An essay about capitalism, automation, and fear of being replaced
Fear of being replaced has come to define the late-capitalist psyche. In an age of gig work and AI, more and more workers are threatened with replacement; meanwhile dating apps present both limitless choice and limitless competition, and demagogues stoke racist paranoia through myths of a ‘great replacement’ by immigrant populations.
In this wide-ranging essay, Amber Husain asks how we might redirect the fear, turning our replaceability from an individual weakness into a collective strength.
Radical, clear-sighted, and moving, Replace Me examines both the terror and the allure in fantasies of infinite replacement. Hailed by Chris Kraus as ‘one of the most sweeping assessments to date of neoliberalism’s psychic toll’, this new edition features a foreword by Daisy Lafarge and an afterword by the author.
About the Author :
AMBER HUSAIN is a writer based in South London. She is the author of Replace Me, Meat Love, and Tell Me How You Eat. Her essays on politics, literature and art have been published in Granta, the LRB, New Left Review, The White Review, Baffler, The Believer, LA Review of Books and New York Times Magazine.
Review :
‘A close cousin to Franco Berardi, Amber Husain conducts one of the most sweeping assessments to date of neoliberalism’s psychic toll. Beginning with the sad fact of expendability in entry-level work, she expands on Lauren Berlant’s concept of cruel optimism, diving deep into under-investigated histories to understand the roots of systemic unhappiness and the nature of desire itself.’ Chris Kraus
‘Replace Me is a short, searing meditation on the idea of human replaceability in politics and work, love and comradeship, which ranges from Karel Čapek to Maggie Nelson, from Aleksandra Kollontai to Lauren Berlant. It packs an extraordinary range of ideas and inspirations into its brief polemic, managing to be sensitive and yet utterly provocative.’ Juliet Jacques
‘How rare it is to read a book like Amber Husain’s Replace Me, a work of criticism that lays bare the horrors of our automated lives with such subtle and sustained beauty. Replace Me is at once wonderfully unsparing in its critique of capitalism’s myths and wonderfully humane in its affirmative vision of love’s political vitality.’ Merve Emre
‘Essential reading for anyone in search of different futures. Amber Husain’s pellucid, erudite prose captures the many ways in which the workplace has been changing, further eviscerating any sense of engagement in meaningful labour. With verve and originality, Replace Me tracks through time highlighting social discontents before finally suggesting creative modes of coming to terms with, and hence resisting, the chief dysfunctions of the present.’ Lynne Segal
