Do we work to live, or live to work?

Do we work to live, or live to work? What would work look like in a “free” society?
Hello friends!
Please join our discussion-led session on “work” through Pierre Clastres’ Society Against the State.
We’ll use Clastres’ argument to question the idea that human societies naturally move towards more work, more production, more accumulation, and finally the State. Clastres argues that some stateless societies were not simply poor, backward, or unable to produce more. Instead, they often limited work to what was needed, refused unnecessary surplus, and organised themselves in ways that prevented coercive political power from emerging. In short, the text invites us to ask whether work is always a neutral or positive activity. Is work simply what people do to meet their needs? Or does work become something different when it is imposed by bosses, rulers, markets, or institutions? Clastres helps us distinguish between work as necessary cooperation and work as domination. But the question is not simple. If a society refuses accumulation, how does it prepare for years of scarcity? Can a community store food, tools, or resources for collective security without allowing those reserves to become a source of power over others?
Here are some questions to consider: Do we work in order to live, or are our lives organised around work? What is the difference between necessary work and imposed work? Is refusing unnecessary work a political act? Can a free society organise necessary labour without creating rulers? How much surplus or storage does a community need to protect itself from scarcity? When does storing goods for collective security become accumulation for power? Is modern wage labour mainly productive, or also disciplinary? What is the difference between community labour, voluntary cooperation, and wage labour? Let’s come together for an insightful and engaging session—we look forward to exploring the politics of work, the limits of accumulation, and whether we can imagine forms of collective labour without domination. Further reading: Pierre Clastres, Society Against the State
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/pierre-clastres-society-against-the-state