- Probably no other sentence comes up at a party as often as: “So, what do you do?” There is an unspoken question behind this: “Are you useful?” Work determines our social status: tell me what your job is–and I’ll tell you who you are.
and
- This situation is all the more schizophrenic in that we take every opportunity every day to escape toil and work: who voluntarily uses a washboard, if he has a washing machine? Who copies out a text by hand, if he can use a photocopier instead? And who mentally calculates the miserable columns of figures on his tax return, if he has a calculator? We are bone idle, and yet we glorify work.
There is definitely something to working hard. It means being a productive and contributing part of society from a wider point of view, but it also gives individuals a sense of purpose, sense of value, and sense of satisfaction. I have no doubt that the satisfaction I get from working hard is very related to the "work fetishism" (as the author puts it) that our society has. These two things are very intertwined.
However, we all need to value ourselves and feel satisfaction at the end of the day. I know that even in high school and middle school, before I worked hard or even knew what real work was, I would feel irritated, sluggish, and achy after a lazy day of video games and television. I couldn't sleep and was restless even though I was tired.
I also know that I have much less respect & value for other people if they do not work. By work I don't necessarily mean wake up and go to the office and come home every day. I don't mean receive a paycheck. Students are still some of the hardest workers I know, albeit a totally different type of "work". I mean do something that requires some sort of physical and / or brain power. Something that is not something that you 100% want to do. Something that challenges you and gives you something to work on and work towards. Goals, aspirations, and, most of all, movement towards those goals and aspirations.
It is easy to sit on the couch and play video games. It's easy to play video games while aspiring to be a video game designer. But aspiration is nothing without movement. I aspire to be a good singer one day but the fact that I (1) cannot sing, (2) am tone deaf, and (3) have never once tried to change either of those things mean that that random aspiration is utterly worthless. It is nothing more than a passing, fickle thought that has no bearing on who I am or what I do.
It is also easy to sit on the patio and nap in the sun. It is easy to go to bloody marys at 10am, go to the salon at 1pm, nap at 3pm, and go to the club at 9pm. For those who say "no, it's not easy to shop and drink all day...do you know how tired I am?" I would respond, "fuck you and go sit and work in an office all day." That's tiresome. That's frustration. That's exhausting. But that's work. That's doing something that is part of something bigger that gives your measly existence on this planet some sort of something that is bigger than you. Some sort of impact on the world around you.
Some of this lack of respect may stem from jealousy. I am jealous of you. But, let's be clear, I am not jealous that you are able to consistently post photos of you and all your friends drinking at noon at the beach multiple times a week. I am jealous that you can find some sort of happiness and satisfaction living like that. I cannot. I cannot sit on the beach day after day and be personally okay with myself at the end of the week, month, year. I'm not sure you can either, but oh well. That Instagram filter sure makes you look happy. And for that, I am jealous.
Another thing that may cause the lack of respect is the fact that I have a very hard time relating to people if they do not having some sort desire to do something (and the followthrough to act on their desires). if you do not have the desire to be better, act better, work better, be bigger, impact others, create, etc, then what do you have? It's not 'are you useful to me?' but rather, 'can you benefit my life in some sort of positive way?' Can you teach me something new? Can you widen my worldview? Can you provide companionship or have a conversation that will stimulate me on the level I desire? Can you help me out of a jam or provide insights into a tough situation? How can you do these things if you entire life is spent at the beach drinking and your biggest challenge in the last six months involves someone getting drunk and getting angry at someone else and then puking on your shoes? Or your biggest ordeal was that the PS3 controller died and the store was already closed and you lost the boss battle? I don't hate getting drunk or playing video games as a way to unwind. I do not respect people that do it day in and day out and are okay with that being the extent of their life.
I find that I am less likely to trust you, rely on you, or make an emotional commitment to you if you don't work because you are less relatable, you are living in a different world than me, and you appear to not have the ability / desire to be reliable. Work isn't hard. It's a bitch. It's annoying. It's challenging. But hard...no. Not everyone can do calculus. But anyone can work. (see definition of "work" above.)
My roommate would call me out for hanging out with some utterly worthless party animals this summer. They made their money selling weed/coke and working as busboys at a bar/club thing. My roommate was like "how can you stand to hang out with them? They don't do anything. That is a gross way to live. Wake up, drink, surf, swim, drink, go work an hour shift while drinking, and then drink more." I agreed with him. But I didn't stop hanging out with them on occasion. I was searching for some sort of worthless, lazy, nothingness so that I could (1) feel better about myself and my situation and (2) take a few moments to not deal with the outrageous amount of stress I was under. The best way to relieve stress to hang out with people who have no stress and no worries. They can't stress you out and they don't give a fuck about your stress because they can't relate. It was awesome. They were what I needed. But did I trust them? No. Did I respect them? No. Did I enjoy the time I spent with them? Oh yes.
I don't know. Just do something. Anything. Work. Create. Inspire. Help. It's gotta be better than not doing those things.
