I’m glad that I read Fear of Falling and Can’t Even before this one. Sarah Jaffe’s work traces the destructive roots of capitalism and neoliberalism that have undermined industries across the globe, from retail to game development. I appreciate how Jaffe shows how work is been deskilled and devalued in specific ways, often by abusing the very love and passion that people bring to their work.
My prevailing feeling after reading this and Can’t Even is that the systems of capitalism and neoliberalism have exerted so much pressure and control that the path out of them has been obscured. It feels like there’s plenty of inspiration and precedent to be found in the past, but it’s not clear how that translates to the present. Perhaps it’s beyond the scope of this book to be prescriptive about what the reader should do next. I did like how Jaffe focused on organizing and collective action, as opposed to a vision based on electoral politics.