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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009
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 OPINION 
16

Americans Are Addicted to Work We Hate

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(Newser) – We job-obsessed Americans like to say we work like dogs, but over in Russia they call it "working like Americans," notes Stephen Marche in Esquire, where he probes the "insane" American addiction to work. It's a habit we may finally break, but only thanks to soaring unemployment. Americans work absurdly hard, Marche writes—at meaningless jobs they despise. Work is "the ultimate cipher, simultaneously giving meaning to our daily lives and stripping it away, filling our time and emptying it, making us who we are and crushing our souls."

Mirroring our lives, character-driven workplace TV shows have given way to the absurdity-and-alienation workplace comedy. We're all John Henry, Marche writes, working ourselves to death with the hammer rather than be outdone by the machine. The love/hate we bring to work can be traced to the country's "double origins," he says: "pioneers who hacked paradise out of the wilderness" and "slaves who actually built the country."

In this undated publicity photo released by NBC, actor Steve Carell appears in a scene from the television series
In this undated publicity photo released by NBC, actor Steve Carell appears in a scene from the television series "The Office."   (AP Photo/NBC, Justin Lubin)
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Could it be that for a huge number of people, despite their genuine suffering, the economic catastrophe has been a relief—a relief not to have to work so much and a relief not to have to spend so much? - Stephen Marche

What is the point of all this work if the end result is more work for the purpose of yet more work? Are we all, like Michael Scott, humiliating ourselves for the glory of a flat-screen TV? - Stephen Marche

Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe Gates, what do you have to look forward to? Ten million bucks and a lifetime as a human resource. Thank your dad. Then ask him why. - Stephen Marche, on Bill Gates' kids, whose inheritance he'll limit for fear they'll become lazy

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16 comments
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jagerhans
Aug 27, 09 6:34 AM CDT
when within a society people starts asking consistently questions like the one above, it means that it is heading for decline and will collapse. typically people start questioning their lives when all ideal thrusts are depleted. like the american dream, for instance. like security, welfare, like the pride of being part a big democracy. when illusions fall dead and people is forced to drop off, people gets hip and sees the truth. it is the ghost of the hippie prophet that comes back from the ashes of the seventies to haunt the good american citizen. It has come back to show us that in fact consumerism did not bring happiness. that we need our environment more than our things. that we need to have satisfactory human relations before all. that avoidable wars are evil no matter what is the prize. in brief that all the things we know are wrong and we were swindled since we were born. Reply
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+5
IN RESPONSE:
BlueAyez
Aug 27, 09 6:50 AM CDT
We're headed toward decline anyway. It's the inevitable life cycle of a world power. People have been questioning whether their jobs have meaning for quite some time now. It's the first step toward ending the tyranny of being an automaton. If we must work wouldn't it ultimately be healthier to work at something which brings us joy or a sense of service?
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+12
IN RESPONSE:
shonangreg
Aug 27, 09 6:51 AM CDT
"Swindled" Yes. I'd say that has been the word, alright. American companies and their lackeys in the government can put on a good ad campaign and convince us of almost anything: marijuana is bad -- got milk? -- tobacco makes you strong and independent -- working hard is for the lucky -- socialists are evil and they have long vacations -- America has a free market unlike elsewhere in the world ()but we're fixing that ;-) and most recently: health insurance companies aren't bad; it's the government that wants to kill grandma. .... And we lap it up.
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+10
IN RESPONSE:
Robert_Dada
Aug 27, 09 8:44 AM CDT
You hit the nail on the head Jager. Very well stated.
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+3
IN RESPONSE:
Snowleopard
Aug 27, 09 12:21 PM CDT
I do think americans tend to be a bit ridiculous in the amount that we tend to consume, and that we would probably be happy if we scaled back a little, lived simpler, and spent more time with our families. But I guess that's why I moved to oregon :-)
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+2

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