Aaron Benanav

• 2024 Spring
  • SOC 300 Selected Topics - Robots, AI, and the New Landsa
  • SOC 406 Sociological Theory
• 2023 Fall
  • SOC 600 Selected Topics - Economy & Society
• 2023 Spring
  • SOC 400 Selected Topics - Automation & the Future of Wor
  • SOC 406 Sociological Theory
• 2022 Fall
  • SOC 406 Sociological Theory

Aaron Benanav is assistant professor of sociology and affiliate of the Autonomous Systems Policy Institute. His work has been published in numerous journals, and he authored the book “Automation and the Future of Work” (Verso Books, 2020).

He serves on the editorial board of International Labor and Working Class History and has received numerous honors, including a 2021 Scripts grant, the University of Chicago Feminist Forum Professor Award and the University of Chicago Society of Fellows Harper-Schmidt Fellowship.

Prior to joining Syracuse, he was a post-doctoral researcher for Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and a collegiate assistant professor at the University of Chicago. He received a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2015. 

"Economic Planning and Democratic Politics: History, Theory, and Practice", Sponsored by Neubauer Collegium, University of Chicago.

• Book
  • Benanav, A. S., Automation and the Future of Work. Verso Books, 2020.
• Journal Articles
  • Benanav, A. S., "A Dissipating Glut?." New Left Review, 2023.
  • Benanav, A. S., "Socialist Investment, Dynamic Planning, and the Politics of Human Need." Rethinking Marxism, 2022.
  • Benanav, A. S., "Service Work in the Pandemic Economy." International Labor and Working Class History, 2021.
  • Benanav, A. S., "Automation and the Future of Work-II." New Left Review, 2019.
  • Benanav, A. S., "Automation and the Future of Work-I." New Left Review, 2019.
  • Benanav, A. S., "Demography and Dispossession: Explaining the Growth of the Global Informal Workforce, 1950-2000." Social Science History, 2019.
  • Benanav, A. S., "The Origins of Informality: The ILO at the Limit of the Concept of Unemployment." Journal of Global History, 2019.
• Article in Edited Volume
  • Benanav, A. S., Clegg, J., "Crisis and Immiseration: Critical Theory Today." In SAGE Handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory. Best, B., Bonefeld, W. and O'Kane, C. (eds.) Sage Publications, 2018.
• Editorial
  • "Special Issue: Workers and Obsolescence." Benanav, A. S., Flores, L. (eds.) International Labor and Working Class History, 2022.
• Journal Review
  • Benanav, A. S., "American Unemployment: Past, Present, and Future." Labor, 2021.
• Magazine/Trade Publication
  • Benanav, A. S., "We're All Stagnationists Now." Jacobin, 2023.
• Newspaper Article
  • Benanav, A. S., "The revolution will not be brought to you by ChatGPT." In New Statesman. , 2023.
• Online Publications
  • Benanav, A. S., "Automation and Economic Growth." In SCRIPTS Blog. , 2021.
  • Benanav, A. S., "Cyberflâneur #46." In The Syllabus. , 2021.
  • Benanav, A. S., "Crisis and Recovery." In Phenomenal World. , 2020.
  • Benanav, A. S., "It’s Not about NAFTA." In Verso Blog. , 2016.
  • Benanav, A. S., "Precarity Rising." In Viewpoint Magazine. , 2015.
• Print Publications
  • Benanav, A. S., "Making a Living: The History of What We Call Work." In Nation. , 2021.
  • Benanav, A. S., "Can Technology Create Shared Prosperity?." In Boston Review. , 2021.
  • Benanav, A. S., "How to Make a Pencil." In Logic Magazine. , 2020.
  • Benanav, A. S., "A World without Work?." In Dissent Magazine. , 2020.
  • Benanav, A. S., "World Asymmetries." In New Left Review. , 2020.
  • Benanav, A. S., "Why Uber's Business Model is Doomed." In The Guardian. , 2020.
  • Benanav, A. S., "Automation Isn't Wiping out Jobs." In The Guardian. , 2020.

