Few phrases capture modern anxiety more starkly than the notion of a “useless class.” This chapter confronts the fear directly — not to endorse it, but to interrogate the assumptions behind it.

As automation and AI advance, concerns about technological displacement are understandable. But history suggests labor markets tend to transform rather than simply disappear. The deeper risk may lie in transitional misalignment rather than permanent redundancy.

The chapter examines where the concern is well-founded and where it may be overstated. More importantly, it asks what institutional adaptations would be required to ensure that increasing productive efficiency translates into broader human flourishing rather than heightened insecurity.

The future of work — and of social cohesion — may depend less on the technology itself than on how deliberately we design the systems that surround it.