Work is meaningful to human beings for some reason. It’s a surprisingly sticky concept to our understanding of identity, self-worth, time, money, family, and more. So much so, “What do you do?” is often the first question we ask to get to know someone new.
Whether it’s paid or unpaid work, work takes up the most of our time, inspiring love, hate, or both. Some argue that this is a uniquely American experience, cultivated to turn the wheels of capitalism. Perhaps it’s because of the the first colonizers, whose Protestant work ethic and values laid the groundwork for our culture. Mix in the work attitudes unique to the cultures of various immigrants and we can’t help but wonder: Where do the roots of our ideas of work come from?
Wherever those roots may be, The Great Resignation proves that our relationship to work is changing. Technology and globalization continue to transform the workplace terrain. With the pandemic, the world experienced a once-in-our-lifetime overhaul of assumptions about how work is done, where work is done, and why work is done. We find ourselves in a fertile time and we won’t know what new growth will stay beyond this season.
How has your relationship to work changed? How are you questioning your American, Asian, and Christian assumptions about work? And what are you testing out and reimagining?
Possible story ideas include:
- What to do when faced with a love of the work, but the work is not sustainable or not conducive to thriving
- Ongoing strikes in various entertainment, nursing, and restaurant industries
- Work vs. Labor
- The TV show Severance
- Alternate economies and other ways people can engage outside capitalism
- Value of a human person being measured or given according to their work
- Endless content creation
- Care-giving leaves and family leave
- Workers aren't offered benefits until they have worked "long enough"
- Workers often "idealized" but still stuck in capitalistic mentality
If interested, please send us a 2-4 sentence "pitch" about what you'd like to write about by April 7.
