"We are the first society to devote everything to work. We have come to worship it, and what it has wrought."

"We are faced with clear, decisive alternatives: either work a lot to consume a lot (the way Western society has gone), or else be contented with consuming less while working less (the deliberate choice of some traditional societies). These days, we want to consume a lot while not working much and still having, hoarding everything at the same time."
Although philosopher and sociologist Jacques Ellul has never expressly devoted a book to examining the idea of work, he has written on it at length throughout his career. Collected here, for the first time, are all his pieces on the topic of work.