History and Political Economy: Resource Conflict, History and Political Economy, "Gender and Sexuality in Law and Social Policy (discussant)" (December 16, 2023)

State University of
 Campinas (UNICAMP), "Relative Surplus Populations in Contemporary Capitalism" (November 8, 2023)

Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work Conference, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, University of Massachusetts Boston, "Will ChatGPT Eliminate More Jobs than It Creates? How Would We Know?" (November 4, 2023)

AI Policy Symposium, Autonomous Systems Policy Institute, Syracuse University, "Future of Work Panel" (October 27, 2023)

Department of Political Economy, University of Sydney, "The Community Ideal and the Multi-Criterial Economy in the History of Political Thought" (October 24, 2023)

Ethos Festival, "Business Ethics, Automation, and the Future of Work" (October 7, 2023)

Fisher Center for the Study of Gender and Justice, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, "The Community Ideal and the Multi-Criterial Economy in the History of Political Thought" (September 20, 2023)

Annual Conference, American Sociological Association, "Automation, Algorithms, and the Future of Work" (August 21, 2023)

Brooklyn Institute of Social Research, "100 Years Later: The Frankfurt School and the Now" (July 14, 2023)

Council of European Studies Conference, Council of European Studies, "Guild Socialism and the Polycentric Society in the History of Utopian Thought" (June 28, 2023)

"Automation and the Future of Work" (June 17, 2023)

Economics Department, Rikkyo University, "Automation and the Future of Work" (June 10, 2023)

Philosophy Department, University of Tokyo, "Imagining New Subjectivities: Automation and the Future of Work" (June 10, 2023)

Festival Economia, "Technological Unemployment: Myth or Truth (with Daniel Susskind)" (May 28, 2023)

Festival Economia, "The Frontiers of Artificial Intelligence: Automation and the Future of Work" (May 28, 2023)

Groupe d'Études Géopolitiques, UNESCO Management of Social Transformations Programme, École Normale Supérieure, "Automation – Digital Anthropology" (May 25, 2023)

Computational Social Science Seminar, MIT Institute for Data, Systems and Society and Media Lab, "Automation and the Future of Work: Expectations vs. Reality" (May 3, 2023)

Law and Political Economy Conference, Law and Political Economy, "Technology and Popular Power (discussant)" (March 31, 2023)

Political Economy Research Center, Goldsmiths University of London, "Post-Scarcity Economics: An Introduction" (March 23, 2023)

Indiana University Informatics Colloquium, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, IU Bloomington, "Automation and the Future of Work" (December 2, 2022)

Phenomenal World, "The Meddlers: Jamie Martin in conversation with Aaron Benanav and Adom Getachew" (November 21, 2022)

Milano Digital Week, "Sta finendo il lavoro così come lo abbiamo conosciuto? Aaron Benanav in conversation with Greta Sclaunich" (November 13, 2022)

Biennale Tecnologia, "Automazione e futuro del lavoro: Aaron Benanav in conversation with Antonio Casilli" (November 12, 2022)

Annual Conference, Korean Critical Sociological Association, "Automation and the Future of Work in the post-Covid Era" (November 5, 2022)

Korean Labor Institute, "Automation and the Future of Work" (November 4, 2022)

Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, "Strategic Responses to Digital Transformation" (November 4, 2022)

Department of Sociology, Yonsei University, "Automation and the Future of Work" (November 3, 2022)

Marx22 Conference: Primitive Accumulation, Marx 22, "Markets, Planning, and the Politics of Human Need" (October 29, 2022)

School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, "Automation and the Future of Work" (October 28, 2022)

Digital Discourses: Science/Fiction, Goethe-Institut Indonesien, Center for Digital Society, "Automation and the End of Work?" (October 27, 2022)

Inspiration Forum, "Political Economy of Digital Technology" (October 17, 2022)

Socialism: Rationality and Distribution, Freie Universität, "Socialist Investment, Dynamic Planning, and the Politics of Human Need" (July 1, 2022)

Workshop on Digital Technologies and Postcapitalist Imaginaries, English Department, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, "Introducing Post-Scarcity Economics" (June 3, 2022)

Culturitical, Hansa48 Social Center, "Automation and the Future of Work" (June 2, 2022)

University of Chicago Paris Center, "Keynes and Keynesianism Reconsidered" (May 7, 2022)

Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, "New Directions in the Study of Work" (April 8, 2022)

¿Hacia dónde va el trabajo? Informalidad, digitalización y reproducción social en América Latina, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, "El futuro del trabajo: nuevas tecnologías, informalidad y reproducción social" (April 7, 2022)

University of London Institute, "Theory in Crisis Seminar – Post-scarcity economics: the Foundations of Life after Capitalism" (February 18, 2022)

Work, Economy and Social Policy Club, Hertie School, "Unemployment, Automation, and Post-Scarcity Economics" (February 10, 2022)

Critical Studies Programme, Sandberg Instituut, "Automation, the End of Work, and a New Tomorrow?" (January 13, 2022 - January 14, 2022)

Blakely, G., Benanav, A. S., NYU Skirball Center in collaboration with N+1 and Verso, "Covid-19 and Its Afterlives: The Future of Work" (January 13, 2022)

