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As we face a profound environmental crisis, we often think that it can be overcome by smart systems and green innovations, but this is risky since increasingly complex technological solutions rely on less abundant materials. A best-seller in France, this English language edition introduces readers to an alternative perspective on our technological future. The book skilfully goes against the grain to argue that 'high' technology will not solve global problems and envisages a different approach to manage our resources and build a more resilient and sustainable society.

Recent developments in the organisation of work and production have facilitated the decline of wage employment in many regions of the world. However, the idea of the wage continues to dominate the political imaginations of governments, researchers and activists. This edited collection revitalises debates on the future of work by challenging the idea of wage employment as the global norm. Taking theoretical inspiration from the Global South, the authors compare lived experiences of 'ordinary work' across taken-for-granted conceptual and geographical boundaries. Their contributions open up new possibilities for how work, identity and security might be woven together differently. This collection is an invaluable resource for academics, students and readers interested in alternative and emerging forms of work around the world.

The fundamental distinction is made between the real economy and the financial. The financial economy came into existence to serve the real economy, but led by false neoclassical microeconomic theory, it has become predatory on the real economy. Rather than seeking to correct the false theorising, this book sets it aside in its entirety, focusing instead on practical realities. A Deming based systems analysis is provided of organisational systems, their individual components and their interactions with the social and ecological macro systems within which they operate. Those organisational systems serve the real economy which is recognised as having three distinct layers, each requiring a very different approach for their effective service. The social-infrastructural layer is a mandatory state responsibility, rather than being voluntary and competitive. The progressive-competitive layer, served largely by private for-profit organisations, depends on its competitive characteristics being protected and energised. The technological-revolutionary layer is best served by a collaborative involvement of both private and public organisational systems developing and applying new technologies to generate economic progression including the necessary sustainability revolution. Required actions are identified for that remaking of the real economy and escaping destruction by organised money. Appropriate measures of progression are proposed to replace the current orthodox measures such as GDP and its growth. Practitioner Notes provide examples of the practical realities of organisational systems in both the real and financial economies, demonstrating the inadequacy and falseness of neoclassical modelling and the destructiveness of its prime beneficiaries, organised money.

Austerity was presented as the antidote to sluggish economies, but it has had far-reaching effects on jobs and employment conditions. This book goes beyond a sole focus on public sector work and uniquely covers the impact of austerity on work across the private, public and voluntary spheres. The book begins with an introduction to some of the major debates concerning austerity, neoliberalism, and work. Austerity is viewed as a set of interwoven policies aimed at reducing public debt and expenditure, increasing consumer taxes and purportedly stimulating economic wellbeing through corporate tax cuts and support for private business. Since the 1970s, austerity policies have been closely associated with neoliberalism, a set of policies and processes that valorize the private-market as the solution to all social and economic problems and seek to reduce or eliminate social entitlements and public provision. Drawing on a range of perspectives, the book engages with the major debates surrounding austerity and neoliberalism, providing grounded analysis of the everyday experience of work and employment.