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There are two statements in this that seem totally false to me, that make me skeptical of whatever point the author is working towards. I don't know anything ab
by agf 7y ago
There are two statements in this that seem totally false to me, that make me skeptical of whatever point the author is working towards. I don't know anything about this author or the point they're trying to make, beyond what they say about it being related to identity in academia (presumably tenure).
> As divorce and infidelity are becoming more common than ever they are also more painful, shattering one’s life story along with the relationship.
I don't think this is true at all. First of all, in many places, divorce rates are declining (as are marriage rates). Second, while I understand the point about how marriage expectations are different now, at least for roughly half the population (women), divorce is much less painful than in the past -- women are less expected / forced / taught to define themselves as extensions of their husbands and families, have more options, etc., meaning they're less likely to be in the "I don't know who I am without this" trap.
> Not to be outdone by romance, companies also jumped on the identity-producing game. Jobs used to be described in terms of action ... Now they describe a persona ... You no longer merely work at BigCorpInc; you’re a Googler, Postie, Amazonian.
On what timescale is this true? Historically, your whole life was defined by your job. That's where many last names come from -- something way more permanent that being a "Googler". More recently, we had the era of lifetime employment, strong unions, etc. that meant you had a job for life. People were loyal to their companies in a real way. In some ways we still largely have this in the public sector. Instead, I think the "identity-producing game" modern corporations are involved in is about reproducing the parts of that system that were beneficial to the corporation without those that were costly for it -- bad, but different from what the author is saying.
Please let me know if I'm misunderstanding or missing context here.
Edit: I read the previous few posts in this series, and while there are some odd references and lots of things I can't tell if they're true or not, I don't immediately notice anything false. I have only a light background in what the author is talking about (a few college courses a long time ago).