Introduction: A New Politics of Work 3
Ch. 1 Seeds of the New Commons 9
Ch. 2 Class Dismissed! 17
The Rise and Demise of a Blue-Collar Working Class 19
Class Unmade 25
The Revolt Against Professionalism 29
Myth of the Middle Class 33
Ch. 3 “What You See Me Doing, Isn’t What I Do” 39
Why “Class Composition”? 40
Beyond Subordination 44
DIY 46
Ch. 4 Contesting the Evolution of Science 55
General Intellect 57
Reading the Book of Nature: The New (old)
Science of Permaculture 58
Reductionist Science 61
Old Science Meets New 65
Abundance, Limits and Accountability 71
Permaculture and Direct Action 74
Ch. 5 Vacant-Lot Gardeners 81
Private Real Estate (Enclosures) vs.
Public Land (Commons) 91
Freely-given Labor Shapes a New Class Composition 95
Urban Gardening and Food Security 99
Keeping Gardening Simple and Limited 104
Urban Ju-jitsu 106
Ch. 6 “Outlaw” Bicycling 115
Bicycling Outside of the Waged Day 122
Autonomous Spaces or Small Businesses? 123
Bicycle Zines and Women Cyclists 128
Bike Messengers 133
Rides 139
Contesting the Technosphere 143
Class Composition and Community 149
Ch. 7 Free Fuel: The Tinkerer’s Grail 157
Proliferating Caravans 160
DIY: Tinkering Towards Appropriate Technology 166
The Work of Biofuels: Making and Unmaking Class 171
Big Capital vs. Sustainability? 176
Ch. 8 Virtual Spine of the Commons 185
A Brief History of the Internet 187
Making Technology Something New 192
The Cognitariat Works for Free 199
Networks of Communities 205
A Self-Organizing Commons 207
Ch. 9 Burning Man: A Working-Class, Do-It-Yourself
World’s Fair 213
One-Hour Scrutinizing 215
Commerce-free Gift Economy 216
Class in the Dust 219
The End of Community—Long Live Community! 222
Making Technology Ours 225
Liberated Work vs. Useless Toil 227
Ch. 10 A Vastly Better World Awaits 235
The Co-optation Trap 237
We’re History 238
The Privilege Trap 240
The Technology Trap 245
Taking Leave, Together 249
Notes 253
Selected Bibliography 268
About The Author 272
Index 273
