# Future of Work, Economics, and Organizational Theory Reading List

Send this to your HR, post in your DAO or multi-sig Discord, or simply use to help contruct an idea of what our future could look like.

The list is broken down into three sections:
1. **Organizational Theory** material that includes practical application on creating and maintaining equitable groups;
2. **Political and Economic Theory** that helps describe and explain our current economic position;
3. **Historical Context** that provides other perspectives and background material, including but not limited to historical, anthropological, or biological subjects.

All hyper links to bookshop.org but also consider your local library or [Libby](https://libbyapp.com/).

Do you need a U.S. library card? Are you a Libby power user and want another one? Scroll the bottom of this page and I'll hook you up.

All citations are in APA. If you find a spelling mistake, no you didn't.

Questions, suggestions, corrections? Message me on TG or Discord @spkymth

### Recommended Introductory Material
If possible, the lowest barrier for entry is the episode of Explained on Netflix on [the Stock Market](https://www.netflix.com/watch/80243757?trackId=14277283&tctx=-97%2C-97%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C80216752%2CVideo%3A80243757%2CdetailsPageEpisodePlayButton). The episode does a great job of synthesizing core concepts of how we ended up in our current economic system.

[Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and Decline of the American Dream by Nicholas Lemann](https://bookshop.org/book/9780374277888) is roughly 200 pages and targets the bureacratc institutions that have influenced the work corporations and firms through a history of Morgan Stanley investment bank from the 1930s through the finanical crisis of 2008 while tracking the rise and fall of a working-class neighborhood in Chicago.

[Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition that is Shaping the Next Economy by Nathan Schneider ](https://bookshop.org/book/9781568589596) picks up exactly where Lemann leaves off. Schneider provides seven chapters on how communities, collectives, and companies are organizing themselves through unique governance to solve problems including affordable housing, providing agricultural resources, and creating public good software.

## Organizational Theory
### Books

Atkins, P. W. B., Wilson, D. S., and Hayes, S. C. (2019). _Prosocial: Using Evolutionary Science to Build Productive, Equitable, and Collaborative Groups_. Context Press. https://bookshop.org/book/9781684030248

Dignan, A. (2019). _Brave New Work: Are You Ready to Reinvent Your Organization?_. Portfolio. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9780525536208

Kegan, R. et al. (2016). _An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization_. Harvard Business Review Press. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781625278623

Laloux, F. (2014). _Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness_. Frederic Laloux. Retrieved from: https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/purchase.html

Rau, T. R. & Koch-Gonzalez, J. (2018). _Many Voices One Song: Shared Power with Sociocracy_. Institute for Peaceable Communities, Inc. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781949183009

Schneider, N. (2018). _Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition that is Shaping the Next Economy_. Nation Books. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781568589596

Schneider, N. & Scholz, T. (2017). _Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, A New Vision for the Future of and a Fairier Internet_. OR Books. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781944869335

### Zines
Spade, D. _Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (And the Next)_. Verso. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781839762123

## Political and Economic Theory
### Books

Eisenstein, C. (2021). _Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, & Society in the Age of Transition_. North Atlantic Books. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781623175764

Graeber, D. (2018). _Bullshit Jobs: A Theory_. Simon and Schuster. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781501143335

Graeber, D. (2014). _Debt: The First 5,000 Years_. (3rd edition). Melville House Publishing. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781612194196

Horowitz, S. (2021). _Mutualism: Building the Next Economy from the Ground Up_. Random House. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9780593133521

Kinna, R. (2019). _The Government of No One: The Theory and Practice of Anarchism_. Pelican. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9780141984667

Kropotkin, P. (2006). _Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution_. Dover Publications. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9780486449135

Lemann, M. (2019). _Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream_. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9780374277888

Massimino, C. (Org.), & Tuttle, J. (Ed.). (2016). _Free Markets & Capitalism?: Do Free Markets Always Produce a Corporate Economy?_ CreateSpace. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781539488736

Ostrom, E. (2015). _Governing of the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action_. (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781107569782

Polanyi, K. (2001). _The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time_. (3rd edition). Beacon Press. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9780807056431

Tsing, A. L. (2015). _The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possiblity of Life in Capitalist Ruins_. Princeton University Press. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9780691220550

## Historical Context
### Books

Curl, J. (2012). _For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Copperative Movements, and Communalism in America_. (2nd Edition). PM Press. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781604865820

Harris, M. (2023). _Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World_. Little Brown and Company. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9780316592031

Jaffe, S. (2021). _Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone_. Hachette Book Group. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781568589374

Kelly, K. (2023). _Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor_. Atria/One Signal Publishers. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/p/books/fight-like-hell-the-untold-history-of-american-labor-kim-kelly/18018543?ean=9781982171063

Petersen, A. H. (2021). _Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation_. Dey Street Books. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9780358561842

Raihani, N. (2023). _The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shaped the World_. St. Martin's Griffin. Retrieved from: https://bookshop.org/book/9781250262837

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