Maybe it's all, as the author says, a gross pile of work fetishism. Maybe it's all just western societies brainwashing of me. But if we lived in a world where we didn't all want to be better, get better, move up, impact others, work our asses off, etc, then what would we have? What would the world be? What would people do, how would things operate, etc? That is an interesting thought experiment for another day.
We had a dinner at our house tonight with a couple we've not really "met" before. She's the teacher at my daughters music class and she brought along her family. Her husband and her have 3 awesome children and they all pretty much entertained themselves, along with my daughter in the "play room" all night. -Bonus for a "new friend" if they have kids that can entertain ours. Inevitably, the question of "what do you do" came up. I have no problem with this question as I'm someone that does a lot, in truth most people are. But what most people answer with is "I'm a tax accountant" or some such nonsense. When in reality, they're a tax accountant to pay the bills, but also are a master chess player or a champion sports fisherman or an oboe player, who knows. Anyways, tonight I answered, "I'm a business development manager for "X," but really I'm a musician and the co-founder of the most interesting digital place you've never visited." -That got his attention. Immediately, he went from being a manager at a solar company to being a former manager of digital musical content for BMI. Talked about the start-ups he's had etc. But if we stayed in our comfortable, "I'm a "X" conversation, we'd have never learned these things about one another. Almost everyone could answer that question in a really interesting way, instead of in a way that answers how they get paid. What you "do" and how you "get paid" aren't necessarily the same thing. But aspiration is nothing without movement.
-That there, that is a hell of a sentence.
Shhh... nobody likes to hear about the people that are actually doing what they love for their employment.
Yeah, thing is I have a "career" but I also have hobbies that are way more interesting than my career. I think people with careers, would rather talk about how they are amateur archers or coach a high school soccer team etc. more than they would their careers. It all boils down to passion. You can be passionate about your career and just more passionate about your hobbies. I have always enjoyed that bit by Rock though. He's a funny guy
This is why my business card simply says "Problem Solver" as a job description. People get an initial kick out of it being unusual, but then open up a conversation by asking, "So what does that mean?" Then I must explain the array of work I've done and the interests I have, and how there's a common thread of core skills within my versatility that make me a good fit for lots of different things.
The article you attached is beneath your analysis. A Berliner freelancer whingeing about basic income has no place in this discussion because the question "what do you do" is answered many ways, with the unspoken infinitive phrase a multiple choice question at the root of philosophy: "What do you do..." - "for fun?" - "for money?" - "with your time?" - "for a living?" - "when you aren't standing here in front of me obviously not doing that thing I'm asking about?" I, personally, have never felt that the phrase - "to justify your existence, freeloader" ...has ever nonverbally answered this question, even at my most self-defensive and self-loathing. There are conversations and situations where one's occupation is being asked. Most of them are statistical or procedural. For anybody else, you can choose to answer "I wait tables" or "I'm working on a novel." But that choice is yours, not theirs. It's something I think people learn much too late in life - the question is a clumsy "who are you?" but the answer is all yours. Do you want to define yourself by your job? That's fine - encouraged, in fact, if you enjoy your job and are good at it. In an ideal world we all adore that thing that keeps a roof over our heads. If you prefer to define yourself by an aspiration that's fine, too - nobody will truly believe that you're a DJ until you truly believe that you're a DJ. The worst thing you can do, I think, is get pissed off at the question. It isn't loaded, it isn't a veiled threat, it isn't an evaluation of your worth. It's an attempt at opening a dialogue and if simply hearing the question pisses you off, then what you're showing the world is that you're pissed off. Your definition of "work" is better suited by "make." A student makes a body of knowledge. An artist makes paintings. A bartender makes a lot of drinks. A competitive surfer makes his body and his skillset into a better tool for surfing. You can just kill time, too, though. There's a time and a place for both and I agree - when you're out of balance it feels bad. Julia Phillips relates a Yiddish proverb in her bridge-burning memoir of Hollywood ("You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again"). She said "People regard money three ways: as blood, for nourishment; as semen, for creating; and as shit, for throwing away." I think "work" is the same.
I think some very select sentences from his blog triggered a winding thought process that ended up pretty far from the original post. Ah well. I do like this. And I like using "make" over "work" as work is too closely tied to pay and hatred & disgruntlement. It's funny how negative of a connotation "work" has, yet most of the people I know don't experience work as 100%, or even 50%, negative."People regard money three ways: as blood, for nourishment; as semen, for creating; and as shit, for throwing away."
It's a word with way too much baggage. There's a flip side to that, too, though - our relationship with "work" is every bit as transmutable as "do." The trick is getting the other side to agree with your position and every now and then you'll run across some putz advocating basic income without so much as paying lip service to the sausage-making of that level of welfare.
Sometimes I feel like the only person around here who truly believes that far too large a percentage of the population would be sufficiently satisfied with rotting away on a sofa watching Jersey Shore reruns literally forever. However, it's a testament to the optimism of Hubski's users that they believe larger numbers of people would contribute more to society in a basic income system. Naive, I think, but admirable....every now and then you'll run across some putz advocating basic income without so much as paying lip service to the sausage-making of that level of welfare.
