Rethink Work

Changing how we think about work

#Workism

There are currently 14 articles in this category    RSS

  • faviconAgile Workplace — The virtue most venerated in the Agile environment is autonomy – which, in practice, amounts to a cult of individual performance. Ceaseless self-education, self-training and self-improvement is required. Boundaries between work and non-work disintegrate [2021]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Technofeudalism, Workism   
    Comments   
    Source: New Left Review    

  • faviconWe Shouldn’t Have to Work This Hard — We can reclaim our time for pursuits that give life meaning: creativity, connection, contemplation, and labors of love. To do it, we’ll need to confront the economic elites who preside over the rat race [2025]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: Worker Rights, Workism   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: Jacobin    

  • faviconWhy are we all working so hard? The intensification of work doesn’t seem to be making us richer, but it does appear to be making us sicker — In spite of — or perhaps because of — new technology, people now say they are working harder to tighter deadlines under greater levels of tension [2022]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: How to be Human, Workism   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: Financial Times    

  • faviconAristotle On Why Leisure Defines Us More than Work — Transposing his thought — that we often do not know how to spend our leisure time constructively — to the modern day, at one extreme we can find workaholism, at the other we find those who want to completely forget work [2022]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Leisure, Workism   
    Comments   
    Source: Philosophy Break    

  • faviconThe Shame of Work — Review of “The Refusal of Work: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Work”, by David Frayne; If ever a book was designed to help you question the value of the work ethic and look anew at our modern obsession with productivity and promotion, this is it [2016]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Books, Protestant Work Ethic, Workism   
    Comments   
    Source: The New Rambler Review    

  • faviconWe are still enslaved: we may not die from hunger, but we are certainly overworked and stressed out. Work has overtaken us and invaded our consciousness. And the physical hardships of working in the old mills have been replaced by new psychological hardships [2004]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Workism, Workplace Dictatorship   
    Comments   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconWhy Americans Care About Work So Much – Workism is rooted in the belief that employment can provide everything we have historically expected from organized religion [2023]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Mental Health, Workism   
    Comments   
    Source: The Atlantic    

  • faviconWe think of it as an individual problem, but burnout is the result of conditions in workplaces, workplace culture. And it’s a result of society and the view that we have of how work plays a role in being a good citizen, being a good person and so on [2022]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Mental Health, Workism   
    Comments   
    Source: NPR    

  • faviconThe Class Struggle in Silicon Valley — A generation ago, tech workers viewed themselves as billionaires-in-waiting, working extremely long hours at the expense of sleep and social life in the hope of making “a dent in the universe.” But deteriorating working conditions have led to a shift in perspective, sparking an unprecedented wave of worker activism [2024]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Technofeudalism, Workism   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: ZNetwork    

  • faviconWork anxiety is built into capitalism: Max Weber’s 1905 book still perfectly captures the mindset that sustains our work ethic today. He shows how European Protestants created a mode of thinking about money, work and dignity that we, to this day, cannot escape: it is our “iron cage” [2022]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Protestant Work Ethic, Workism   
    Comments   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconBurnout is not a thing inside us that has gone wrong. It’s the relationship between our ideals for work and the reality of our jobs. To counter it, we need to make work less central to how we understand our lives and spend more time with our families, communities and enjoy more leisure time [2022]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Leisure, Mental Health, Workism   
    Comments   
    Source: Welcome to the Jungle    

  • faviconBurnout culture is deeply rooted in our belief that work is “a means not just to a paycheck but to dignity, character, and a sense of purpose”. Burnout culture has persisted because we cherish these ideals about work. We fear losing the meaning that work promises [2022]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Workism   
    Comments   
    Source: Various    

  • faviconBeyond the Grind: Envisioning a Society Valuing Leisure – Stuart Whatley’s compelling argument for reviving the leisure ethic in modern society, contrasting our work-centric lifestyle with historical perspectives that valued free time and intrinsic pursuits
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Leisure, Workism   
    Comments   
    Source: Gear & Grit    

  • faviconAs America’s attitudes toward religion have continued to shift, it was perhaps inevitable that Americans would now worship at the altar of work instead. There’s a word for seeking such validation, identity and community in your career: workism [2024]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: How to be Human, Workism   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: The Week