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work and labor, PURPOSE - Coggle Diagram

- - - - the american dream: study, go to college, get a good job, work hard, get money, have a home, have a family, be stable, get respect
        
        external source: “Gen Z Works More But Earns Less — Here’s Why”
        
        gen z follows expected path
        
        work hard, get educated, but still struggle,,,,, why???
        
        “The result is a generation that follows every rule in the book and still can’t seem to get ahead.”
      - "the ethic doesn't apply evenly"
        americans claim that effort creates success but covert argues that class and wealth can change outcomes
    - - Covert: hard work does not guarantee security
      - Gen Z article: following the rules still may not create upward mobility
      - Sorry to Bother You: success depends on more than effort
  - - - white voice gives cassius more sales
        
        customers love him because of white voice
        
        whiteness=successful
      - white voice leads to sales leads to recognition leads to promotion leads to power caller
      - who is viewed as professional? why do POC have to work so hard to be seen???
  - - - does work equal worth?
      - hardwork vs lazy
      - deserving vs undeserving
      - worthy vs unworthy
  - - - samneil shows that entry level jobs require years of experience even though they tell people that it is just for starting
        
        making younger people do unpaid and low paying work
  - - - Covert:
        
        investments
        
        inheritance
        
        passive income
        
        tax advantages
        
        no financial insecurity
      - POOR
        
        covert:
        
        work requirements
        
        low wages
        
        unstable schedules
        
        little to no benefits
        
        difficult gov assistance
    - - same society but every single person gets/has different expectations and outcomes
        
        sorry to bother you
        
        power callers
        
        status
        
        a lot of money
        
        access to fancy things and parties and celebrities
        
        luxury life
        
        downstairs workers:
        
        low pay
        
        dozens cubicles in a small place (backrooms vibe)
        
        no power
        
        they can strike because they have a reason to
    - - Samneil:
        
        younger workers have fewer asset
        
        high rent
        
        student debt
        
        low entry level job salaries
        
        no freedom or flexibility
        
        The article argues young workers often start in a much more financially vulnerable position.
- - - - gen z wants meaningful work
        
        79% want a job that helps people and makes a positive difference
        
        “Meaning and purpose are the deep engines of our lives.”
        
        contribution
        
        helping others
        
        social impact
        
        feeing useful
        
        meaningful work
        
        meaning can come from regular work
        
        dishwasher helping provide food
        
        retail worker helping people
        
        meaning can come from contribution
    - - Strong work purpose
        
        50% engaged
        
        13% frequently burned out
        
        41% looking/watching for another job
      - Low work purpose
        
        9% engaged
        
        38% frequently burned out
        
        68% looking/watching for another job
    - - does meaningless labor contribute to Bartleby’s withdrawal?
      - what happens when a worker sees no purpose in work?
  - - - cassius gains
        
        salary
        
        promotion
        
        status
        
        power caller position
        
        recognition
        
        material comfort
      - cassius loses
        
        his real self
        
        relationship with his girlfriend
        
        relationship with friends
        
        solidarity
        
        moral comfort
        
        parts of his identity
      - white voice
        
        professional success or his identity
  - - - MONEY
        
        rent
        
        food
        
        security
        
        stability
        
        future
      - purpose vs survival
    - - employment does not automatically end poverty
      - having a job does not financial security
  - - - “Setting limits isn’t avoiding work. It’s refusing to be taken advantage of.”
- - - - control through fear
      - control through routine
      - control through money
      - control through social expectations
    - - bartleby
        
        he is more brave to threats at work
      - sorry to bother you
        
        workers live paycheck to paycheck
        
        cannot disobey because of financial insecurity
        
        fear of losing income keeps workers in check
      - orientation:
        
        workers can be "let go"
        
        scared of getting fired = more compliance
        
        small violations have big consequences -> no wiggle room or mercy
        
        fear or obedience?
    - - does capitalism accept conformity instead of actual hard work?? what is valued more????
      - conformity vs refusing
        
        bartleby:
        
        refuses
        
        withdraws
        
        useless for the company
        
        cassius
        
        adapts
        
        conforms
        
        succeeds
      - bartleby:
        
        does the opposite of conforming
        
        doesnt adap
        
        doesnt act they way hes supposed to
      - orientation
        
        normalization: corporate culture makes crazy expecations normal
        
        sorry to bother you: cassius uses the white voice, he conforms to gain success, he adapts to what the constumers what to get promotions
        
