In his book, Breaking Things at Work, Gavin Meuller argues that we can’t think of technology in the workplace as “just” a tool but always as a tool created for a specific purpose to benefit specific groups and exploit others. As such, breaking machines in the workplace–which means many things–has been and will continue to be an important point of struggle for establishing worker autonomy, solidarity, and fair treatment.
Dr. Mueller Mueller is Assistant Professor of New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam. He’s also a member of the editorial collective of Viewpoint Magazine. Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right about Why You Hate Your Job is available from Verso.
What We Talked About
Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right about Why You Hate Your Job
Luddism
Inventing the Future by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams.
Andreas Malm, Fossil Capitalism.
![A lantern slideshows four overlapping illustrations of the Earth depicting its tilt at different time periods in the past, present and future. Dates represented are 13000 BC, 5544 BC, 1921 AD, 2296AD. Handwritten in blue ink at bottom left corner of plate is the text 'G53 CLW [illegible] Aug '22'.](https://i0.wp.com/publicseminar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Wragge_Earth.jpg?fit=768%2C749&ssl=1)
