The Last Human Job: Seeing Each Other in an Age of Automation

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A timely and urgent argument for preserving the work that connects us in the age of automation

"A compelling case for valuing care as a societal good and as skilled labor."-The Nation

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and labor-saving technologies like self-checkouts and automated factories, the future of work has never been more uncertain, and even jobs requiring high levels of human interaction are no longer safe. The Last Human Job explores the human connections that underlie our work, arguing that what people do for each other in these settings is valuable and worth preserving.

Drawing on in-depth interviews and observations with people in a broad range of professions-from physicians, teachers, and coaches to chaplains, therapists, caregivers, and hairdressers-Allison Pugh develops the concept of "connective labor," a kind of work that relies on empathy, the spontaneity of human contact, and a mutual recognition of each other's humanity. The threats to connective labor are not only those posed by advances in AI or apps; Pugh demonstrates how profit-driven campaigns imposing industrial logic shrink the time for workers to connect, enforce new priorities of data and metrics, and introduce standardized practices that hinder our ability to truly see each other. She concludes with profiles of organizations where connective labor thrives, offering practical steps for building a social architecture that works.

Vividly illustrating how connective labor enriches the lives of individuals and binds our communities together, The Last Human Job is a compelling argument for us to recognize, value, and protect humane work in an increasingly automated and disconnected world.

Reviews

"[The Last Human Job] cautions readers against unreserved acceptance of [new] technological advances, citing connective labor as valuable human work that will not be easily replaced by algorithms. . . . It is filled with stories of those who are in occupations that exemplify connective labor, such as chaplains, teachers, therapists, physicians, community organizers, and hairdressers. . . . We must remember what it means to be human, even as multibillion-dollar industries work to attract more of our attention and take more of our time away from meaningful human connection."---Jonathan Wai, Science
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Pughs timely book reveals the hidden ways that technology is making many jobs miserable for both workers and consumers, at a moment when artificial intelligence continues its unregulated incursion into our lives.

"---Jessica Grose, New York Times
"The Last Human Job stirs us awake. It urges us to not bow to the systems that strip us of our humanity but to continue fighting to find our way to each other, in all our human glory and all our human weakness. For we are all aching to be seen."---Felicia Wu Song, Current
"A compelling case for valuing care as a societal good and as skilled labor."---Maia Silber, The Nation
"A timely warning about the dangers of losing the relational in pursuit of efficiency and profit." * The Guardian *
"Commercial logic, coupled with technology, is eroding the spontaneity of human contact. Pugh's message is plain: we have to make a concerted effort, in the workplace and in our lives, to revive our social worlds."---Simon Ings, New Scientist
"Highly recommended." * Library Journal *
"Allison Pugh is a master interviewer. . . . Pugh explores the very substance of her primary method; that rich, ineffable moment in an interaction when you, or your interlocutor, feel seen. Pugh develops the concept of 'connective labor,' the collaborative work of emotional recognition. . . . Pugh is a forceboth in the depth and complexity of her scholarship, and the ease of connection she brings to conversation."---Elizabeth Fetterolf, Public Books
"Impeccably researched and beautifully written." * Social Forces *
"To save connective labor . . . . all of us have a role to play. We can prioritize human connection and patronize organizations that celebrate this work, even when it would be faster and cheaper to do something another way. We can steer clear of apps and technologies that try to outsource relationships to robots. . . . Since reading The Last Human Job, I've made it a practice to take out my headphones in stores and waiting rooms so that I am more present."---Amanda Erickson, National Catholic Reporter
"Masterful. . . . The Last Human Job is fascinating, urgent and beautifully written. Its finest passages merit a place alongside Arlie Hochschilds The Outsourced Self, Richard Sennetts The Corrosion of Character and other classic works of sociology."---Frances Flanagan, Inside Story
"Written well enough to absorb the attention of not only specialists but any interested reader." * Choice *
"[Pughs] writing is clear and accessible. . . . [Arlie Russell] Hochschild coined the term second shift, which many readers will recognize as shorthand for gendered tasks that women perform when they get home from wage-paying work. I suspect that, years hence, readers will use Pughs terminology in a similar way."---Cathy Corman, Provincetown Independent
"[An] engaging study."---Andrew Robinson, Nature
"Incisive and unsettling." * Hedgehog Review *
"Bold and affirming."---Nicole Aschoff, Catalyst
"Based on a multiyear study of US workers and workplace, Pughs The Last Human Job is set against a scene of quantification, standardization, and task automation at scale. At stake in Pughs analysis is the future of connective labor, or the skilled practice of perceiving, acknowledging, and reflecting back others thoughts and feelingsa blend of emotional labor and psycho-social recognition. . . . Connective labor is not just a task, Pugh says, nor is it reducible to measurable ends. It is an inalienable part of humanity itself, without which the social fabric is left threadbare and thin."---Jenny L. Davis & Hayoung Seo, Public Books

Author Bio

Allison Pugh is professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University and the 20242025 vice president of the American Sociological Association. She is the author of The Tumbleweed Society: Working and Caring in an Age of Insecurity and Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children, and Consumer Culture. Her writing has appeared in leading publications such as The New Yorker, the New York Times, and the New Republic.