I joined Roqayah and Kumars at Delete Your Account again for a special episode, check it out.
Event • London
Work Won’t Love You Back at the Open University
As we are approaching international workers’ day, come and join Sarah Jaffe as she talks about why Work Won’t Love You Back – a book in which she examines the prevalence of the ‘labour of love’ myth: the idea that certain work is not really work, and should be done for the sake of passion rather than […]
We are delighted to host Sarah Jaffe, the author of the new book, Work Won’t Love You Back: How Our Devotion to Our Work Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone (2021). Sarah’s book talks about academics (“Proletarian Professionals”) as one among many groups of laborers in fields that include art, sports, non-profits, teaching, domestic work and more, that try to make laborers substitute “love” for adequate compensation. Sarah brilliantly and energetically breaks down just how, if the neoliberal turn hinges on choice and freedom, then the apparatus for choice is an apparatus for blame. And, as labor conditions got worse, the more you are supposed to perform your “love” for the job. About the academy specifically she observes that just as white women and people of color are scratching their way in, the conditions collapse and a rhetoric of self-sacrifice, austerity and martyrdom is supposed to prevail. Drawing inspiration from Ettarh’s concept of “vocational awe” (2018), Karen and Sarah* talk about resisting the coercive nature of uncompensated and unsafe (in the pandemic) work, and how to improve these conditions by replacing individual competition with an investment in our wider community.
I was particularly pleased with this appearance because my first real job in the media was working on what was then GRITtv with Laura Flanders, and one of the reasons I wanted to work for her was that people had recommended her to me as one of the few people actually covering labor in the media back then (2009, my goodness). So it’s always a joy to return to talk with Laura, the boss who was, as I said in my book acknowledgements, the exception that proves the rule that bosses won’t love you back.
“Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” How many times have you heard that advice? Labour journalist Sarah Jaffe says we need to rethink the idea that our jobs should be sources of personal fulfillment — let alone love. She argues that this attitude is used to keep workers […]
Capitalism is a death march, but it’s one we’re told we should find fulfilling. In this episode of “Movement Memos,” Kelly Hayes talks with author Sarah Jaffe about the manipulation, surveillance and criminalization of workers under capitalism, and what we can do about it.
We discuss everything from the fetishisation of busyness and hustle culture, to the impact of a year spent working from home, and how the pandemic is likely to change workplace structures in years to come. Plus, Sarah has some fascinating thoughts on the gig economy and self-employment, the role that personal brands play in creative careers, and how unionising might just be our way out of many of the workplace ills we discuss in this episode.
Event • Miami
Work Won’t Love You Back on Venus Roots
In this episode, Niki interviews Sarah Jaffe, labor journalist and author. The two discuss Sarah’s new book, Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted and Alone, which offers historical context on the gendered, racialized, and capitalist history impacting workers, families, and what kind of labor society deems as […]
I joined Sean and Jamie on The Antifada to discuss “Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone.” Antifada listeners know “do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life” is a dirty lie told by capitalists. But where did this idea come […]