The Trouble with Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality
- ISBN-10
- 0520972694
- ISBN-13
- 9780520972698
- Series
- The Trouble with Passion
- Category
- Social Science
- Pages
- 344
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2021-11-09
- Publisher
- Univ of California Press
- Author
- Erin Cech
Description
Probing the ominous side of career advice to "follow your passion," this data-driven study explains how the passion principle fails us and perpetuates inequality by class, gender, and race; and it suggests how we can reconfigure our relationships to paid work. "Follow your passion" is a popular mantra for career decision-making in the United States. Passion-seeking seems like a promising path for avoiding the potential drudgery of a life of paid work, but this "passion principle"—seductive as it is—does not universally translate. The Trouble with Passion reveals the significant downside of the passion principle: the concept helps culturally legitimize and reproduce an exploited, overworked white-collar labor force and broadly serves to reinforce class, race, and gender segregation and inequality. Grounding her investigation in the paradoxical tensions between capitalism's demand for ideal workers and our cultural expectations for self-expression, sociologist Erin A. Cech draws on interviews that follow students from college into the workforce, surveys of US workers, and experimental data to explain why the passion principle is such an attractive, if deceptive, career decision-making mantra, particularly for the college educated. Passion-seeking presumes middle-class safety nets and springboards and penalizes first-generation and working-class young adults who seek passion without them. The ripple effects of this mantra undermine the promise of college as a tool for social and economic mobility. The passion principle also feeds into a culture of overwork, encouraging white-collar workers to tolerate precarious employment and gladly sacrifice time, money, and leisure for work they are passionate about. And potential employers covet, but won't compensate, passion among job applicants. This book asks, What does it take to center passion in career decisions? Who gets ahead and who gets left behind by passion-seeking? The Trouble with Passion calls for citizens, educators, college administrators, and industry leaders to reconsider how we think about good jobs and, by extension, good lives.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2021-10-26
- 341 pages
- Paperback
- Univ of California Press
-
- 2021-10-26
- 341 pages
- Paperback
- Univ of California Press
-
- 2013-01-22
- 176 pages
- Ebook
- Routledge
-
- 2005
- 159 pages
- Paperback
- Routledge
Similar books
-
The Passion Paradox: A Guide to Going All In, Finding Success, and Discovering the Benefits of an Unbalanced Life
By Brad Stulberg, Steve MagnessSwift, compact, and powerful, this thought-provoking book combines captivating stories of extraordinarily passionate individuals with the latest science on the biological and psychological factors that give rise to—and every bit as ...
-
The Passion According to G.H
By Clarice LispectorClarice Lispector's spare, deeply disturbing yet luminous novel transforms language into something otherworldly, and is one of her most unsettling and compelling works. Clarice Lispector was a Brazilian novelist and short story writer.
-
Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero
By David MaranissThere is delightful baseball here, including thrilling accounts of the two World Series victories of Clemente’s underdog Pittsburgh Pirates, but this is far more than just another baseball book.
-
The Trouble with Friends
By Claudia MillsShe looked down at Emma's bracelet on her arm, newly bare on this spring day. “That's not a friendship bracelet, is it?” Amy asked. “Well, sort of. Emma gave it to me.” “Emma?” Then Amy nodded with understanding.
-
Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work
By Dave IsayStories of passion, courage, and commitment, following individuals as they pursue the work they were born to do, from StoryCorps founder Dave Isay In Callings, StoryCorps founder Dave Isay presents unforgettable stories from people doing ...
-
The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us and How to Build Better Lives
By Jonathan MalesicJacques Le Goff, Time, Work & Culture in the Middle Ages, trans. Arthur Goldhammer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), 80. 19. Allen, “Monk Targets Catholic Slice of On-Line Market.” 20. Benedict, The Rule of St. Benedict, ...
-
Midnight's Wild Passion
By Anna Campbell“Truly, deeply romantic.” —Eloisa James “Anna Campbell is an amazing, daring new voice in romance.” —Lorraine Heath The extraordinary Anna Campbell is making her mark in the world of historical romance fiction.
-
All Passion Spent
By Vita Sackville-WestIrreverently funny and surprisingly moving, All Passion Spent is the story of a woman who discovers who she is just before it is too late.
-
The Trouble with Ants
By Claudia Mills"Science-obsessed fourth grader Nora wants to be like her scientist family and publish a professional research paper on her favorite subject: her ant farm!"--
-
This Is the Day: Reclaim Your Dream. Ignite Your Passion. Live Your Purpose
By Tim TebowECPA BESTSELLER - The New York Times best-selling sports star and media icon motivates readers to stop postponing dreams and start making them happen now because--this is the day.