Soul at Work: From Alienation to Autonomy (Semiotext(e) / Foreign Agents)

Deep and thought provoking, helped me get more clarity when writing MA thesis

Interesting Book. Bifo is a good writer even if he is prone to a kind of cultural theory pretentiousness but he can be forgiven as he is often insightful in his discussion of work within the context of an ugly and dominant neo-liberalism.

This text has been with me digitally for many years - I am glad to finally own a physical copy

This is a clear and, for the most part, surprisingly humble overview of postmodern theory as it concerns work and our feelings of self-worth, autonomy, and social connection. As is so often true with European theory, the author is reluctant to undertake a critique of assumptions and terminology so one has to translate overblown claims to discern the kernel of truth within them. Yes, many people work via computer keyboards, but the vast majority of working people don't. Yes, all of have access to lots of information and lots of stimulus from screens of one sort or another, but it simply isn't true that, as Berardi claims, an increase in diagnoses of depression can be attributed to this. Most of us use computers for a fairly limited range of interests and activities, most of which are mundane. Last, the promise of the title--to autonomy-- is not realized. Berardi has no clue how to bring us to autonomy. Nonetheless, this is a very good overview and I plan to read other works by him.