I agree humans need some kind of labour to find meaning and purpose in life. That's why I lean towards Basic Income from a sociological perspective (economics notwithstanding). Very few people find meaning doing data entry at a desk every day of their adult life, or taking orders at McDonald's, or selling doors door-to-door. With Basic Income, sure, a lot of those people will be unfulfilled sitting at home watching Jersey Shore instead of being unfulfilled sitting at work entering data. But at least they'll have the opportunity to find meaning, instead of being forced into a mindless job that doesn't really need doing. And hey, maybe they'll even contribute something to society. Nor is Basic Income the only solution to the sociological problem. Related: On Work, The Prophet, Kahlil Gilbran; In Praise of Idleness, Bertrand Russell
I just finished David Graeber's Debt: The First 5,000 Years and found it to be a fascinating and engaging read. One of the arguments he makes is that our most natural economy is a human economy (which he calls Communism) whereby our net of social obligations and relations, sans tokens demarcating value, is our basic state. He further argues that "money" as markers devoid of any intrinsic value arises from slavery and war, and that coinage historically arises amongst populations with large quantities of soldiers and mercenaries. From a Graeber-Communist standpoint, a "Basic Income" is basically a human right. If you are a member of a community in which others know you and feel that you are a part of their fabric, you will be taken care of. The rise of money-driven commerce serves to erode the social fabric, thereby decontextualizing people and permitting their abuse. From a Graeber-Capitalist standpoint, money exists to deny you a "Basic Income." And that's the problem, I think. Graeber takes a few pot-shots at Niall Ferguson and others but one thing Ferguson did was point out that while our system is cruel, it won. Over and over and over again. So while capitalism has many, many shortcomings, unless you adopt something truly bulletproof you're likely to be overrun and dominated by another tribe/culture of capitalists. It gave me another perspective on Basic Income, namely that it's an obvious right amongst small social groups that has been entirely eliminated amongst large social groups. Under Dunbar's Number? Basic Income for you. Over? Die in the street, hippie. Which doesn't necessarily mean that Basic Income will lead to the downfall of civilization but does illustrate that civilization is basically the force that prevents it from ever happening. At least, until we come up with a system better than capitalism. Last time anybody tried that they ended up with a nepotistic kleptocracy. Dunno. Figure out a way for Basic Income to benefit JP Morgan Chase and it could happen.
I'm currently reading Joseph Campbell's Myths to Live By, which has made me more aware of the social and cultural impacts at the moment. He talks about the dichotomy of social immortality and individualism, and how he believes the suppression of individualism is culturally toxic. And so, as you say, how do we find a balance? How do we find a system which allows for individual creativity and fulfillment, which is also resistant to corruption by the wealthy, which is also economically feasible, and ideally also maximises liberty? I think capitalism did a rather good job at most of those for nearly three hundred years. I think it's probably failing now because of individual and cultural sicknesses, rather than any insurmountable weakness of the system. Which is to say, cultural healing must precede economic healing.One of the arguments he makes is that our most natural economy is a human economy
you're likely to be overrun and dominated by another tribe/culture of capitalists.
If you are a member of a community in which others know you and feel that you are a part of their fabric
-Does he define "part of the fabric?" Seems to be pretty open to interpretation. One persons "fabric" is another's cob web.
Yeah, but the crucial distinction is that all these people eventually get up and produce their own content. Sure, you have to experience a medium before you can create it, but in the end you do have to participate in the actual act of creation. The only way to get good at something is to do it. A lot.Musicians listen to music, actors watch plays, game developers play games.
So there's beer-barrel bourbon and then there's bourbon-barrel beer. What will they think of next?!
The bourbon I'm drinking is actually make from this bourbon-barreled beer. It's fantastic. Somehow I get biscuits, wheat, coffee, oak, and smoke in almost equal proportions. This from someone who doesn't have much of a tongue for spirits.
Edit relevant to thread, I guess if asked 'What do you do?' at this particular moment, it would be come up with pretentious descriptions for bourbon.
There seems to be a spate of these articles right now, relating to bullshit jobs (etc). I wish there was some sort of top-down way of tracing this kind of thing. Has anyone noticed how news stories and commentary pieces come and go in waves? Comments upon comments. Would be really interesting to collate them. David Graeber the anarchist anthropologist (he doesn't like being called that) wrote a good 'un at libcom: https://libcom.org/library/phenomenon-bullshit-jobs-david-graeber One commenter has attempted to give an estimate of the number of "bullshit jobs" (i.e. red tape / only there to make money and not really to help anyone). Society is so focused on work, that when people have any free time, the idea of doing work unconnected to the profit motive (e.g. exercise, learning, teaching, reading, writing) is the last thing that they want to do. People are just too fucking tired. What's the first thing that you want to do at the end of an eight hour day? Unfortunately these kinds of work are more beneficial to ourselves and society than many forms of profit-related labour.