James Suzman on What Hunter-Gatherer Societies Teach Us About Work, Time, and Well-Being

Health & Wellbeing

Anthropologist James Suzman on how hunter-gatherer societies organized work and time, and what their example says about work today. Ten sessions.

What’s inside

What work was, and what it has become

• Introduction
• All Living Organisms Do Work
• We’re Skilled at Acquiring Skills
• Not Everything Is a Competition
• Our Ancestors Worked to Live—But They Did Not Live to Work
• Our Relationship With Hierarchy Is Complicated
• We’re Not All Farmers Anymore
• We Define Ourselves by the Work We Do
• Work Today Is Doing More Harm Than Good
• Conclusion

Who it is for

Anyone thinking about their own relationship with work. No anthropology background is assumed.