        "use your white voice":
        
        assimilation
        
        racial expectations
        
        acceptance in the profession
        
        class performance
        
        seperation between personal identity and work identity
    - - sorry to bother you
        
        workers follow scripts
        
        management controls everything
        
        promotions depend on meeting expectations
        
        cassius has to assimilate to get promoted
        
        "stick to the script"
        
        company controls what workers do and say
      - bartleby by herman melville
        
        narrator wants employees to follow rules
        
        employers assume compliance is good
        
        bartleby challenges expectations
        
        "I would prefer not to"
        
        bartleby refuses to disrupt the hierarchy
        
        power comes from refuses to comply
        
        authority is maintained through rules and consequences
        
        but that freedom disappears when questioning authority too much
        
        independence or obedience
        
        workers appear free to ask questions
      - Orientation by Daniel Orozco
        “Ask too many questions, however, and you may be let go.”
        
        the employees are basically told and pushed to be open and comfortable to ask questions but not if it threatens those in charge
        
        is it actually freedom??
        
        you can ask questions but not too much
        
        you can take breaks but not too much and you dont get full control
        
        you can work how you want but only if it meets expectations
      - Orientation by Daniel Orozco
        
        no personal calls
        
        need to ask for permission for everything, even emergency calls
        
        everyone has to follow weird rules
        
        if you disobey you get fired
        
        orientation- obedience bartleby= refusal
      - Orientation by Daniel Orozco
        
        employee
        
        supervisor
        
        management
        
        rules
        
        permission
        
        discipline
    - - Orientation by Daniel Orozco
        “If it interfered with her work, she might have to be let go.” Orozco-Orientation
        
        personal suffering is okay as long as you are productive
        
        human value vs worker value
        
        worker: speed, obedience, attendance, productivity
        human: grief, relationships, mental health, rest
      - Orientation by Daniel Orozco
        “You must pace your work.”
        
        every minute of your life goes to work
        
        entire work day has to fit hours and hours of work
        
        little amount of time push to work day
        
        to them productivity is not just work
        you as a employee has to work all day every minute
        
        what is the goal.... obedience, or productivity?
    - - workplace identity versus personal identity
      - bartleby
        
        his identity becomes defined by work and his refusal
      - identity becomes part of the labor
        
        orientation
        
        coworkers reduces to roles and cubicles
        
        private life does not interfere with work
        
        personal identity matters less at work
        
        cassiu sells his voice his personality his image anf his comfort just to appeal to white customers and a community that is not his
        
        How much of ourselves do we lose to keep a job??
      - sorry to bother you
        
        white voice changes cassius's identity
        
        success makes you put on diff personalities
        
        he becomes liked by customers when he does not act himself
- - - - “We should be men first, and subjects afterward.”
        
        conscience versus obedience
        
        authority and majority and law can be wrong
        
        we as people have the moral responsibility to do the right thing
        
        just because something is legal does not mean it is right
        
        “The only obligation… is to do at any time what I think right.”
  - - - disagreement does not equate to resistance
  - - - sorry to bother you
        
        workers strike
        
        solidarity
        
        organization
        
        collective action
        
        willingness to disrupt business
        
        thoreau: individual moral resistance
        
        bartleby: individual refusal
        
        samneil: workplace boundaries, gen z refuses to work unpaid
        
        all of these are different kinds of resistance
        
        “Setting limits isn’t avoiding work. It’s refusing to be taken advantage of.”
    - - differences
        
        thoreau
        
        explains himself
        
        poltiical purpose
        
        moral ideology
        
        bartleby
        
        motives are not clear
        
        personal
        
        passive
        
        not political
      - similarities
        rejects authority, does not participate, not violent, loves individual action
      - bartleby
        
        passive refusal
        
        individual action
        
        nonviolent
        
        no explanation
        
        “I would prefer not to.”
      - thoreau
        
        intentional resistance
        
        moral reasoning
        
        civil disobedience
        
        refusal to cooperate
        
        “Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.”
      - when does refusal become political resistance?