What happens when the work that makes us most human—caring, listening, connecting—is increasingly outsourced, automated, or pushed to the margins? As AI enters every aspect of our lives, it’s ever more imperative to answer the question, “what does it mean to be human?”
Sociologist Allison Pugh has been thinking deeply about that question. In her new book The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World, she explores the overlooked emotional labor of roles like teachers, nurses, and social workers—and why these forms of connection are essential not just to our economy, but to our collective humanity.
In this conversation, we unpack the invisible scaffolding that keeps our care systems running, why “connection” work is under threat, and what we lose when efficiency becomes more valuable than empathy. Whether you’re managing a team, raising kids, or just trying to be more present in your relationships, Allison’s insights will challenge how you think about the work of being human.
Resources
The Last Human Job (Princeton, June 2024) – hardcover, ebook, audiobook
Website: allisonpugh.com
X (Twitter): @allison_pugh
Instagram: @allisonpughtoo
Bluesky: @allisonpugh.bsky.social
About Allison Pugh
Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University and the 2024–25 Vice President of the American Sociological Association, Allison Pugh studies the emotional and relational foundations of work and society .
Her widely praised new book, The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World (Princeton University Press, June 2024), introduces the concept of “connective labor”—the essential, often undervalued emotional work performed by teachers, nurses, therapists, social workers, and many others. Drawing on in-depth interviews and field observations, she warns of the growing threats posed by automation and efficiency-driven systems, offering a compelling case for preserving our capacity to connect as a core societal value .
Allison is also the author of:
Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children, and Consumer Culture (2009)
The Tumbleweed Society: Working and Caring in an Age of Insecurity (2015)
Editor of Beyond the Cubicle: Job Insecurity, Intimacy and the Flexible Self (2016)
Her research on the sociology of care and connection has appeared in Signs, American Behavioral Scientist, Theory, Culture & Society, and other peer-reviewed journals .
A seasoned public intellectual, Allison previously worked as a journalist and has contributed feature essays to major outlets including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The New Republic, and Time .
She holds an A.B. in Government from Harvard University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Berkeley. Before joining Johns Hopkins, she spent seventeen years on the faculty at the University of Virginia
