Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
In What Work Means, Claudia Strauss observes that Americans are often described as workaholics driven by a Puritan work ethic. Drawing upon the evocative stories of unemployed Americans from a wide range of occupations, from day laborers to corporate managers, both immigrant and native-born, Strauss shows that this Puritan ethic cultural description homogenizes diverse work motivations. Describing Americans as workaholics conflates different forms of the Protestant work ethic. It ignores competing work ethics, such as working to live well instead of living to work. It overlooks the differing ways Americans understand work-life balance, appropriate consumption, self-sufficiency, the division of breadwinning responsibilities in couples, and meanings of work for one's gender identity.
Moreover, the workaholic description misses the fun that many Americans say they find from their jobs. Stretching from the Great Recession to the Covid-19 pandemic, What Work Means inspires discussions about current work and its many meanings in current contexts of teleworking, greater automation, and nonstandard employment.
Synopsis
What Work Means goes beyond the stereotypes and captures the diverse ways Americans view work as a part of a good life. Dispelling the notion of Americans as mere workaholics, Claudia Strauss presents a more nuanced perspective. While some live to work, others prefer a diligent 9-to-5 work ethic that is conscientious but preserves time for other interests. Her participants often enjoyed their jobs without making work the focus of their life. These findings challenge laborist views of waged work as central to a good life as well as post-work theories that treat work solely as exploitative and soul-crushing.
Drawing upon the evocative stories of unemployed Americans from a wide range of occupations, from day laborers to corporate managers, both immigrant and native-born, Strauss explores how diverse Americans think about the place of work in a good life, gendered meanings of breadwinning, accepting financial support from family, friends, and the state, and what the ever-elusive American dream means to them. By considering how post-Fordist unemployment experiences diverge from joblessness earlier, What Work Means paves the way for a historically and culturally informed discussion of work meanings in a future of teleworking, greater automation, and increasing nonstandard employment.