan peoples of southern Africa. He is the author of Affluence without Abundance (2017) and is currently the director of Anthropos Ltd, a think tank that applies anthropological methods to solving contemporary social and economic problems.

How We Live Next: Work - James Suzman