NICE WORK

摘要

If you're an American worker, chances are your job either doesn't grant you much flexibility or else requires far too much of it. If you're lucky enough to have a traditional 9-to-5 gig, you're also probably unlucky enough to be held to the standard of what gender and labor scholars call the "ideal worker": a hypothetical employee who shows up early, makes every meeting, never gets sick, says yes to every new project, is constantly available on mobile devices, and can jet off on a work trip at a moment's notice. The cult of the ideal worker has been with us for decades, but it receives frequent updates. Consider the New York Times' recent portrait of Amazon's work culture, in which employees continually challenge themselves and each other to work harder, longer, and smarter in a spirit of "purposeful Darwinism."