5 ms·

It'll be nice when the serf mentality of finding meaning in your job is finally gone from the world.

JumpCrisscross 5y ago
> when the serf mentality of finding meaning in your job is finally gone from the world Emperors, scientists and other productive members of the elite have done this since age immemorial. If anything, the average person finding their work meaningful (versus simply toil) is a recent phenomenon.
- SketchySeaBeast 5y ago
  We have a whole class of people who have finally been able to climb up Maslow's hierarchy high enough to now ask those questions.
- aaomidi 5y ago
  Finding meaning in the labor you do is absolutely not connected to scale of said labor. It is easier finding meaning in your labor if your labor is directly creating or providing a meaningful service to your community. Do you see how I am not saying job? Because no one wants to do the same thing for 40 hours with surveillance. However finding meaning in labor has been a thing for millenia.
- jdrc 5y ago
  Those are 0.001% of the population. Most people work because they have to
  - JumpCrisscross 5y ago
    > Those are 0.001% of the population. Most people work because they have to That's the point. People finding or striving to find meaning in their work are far removed from the "serfs."
    - jdrc 5y ago
      ah . well that's also not true, nowadays there is a job market and toil is reserved for the working class / service class perhaps. Most people are middle or above class in modern societies
peoplefromibiza 5y ago
I think it's backwards: people find meaning in their jobs because it's their only activity (or is largely their main one) . To let it go for good we'd need people to make themselves entertain in different activities other than working. But mostly it's because (I think) it's activities they enjoy doing and actually have meaning in the real World, even if on a much smaller scale than the global one.
vr46 5y ago
The late Studs Terkel showed us all - 50 years ago - how work was a search for both "daily meaning and daily bread". The speed and efficiency credo of the modern age has restricted independence and creativity almost out of existence for millions - but far from this being a serf mentality - this was foisted upon people by others.
- harlanlewis 5y ago
  I think you’re referring to his book Working. Tacking on a recommendation for it both for the subject at hand, as well as it just being an engaging look at daily life in the early 70s (which really feels like a different world in so many ways) told through engaging oral history.
  - vr46 5y ago
    I am indeed, it’s by the side of my bed right now as it happens, he was great at his work too!

> when the serf mentality of finding meaning in your job is finally gone from the world Emperors, scientists and other productive members of the elite have done this since age immemorial. If anything, the average person finding their work meaningful (versus simply toil) is a recent phenomenon.

SketchySeaBeast 5y ago
We have a whole class of people who have finally been able to climb up Maslow's hierarchy high enough to now ask those questions.
aaomidi 5y ago
Finding meaning in the labor you do is absolutely not connected to scale of said labor. It is easier finding meaning in your labor if your labor is directly creating or providing a meaningful service to your community. Do you see how I am not saying job? Because no one wants to do the same thing for 40 hours with surveillance. However finding meaning in labor has been a thing for millenia.
jdrc 5y ago
Those are 0.001% of the population. Most people work because they have to
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  > Those are 0.001% of the population. Most people work because they have to That's the point. People finding or striving to find meaning in their work are far removed from the "serfs."
  - jdrc 5y ago
    ah . well that's also not true, nowadays there is a job market and toil is reserved for the working class / service class perhaps. Most people are middle or above class in modern societies

peoplefromibiza 5y ago

I think it's backwards: people find meaning in their jobs because it's their only activity (or is largely their main one) . To let it go for good we'd need people to make themselves entertain in different activities other than working. But mostly it's because (I think) it's activities they enjoy doing and actually have meaning in the real World, even if on a much smaller scale than the global one.

vr46 5y ago

The late Studs Terkel showed us all - 50 years ago - how work was a search for both "daily meaning and daily bread". The speed and efficiency credo of the modern age has restricted independence and creativity almost out of existence for millions - but far from this being a serf mentality - this was foisted upon people by others.

harlanlewis 5y ago
I think you’re referring to his book Working. Tacking on a recommendation for it both for the subject at hand, as well as it just being an engaging look at daily life in the early 70s (which really feels like a different world in so many ways) told through engaging oral history.
- vr46 5y ago
  I am indeed, it’s by the side of my bed right now as it happens, he was great at his work too!