Work Won't Love You Back

How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone

De: Sarah Jaffe

Narrado por: Sarah Jaffe

An “indispensable” (Nation) examination of why "doing what you love" is a recipe for exploitation, creating a new tyranny of work in which we cheerily acquiesce to doing jobs that take over our lives.

You're told that if you "do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life."

In Work Won't Love You Back, Sarah Jaffe, a preeminent voice on labor, inequality, and social movements, examines this "labor of love" myth—the idea that certain work is not really work, and therefore should be done out of passion instead of pay. Told through the lives and experiences of workers in various industries, Jaffe reveals how all of us have been tricked into buying into a new tyranny of work. Once freed from those binds, we can finally figure out what actually gives us joy, pleasure, and satisfaction.

A Necessary Read of People and History

Like any nonfiction, there are moments it can be dry, but unlike much nonfiction and textbook history, it captures complexity and people. Regardless of one's politics, it is extraordinarily important to see how people are often exploited by their employers, even in important jobs doing what we believe in, like teaching, caretaking, art, or nonprofit work (even at a place like Planned Parenthood). Even if we are lucky enough to love our job, we should not let those in charge exploit us for free labor, "for the kids," "for the community," while others then profit off that labor. And while we can love what we do, people taking advantage of that can ruin it. While we can love what we do, loving people is far more important than loving a job, which, by definition, is work.

Must read for all Workaholics!

This book had a lot of personal and intellectual "aha" moments for me. Working in public education for 30 years and during the pandemic has pushed me prematurely toward retirement but I have new perspectives about it. The history of work is fascinatingly analyzed in a way that you will never look at any industry the same again.

work

injoy life join a union love your self and don't be afraid to stand up for what you deserve.

Okay, but nothing new

With such a provocative forward and title, I was expecting something revolutionary. Although all the points were good, very few were new. Maybe 20% of this book contained content I had not read before. If you’re well-read and we’ll-informed, I wouldn’t recommend it. As a starter for those interested in worker exploitation and collective resistance for the first time, it provides a good, basic foundation.

Interesting

This author does a terrific job of describing the history of work - especially for women - and how we got to where we are today. Toward the end she ventures into theorizing about alternate means of production & distribution and a new form of “work”. I didn’t agree with some of her theories but the bulk of it I found to be a good read.