Allison Pugh is professor of sociology and chair of the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at the University of Virginia. 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.
"""A New Scientist Non-Fiction and Popular Science Books to Look Forward To"" ""[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 multi-billion dollar industries work to attract more of our attention and take more of our time away from meaningful human connection.""---Jonathan Wai, Science ""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 force—both in the depth and complexity of her scholarship, and the ease of connection she brings to conversation.""---Elizabeth Fetterolf, Public Books ""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 ""[Pugh’s] 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 Pugh’s terminology in a similar way.""---Cathy Corman, Provincetown Independent"