From the editors’ introduction:

British journalist Paul Mason believes that a fundamental change of system away from capitalism is necessary because the current capitalist economic model leads, among other things, to poorly remunerated, often even exploitative working conditions spreading in many industries worldwide. In his essay, Mason argues that what is needed is not simply a new, fairer organization of gainful employment, but more fundamentally a new economic system. He characterizes the politically common reform options – such as a purely redistributive social democracy or a protectionist nationalism – as nostalgically transfiguring positions. He contrasts them with the project of "postcapitalism," which he has been leading in profiling. The core of this approach is to create structures that decouple technological progress – especially in the field of information technology – from the capitalism of free markets and put it at the service of society as a whole. But what would that mean for the gainful employment that is the focus here? Mason argues that the productivity gains from automation and digitization should be distributed more broadly, for example in the form of a basic income, so that each individual can decide freely, without financial worries, whether and to what extent he or she wants to be gainfully employed. By contrast, Mason considers utopias that cling to the traditional ideal of gainful employment to be outdated.