The Work Ethic: Archeology and Genealogy

Okay, it feels a little strange to be getting here over 20 episodes in, but let’s talk about the work ethic. Now, I know I said this episode was going to be about my reading of Weeks and what I propose is this movement from subject to victim of work, but, surprise, we’re not there yet. Today we’re looking at the background theory and the move from the Traditionalist to Protestant work ethic.

I mentioned last episode that we need to perform a genealogy of the work ethic if we’re to understand the problem and have any hopes of overcoming it. To keep to the text though, Weeks notes that Weber’s analysis provides an “archeology” of the ethic. So, I guess the first question is, is this just a semantic difference? Well, no.

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Obligatory bibliography, or books (and articles) you may also want to check out:

Berardi, Franco. “Anatomy of Autonomy.” Semiotext(e), translated by Jared Becker et al., vol. 3, no. 3, 1980, pp. 148–71.

Karim, Muzaffar. “Understanding Foucault: The Shift from Archaeology to Genealogy.” Quest Journals. Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science. Volume 9 ~ Issue 9 (2021) pp: 72-75

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1910. The Gay Science. Dover ed. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications.

Weber, Max. 2012. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Lexington, Ky.: Renaissance Classics.

Weeks, Kathi. 2011. The Problem with Work : Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries. Durham: Duke University Press.

Links to check out:

For Work /Against Work

Vogt, Katja. “Seneca.”

Wicks, Robert. “Arthur Schopenhauer.”

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