For decades, the left has split roughly into a pro-work and an anti-work camp. David Frayne doesn’t exactly frame his book The Refusal of Work as a contribution to that debate. But lots of people on the anti-work side cite it in support of their views. And so, I recently read The Refusal of Work with an eye toward its implications for that debate.

I’ll lay out a few thoughts on The Refusal of Work in this post. I think the book makes some valuable contributions to moral and political debates about work. It lays out some of the problems with work and helps us imagine alternatives. But I don’t think Frayne does many favors for the anti-work socialist camp.

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