Of Note: Tremendous Fulfillment and Exploitation

The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World by Allison Pugh
Princeton University Press, June 4, 2024

In The Last Human Job, Allison Pugh argues that connective labor “involves ‘seeing’ the other and reflecting that understanding back” and is crucial to the practice of teachers, doctors, chaplains, hairdressers, and many others whose work is often invisible, yet vital, to the lives of humans. The book is based on hundreds of interviews with workers who take on the emotional burden to make others feel seen and who often feel the dual sense of tremendous fulfillment and exploitation. Pugh places their labor in the context of the rise of AI, the pressure to document and collect data on such connective labor, and the rise of what she calls the “depersonalization crisis,” which includes the rise of tech solutions to mental health (think AI-driven therapist apps) and the use of technology to meet the education needs of students in under-resourced schools or students without access to good teachers. If you’ve ever wondered how we might build a social architecture of connection and support, while navigating the challenges that come with these spaces being de facto places of privilege (i.e., independent schools who value the connective labor of teachers), then this is the book for you.