what is work?
Bridgerton S03E03 has a dialogue — Members of society do not work. within the context of the show it makes perfect sense, but after the episode, I found myself looking for parallels to that statement in the modern world, and questioning the predicament of capital driven work environments we find ourselves in today.
Can it be argued that the "not-work" of the elite members of society in Bridgerton, would qualify under the modern day definitions of managerial work or strategic thinking? Or even the 'work' that influencers do is similar in its purpose to shape 'internet culture/society' and define the boundaries of what is and isn't acceptable. There's an infamous instagram bio of an influencer with over a million followers, that reads "I live, so I am a liver" - probably intentionally cavalier and silly, but also descriptive of the blurring lines between our traditional ideas of work and worth. He is known specifically for not having a work-based identity — he doesn't even pretend to be a content creator or an entrepreneur — and un-ironically flaunts that what he 'works' on is himself. He earns well by simply showing up at events.
A lot of us grew up in a world where we were promised that hard work pays. "Proportionately", was an imagined suffix or an assumed truth, and it takes only a short while in the work force to debunk that idea. Today, if I was pressed to define what hard work looks like, I don't think I could do it. Physics might define work as something that takes energy. But on the other hand, we also have the adage, 'find a job you enjoy doing, and you'll never have to work a day in your life' - does that mean a job I enjoy could earn me an infinite amount of energy?
to have a functioning society, somebody's doing work they don't enjoy, so what makes me eligible for the perks of gaining pleasure from work?and what makes the subjective, intangible work of creative mental labour more valuable than the physical labour of growing food, capturing criminals, laying bricks or nursing the ill? surely it can't be meritocracy.
there are market forces of supply and demand, and maybe I'm only one economics class away from clarity. But our dependance on service industry workers during the pandemic posits that it maybe worth rethinking our worth?
"Conspiracies against the laity" was a phrase coined by George Bernard Shaw in his 1906 play The Doctor's Dilemma that refers to the methods used by professions to acquire prestige, power and wealth. We may all be participants in such an underlying class-based system where the threshold of entry to a certain class of jobs, along with an array of corporate jargon lets us keep our bullshit jobs, making a disproportionate amount in salary, while essential jobs remain underpaid, stepping stones toward other real 'careers'.