The Good Enough Job: What We Gain When We Don’t Put Work First

Until the sixteenth century, the idea that work ought to be anything other than toil was pretty much unheard of in the West.

As corporations shipped manufacturing jobs overseas and domestic wages stagnated, the job security and benefits of the Fordism era eroded. Since the 1970s, real wages14—the value of dollars paid to workers after being adjusted for inflation—have barely budged.

The modern ideology of workism asks two distinct pursuits—money and inner fulfillment—to coalesce. These pursuits are not always aligned,7 and yet we increasingly look to our jobs to satisfy both.

The endless pursuit of dream jobs is at least partially to blame, according to Cech. If we believe that

when there are all these problems that exist in the field.”

The modern ideology of workism asks two distinct pursuits—money and inner fulfillment—to coalesce. These pursuits are not always aligned,7 and yet we increasingly look to our jobs to satisfy both.

people make career decisions based on their passions, then it’s easy to attribute wage disparities to individual choices rather than acknowledge the reality of structural injustice. This type of “choice washing” perpetuates the idea that income inequality can be overcome just by working hard rather than through systemic reform.

Parachute argued that work3 allowed you to “exercise the talent that you particularly came to earth to use … in those places or settings that God has caused to appeal to you the most.”

the work is often seen as compensation in and of itself.