The Work We Need
'The humane revolutionary our turbulent century needs’ Jonathan Freedland
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'Brimming with ideas to transform the future, Hilary Cottam takes us on a fascinating journey to discover how to make work work' KATE RAWORTH, author of DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS
'Cottam is the humane revolutionary our turbulent century needs - and this book our roadmap to a better future' JONATHAN FREEDLAND, author of THE ESCAPE ARTIST
'An act of radical hope, radical listening and radical humility . . . I loved it' RORY STEWART
Work, for decades, has been debated and discussed as a narrow economic category. Instead, Hilary Cottam identifies work as a cultural force at the heart of good lives, strong communities and a sense of a shared national destiny. Crucially, in these dramatic times, she shows how we can shape this force to meet technological change, our ecological crisis and the challenges of the world's deep injustices. We can create a work revolution.
Ambitious but rooted in the ideas of everyday experts - real workers from all walks of life - this is a realistic and hopeful book. Hilary Cottam has crossed the UK and the USA; she's spent time in communities considered by outsiders as 'left behind' and in places at the centre of financial and technological power. Drawing on a fascinating range of sources - historians, trade unionists, business leaders, philosophers and most originally, hours of her imaginative workshops with workers - Hilary Cottam boldly asks: how can we redesign work?
Our challenges - political, social, economic and environmental - are tangled and growing. But so are the imaginative solutions. In this exciting, inspiring and optimistic book, Hilary shows us how we could work differently and live better.
'Twenty-first century people cannot give their best if tied down to twentieth-century patterns of work. Hilary Cottam provides the roadmap for the required transformation. Timely . . . guides the changes needed' CARLOTA PEREZ
'Exposes what motivates workers today - not the things most business leaders think - and shows how new thinking would benefit us all. Compelling' MARTHA LANE FOX
'Urgent, compelling and ultimately hopeful . . . Cottam demonstrates that a better future, based on reciprocity and mutual collaboration, is not only possible but its seeds are already here. Necessary and Inspiring' CAROLINE LUCAS, Green Party MP and author of ANOTHER ENGLAND
'Cottam is the humane revolutionary our turbulent century needs - and this book our roadmap to a better future' JONATHAN FREEDLAND, author of THE ESCAPE ARTIST
'An act of radical hope, radical listening and radical humility . . . I loved it' RORY STEWART
Work, for decades, has been debated and discussed as a narrow economic category. Instead, Hilary Cottam identifies work as a cultural force at the heart of good lives, strong communities and a sense of a shared national destiny. Crucially, in these dramatic times, she shows how we can shape this force to meet technological change, our ecological crisis and the challenges of the world's deep injustices. We can create a work revolution.
Ambitious but rooted in the ideas of everyday experts - real workers from all walks of life - this is a realistic and hopeful book. Hilary Cottam has crossed the UK and the USA; she's spent time in communities considered by outsiders as 'left behind' and in places at the centre of financial and technological power. Drawing on a fascinating range of sources - historians, trade unionists, business leaders, philosophers and most originally, hours of her imaginative workshops with workers - Hilary Cottam boldly asks: how can we redesign work?
Our challenges - political, social, economic and environmental - are tangled and growing. But so are the imaginative solutions. In this exciting, inspiring and optimistic book, Hilary shows us how we could work differently and live better.
'Twenty-first century people cannot give their best if tied down to twentieth-century patterns of work. Hilary Cottam provides the roadmap for the required transformation. Timely . . . guides the changes needed' CARLOTA PEREZ
'Exposes what motivates workers today - not the things most business leaders think - and shows how new thinking would benefit us all. Compelling' MARTHA LANE FOX
'Urgent, compelling and ultimately hopeful . . . Cottam demonstrates that a better future, based on reciprocity and mutual collaboration, is not only possible but its seeds are already here. Necessary and Inspiring' CAROLINE LUCAS, Green Party MP and author of ANOTHER ENGLAND
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- Published: May 29 2025
- Pages: 320
- 218 x 144mm
- ISBN: 9780349017471
Press Reviews
Carlota Perez
Twenty-first century people cannot give their best if tied down to twentieth-century patterns of work. Hilary Cottam provides the roadmap for the required transformation. Timely . . . guides the changes needed
Rory Stewart
An act of racial hope, radical listening and radical humility - Hilary Cottam challenges our most fundamental assumptions about our lives and society and most importantly, suggests how we can make things much better. I loved it
Jonathan Freedland, author of THE ESCAPE ARTIST
Pushing us to rethink our most basic assumptions . . . Full of empathy, insight and courage . . . Cottam is the humane revolutionary our turbulent century needs - and this book our roadmap to a better future
Martha Lane Fox
Exposes what motivates workers today - not the things most business leaders think - and shows how new thinking would benefit us all. Compelling
Caroline Lucas
Urgent, compelling and ultimately hopeful . . . Cottam demonstrates that a better future, based on reciprocity and mutual collaboration, is not only possible but its seeds are already here. Necessary and Inspiring
Kate Raworth, author of DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS
Brimming with ideas to transform the future, Hilary Cottam takes us on a fascinating journey to discover how to make work work
Anne-Marie Slaughter
Integrates life as imagined by workers themselves with a keen understanding of technological and economic change. An engrossing blueprint for change
Colin Mayor, author of CAPITALISM AND CRISES
One of the deepest thinkers on this subject