In the TV series Severance, those who work for Lumon Industries undergo dissociation by means of a microchip implanted in their brain. While they are working, they know absolutely nothing about their private life, and when they return to their private life, they know nothing about their work. They only know that they work for Lumon Industries. It is their choice, they are free. Thus, the temporality of the Inters, inside the work, and the temporality of the Outsiders, outside, do not influence each other in any way.
Let us distinguish two tendencies between which, of course, a thousand nuances would have to be made. There are enthusiasts for whom there is no opposition between working and being yourself. These would in no way want to work for Lumon Industries, while others would see it as an advantage since their work is alienating in the sense that Marx understands it: it is an abstract activity that hardly resembles them. and does not satisfy them. It is certainly not under these conditions that significant links with society can be built. They would do without it if they had the possibility of doing otherwise.
We are looking for a job that is experienced as little as possible as a pure waste of time. Beyond remuneration, we want personal fulfillment and recognition through employment. For many, however, work remains a compromise. Work is not something we are, but something we have, an activity that can be replaced by another. It is not an end in itself. It is reduced to being only a simple means with a view to satisfying needs outside itself.
Our civilization promised us that the time spent at work would decrease. From 1930, in Economic prospects for our grandchildren, economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that three hours a day would be enough to earn a living. The leisure society assured us of a bright future. Technological development was going to help us achieve this, even if it made us fear massive unemployment.
25 years ago, American essayist Jeremy Rifkin wrote in The end of work that technologies would allow companies “to eliminate workers on a massive scale and thus create a reserve army of unemployed”. They would suffer from “forced idleness instead of enjoying their free time”. However, we are currently witnessing the opposite phenomenon. There is no “reserve army”. On the contrary, there is a labor shortage, various reasons for being dissatisfied at work and a minimum wage that keeps people in poverty.
Existential crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic, global warming, the destruction of ecosystems, the economic crisis and even the possibility of a global conflict contribute to the reflection on the meaning of our lives: does my work still have meaning? ? What traces will he leave? Am I wasting my life working so hard? Supported by the philosophy of Carpe Diem or YOLO (you only live once), dropping out of the traditional temporality of work, at the very least changing it, attracts more than one.
Thus we have witnessed the phenomenon of the Great Resignation in the United States. In order to improve their quality of life, millions of people have given up their jobs. They choose a simpler life closer to their aspirations and values. Frugalism invites extreme economy in view of a hasty withdrawal from professional life. The FIRE movement (financial independence, retire early) also aims to withdraw from work as soon as possible. After Freedom 55, promoted by the Sun Life insurance company thirty years ago, Freedom 45 now has its followers.
We are in the presence of two opposing tendencies. On the one hand, enthusiasts who cannot conceive of their life other than through a productive activity. People who are looking for a job that will allow them to flourish and that offers them good conditions. Employers desperate for employees. On the other hand, pressed by the urgency of living here and now, people drop out, try to drop out or are tired of practicing a job that has more or less meaning for them.
Different solutions have to be explored to meet the need for workers (compensation, automation, immigration, etc.), but one thing remains certain: when a job becomes absurd, in the worst case when it becomes a bullshit job, a bullshit job described by anthropologist David Graeber, when it demands too great a sacrifice of our private lives, we all risk becoming potential dropouts and the envy of Lumon Industries workers.
Mentalities have changed. The spirit of sacrifice faded. The old call to work more, launched by Lucien Bouchard in 1996, now makes people smile. People certainly want to be active members of their society, provided they have the impression of remaining themselves, of changing things and that this time spent working is not insignificant.