We are moving into a world where a power elite allocates jobs: where commodities buy consumers: where socialist as well as capitalist dogma is an obstacle to comprehension.

In this book, Andre Gorz returns to Marx's Grundrisse and the prophecy of early nineteenth century socialists and rediscovers a vision of post-capitalist society founded on the automation of work and the transcending of the exchange economy. He argues that we have reached the precise stage where these utopian insights become a reality. If the socialist movement is to have something to say to a generation whose identity is no longer shaped at work, it must grasp these insights.