Worked Over

An award-winning sociologist reveals the unexpected link between overwork and inequality Americans work too long and too hard. Average annual work hours declined for a century through hard-fought labor-movement victories, but since 1975 they've increased by 13 percent. Worked Over traces the varied reasons why our lives became tethered to work and describes how we might gain a greater say over our work time-and build a more just society in the process. Popular discussions of overwork typically focus on striving professionals. But as Jamie K. McCallum demonstrates, from Amazon warehouses to Rust Belt factories to California's gig economy, it's the hours of low-wage workers that have increased the most, while their working lives remain precarious and unpredictable. What's needed is not individual solutions but collective struggle, and throughout Worked Over McCallum recounts the inspiring stories of those battling capitalism today to win back control of their time.