Read through the whole Introduction (pp. 11-27) of Sarah Jaffe’s Work Won’t Love You Back Download Introduction (pp. 11-27) of Sarah Jaffe’s Work Won’t Love You Back before answering the questions below. Make sure to annotate and take notes while you read.
Now, copy-paste the following questions into a separate document, and answer each question in a few (i.e., 2-4) sentences. You’ll almost certainly need to re-read certain passages and look up certain terms in order to do this. Write down the page numbers where you found your answers.
1) In the Introduction of Work Won’t Love You Back, Sarah Jaffe argues that there has been a broad shift in working culture since the 1970s and 1980s; she identifies this cultural shift as the “labor of love ethic” in which workers are expected to love the work they do (21). What does Jaffe mean when she says that the “labor of love, in short, is a con” (12)?
2) Jaffe says that the “political project” that has led to this shift in the culture of work is called “neoliberalism” (16). How does she define neoliberalism in this introduction?
3) Write a short summary of what “Thatcherism” is (you may want to include answers to the following questions: Who is Margaret Thatcher? What did she mean when she said “There Is No Alternative”? How is the term defined elsewhere on the Internet? What is the relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan?)
4) On p. 18, Jaffe writes that “the ideals of freedom and choice that neoliberalism claims to embrace function, paradoxically, as a mechanism for justifying inequality.” Given what you know from this chapter and/or from your own experience working in gig jobs, how do you think the rhetoric of freedom could be used to justify poor working conditions that workers face?
5) Later, on the same page, Jaffe states that “Turning our love away from other people and onto the workplace serves to undermine solidarity” (18). What according to Jaffe, is the tension between loving one’s workplace and building solidarity with one’s coworkers?
6) How does Jaffe define exploitation near the end of the introduction?
7) In a few sentences (or perhaps even a short paragraph), do your best to describe (in your own words) the overall argument that Jaffe will be making in this book.