Die Vierte Sache, Volksbühne Roter Salon, with the support of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, "Automatisierung und die Zukunft der Arbeit" (December 17, 2021)

Bern University of the Arts, "Automation and the End of Work?" (December 1, 2021)

Kosmopolitics, Wochenzeitung, "Geht Uns die Arbeit Aus?" (November 29, 2021)

Past Futures of Work Conference, Working Futures, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, "Automation and the Future of Work in the Global Economy" (October 29, 2021)

People, Organisations and Work Institute, De Montfort University, "Automation and the Future of Work in the Pandemic Economy" (October 20, 2021)

book launch event for the German translation, SCRIPTS, "Futuring the Liberal Script #4: Automation and the Future of Work" (October 18, 2021)

Unsound Festival 2021: Deep Authentic, "Automation, the End of Work, and a New Tomorrow?" (October 15, 2021)

The Digitalization of the World of Work Conference, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, "Automation and the Future of Work" (October 13, 2021)

Terrestrial Forum: Horizons of Change, Ministry of Space, "Automation, the End of Work, and a New Tomorrow?" (August 26, 2021)

Annual Meeting, American Sociological Association, "Open Topics: The Making of the Global" (August 8, 2021)

Transmediale Summer Camp: For Refusal, "Post-Scarcity Economics" (July 7, 2021)

Centre for Digital Cultures, Leuphana University, "Automation and the Future of Work in the Pandemic Economy" (June 8, 2021)

Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice, University of Texas at Austin, "Beyond the Future of Work" (May 24, 2021)

Digital Futures at Work Research Centre, Sussex University, "Automation and the End of Work?" (May 19, 2021)

Digitalization and Automation in Contemporary Capitalism Series, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Federal University of Ceará, and the Unisinos University, "Automation and the Future of Work" (April 30, 2021)

Kolloquium Technologie, Gesellschaft, politische Ökonomie, Humboldt University of Berlin, "Post-scarcity economics" (April 28, 2021)

Nordic Talks, Hanken School of Economics, "Reimagining Futures of Work" (April 28, 2021)

Law and Society Seminar, Colegio de Mexico, "Cambio tecnológico y derecho: automatización del trabajo e inteligencia artificial" (April 21, 2021)

Online Speaker Series, Science & Society, "Technology, Automation, and Socialist Strategy" (April 3, 2021)

Rhodes Center, Brown University, "Automation and the Future of Work" (March 26, 2021)

Department of Sociology, Syracuse University, "Automation and the end of work? Labor market dynamics between innovation and Stagnation" (February 26, 2021)

Critical Theory Center, Humboldt University of Berlin, "Automation and the Future of Work" (January 20, 2021)

Globalization, Work and Production Research Group, Berlin Social Sciences Center, "COVID-19 and Workplace Automation" (January 13, 2021)

Covid Capitalism Series, School of Labor and Urban Studies, City University of New York, "The Pandemic Economy & the Future of Work" (November 19, 2020)

Forrester, K., Barker, T., Benanav, A. S., Benanav, A. S., "A discussion about Automation and the Future of Work" (October 15, 2020)

Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, "The History of Automation and the Future of Work" (September 28, 2020)

Fall Colloquium Series, University of Texas at Austin, "Automation and the Future of Work in the Global Pandemic Economy" (September 21, 2020)

Political Science Colloquium, University of Delaware, "Labor faces the Automation Question" (February 28, 2020)

SCRIPTS: Contestations of the Liberal Script, Opening Conference, Freie Universität, "Welfare, Labor, Re-Allocation" (February 8, 2020)

BGIE Unit, Harvard Business School, "The End of Unemployment? Economic Indicators and the Search for Social Stability" (January 30, 2020)

Center for Work and Democracy, Arizona State University, "The Green New Deal and the Future of Work in America" (November 1, 2019)

Speculative Design: Post-Petroleum Utopias, 3CT, University of Chicago, "Abundance is a Social Relation" (May 31, 2019)

Capitalism and Social Theory: A Conference in Memory of Moishe Postone, University of Chicago, "In What Sense is the End of Work a New Beginning?" (April 12, 2019)

Center for Liberal Arts, Webster Vienna Private University, "The Global History of Unemployment: Adventures of an Economic Concept" (March 25, 2019)

Neubauer Collegium Three Year Grant, University of Chicago (September, 2023 - June, 2026)

Feminist Forum Professor Award, University of Chicago (2017)

Graduate Division Graduate Summer Research Mentorship, UCLA (2007 - 2008)