MALIK: Work culture inundates contemporary society, we must change our priorities
Column: On the Good Life
Recently, the push to "not dream of labor” has become more common. The revolution that comes along with "quit-tok" has become widely accepted. Wherever we turn, we find more movements arguing for the separation of people from their work. Why should this not be the case?
Since the pandemic's peak and subsequent workplace shutdowns, the concept of work has changed, and so has the time we are willing to spend on it. This came from the rise of working from home and study after study claiming a four-day workweek yields the same amount of productivity as the normal five-day workweek.
Many people view the rise of new movements against work to be a generational issue. To quote Kim Kardashian, "It seems like nobody wants to work these days." Statements of this sort have become commonplace nowadays. Millennials have faced the brunt of this criticism, but it is slowly being passed on to Generation Z, as well. After all, they were blamed for spending too much on avocado toast and killing industry after industry.
The concern of labor has made itself a generational issue, but younger generations seem to have accepted their positions. In a world where it is becoming increasingly difficult to earn more than your parents, buy houses and have enough money to raise a child, it is clear that there would be a growing distaste for the idea of labor.
You could put in all of the work and still not hit many of the milestones expected in one’s life. It feels as though the minimum wage is no longer livable — that there is no longer a golden ticket to a better life.
The situation is hopeless, especially given the amount of time most people spend before entering the workforce. For the average American, most of the beginning of their life is spent awaiting the moment they begin to labor. People make many choices based on their work or lack thereof: their college, their location and obviously their budgets.
While it may be too broad to say that people give their lives to their occupations, it is not entirely false. Financially, we need money to survive. We need money for food, shelter and water. Yet, there is a blatant reality that we have not acknowledged. In this system, we need work to give our lives purpose. There is an argument on whether this is a positive or negative concept, but there is no denying it exists.
The system, at this moment, depends on the buildup before entering the workforce. In our society, work is a defining characteristic of life. Rush hour and happy hour are all built on their connections to the patterns of the workforce. It seems like our entire lives lead to us choosing an occupation, and the choice dictates the rest of our lives.
Many people go as far as saying our lives truly begin after we start working, but others argue that is when it ends. Some believe that retirement is the dream — that all the hard work now will be worth it in the end. The problem, though, is that we have no idea whether it will all work out in the end.
The sudden cessation of work when retirement arrives is difficult to imagine, but probably even more difficult to live with. Our system depends on labor, and as soon as we were exposed to it, we were given value based on how much we were willing to offer.
Just think of all the gold stars stuck on homework and As on papers. This programming that starts so early in life is still deeply rooted in us, and the rewards are still there in that weekly paycheck. The real question is are any of us OK to live in a world where we are not constantly validated to show that we have value?
In a system where everything revolves around work even if we wish it did not, it becomes increasingly difficult to see ourselves without thinking about our careers. When completely tied to our work, we begin to equate it with our worth and purpose.
So while it is true that there are growing movements against work and more distaste toward performing mundane labor, there is still a lot left to be done. We may not dream of labor, but it is difficult to imagine our lives without it. It is, perhaps, even more difficult to believe in our self-worth without the context of a career.
Sehar Malik is a first-year in the School of Arts and Sciences where she is majoring in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and minoring in French. Her column, "On the Good Life," runs alterntive Thursdays.
*Columns, cartoons and letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the Targum Publishing Company or its staff.
YOUR VOICE | The Daily Targum welcomes submissions from all readers. Due to space limitations in our print newspaper, letters to the editor must not exceed 900 words. Guest columns and commentaries must be between 700 and 900 words. All authors must include their name, phone number, class year and college affiliation or department to be considered for publication. Please submit via email to oped@dailytargum.com by 4 p.m. to be considered for the following day’s publication. Columns, cartoons and letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the Targum Publishing Company or its staff.
