Kathi Weeks's guest appearances

Kathi Weeks

Always Already Podcast, a critical theory podcast

Town Hall Seattle Civics Series

Against Everyone with Conner Habib

Pretty Heady Stuff

Maggie Nelson

Roger McNamee

Gordon White

Eric L. Santner

J.T. Roane

Mark Padoongpatt

Calvin Warren

Alfie Bown

Simone Kolysh

Joanna Steinhardt

Eugene Thacker

James Padilioni

Mary Hawkesworth

James Chamberlain

Charles Mills

OwlTail

Sarah Jaffe

You’re told that if you “do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Whether it’s working for “exposure” and “experience,” or enduring poor treatment in the name of “being part of the family,” all employees are pushed to make sacrifices for the privilege of being able to do what we love. But Sarah Jaffe, a preeminent voice on labor, inequality, and social movements tells us that work won’t love us back, and advocates for the liberating power of recognizing that. In conversation with professor Kathi Weeks, and with support from her book Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone, she examined the “labor of love” myth–the idea that some work is not really work, and should be done out of passion rather than pay. In a deeply-reported examination of this culture, told through the lives and experiences of workers in various industries, Jaffe revealed her belief that we have all been tricked into buying into a new tyranny of work. From the unpaid intern, to the overworked teacher, to the nonprofit worker, and even the professional athlete, she made the case that the labor of love myth is a recipe for exploitation. In a conversation that is more imperative than ever as the lines between home and work blur to an indistinguishable degree, she asserted that understanding this dynamic will empower us to work less and to demand what our work is worth. And once freed from those binds, we can find out what actually gives us joy, pleasure, and satisfaction. Sarah Jaffe is a Type Media Center fellow and an independent journalist covering labor, economic justice, social movements, politics, gender, and pop culture. She is the author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Nation, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, and many others. She is the co-host, with Michelle Chen, of Dissent magazine’s Belabored podcast, as well as a columnist at the New Republic and New Labor Forum. Kathi Weeks is Associate Professor of Women’s Studies at Duke University. She is the author of The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries and Constituting Feminist Subjects, and a co-editor of The Jameson Reader. Buy the Book: https://www.elliottbaybook.com/book/9781568589398  Presented by Town Hall Seattle and Red May. To become a Town Hall Seattle member or make a donation click here.

You’re told that if you “do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Whether it’s working for “exposure” and “experience,” or enduring poor treatment in the name of “being part of the family,” all employees are pushed to make sacrifices for the privilege of being able to do what we love. But Sarah Jaffe, a preeminent voice on labor, inequality, and social movements tells us that work won’t love us back, and advocates for the liberating power of recognizing that. <a href="https://townhallseattle.org/event/sarah-jaffe-livestream/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">In conversation with professor Kathi Weeks</a>, and with support from her book Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone, she examined the “labor of love” myth–the idea that some work is not really work, and should be done out of passion rather than pay. In a deeply-reported examination of this culture, told through the lives and experiences of workers in various industries, Jaffe revealed her belief that we have all been tricked into buying into a new tyranny of work. From the unpaid intern, to the overworked teacher, to the nonprofit worker, and even the professional athlete, she made the case that the labor of love myth is a recipe for exploitation. In a conversation that is more imperative than ever as the lines between home and work blur to an indistinguishable degree, she asserted that understanding this dynamic will empower us to work less and to demand what our work is worth. And once freed from those binds, we can find out what actually gives us joy, pleasure, and satisfaction. Sarah Jaffe is a Type Media Center fellow and an independent journalist covering labor, economic justice, social movements, politics, gender, and pop culture. She is the author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Nation, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, and many others. She is the co-host, with Michelle Chen, of Dissent magazine’s Belabored podcast, as well as a columnist at the New Republic and New Labor Forum. Kathi Weeks is Associate Professor of Women’s Studies at Duke University. She is the author of The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries and Constituting Feminist Subjects, and a co-editor of The Jameson Reader. Buy the Book: <a href="https://www.elliottbaybook.com/book/9781568589398" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.elliottbaybook.com/book/9781568589398</a> Presented by <a href="https://townhallseattle.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Town Hall Seattle</a> and <a href="https://www.redmayseattle.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Red May</a>. To become a Town Hall Seattle member or make a donation <a href="https://townhallseattle.org/support/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">click here</a>.

222. Sarah Jaffe with Kathi Weeks: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone

I talk with political theorist, Marxist, feminist, and philosopher Kathi Weeks about destroying work with utopianism.

AEWCH 123: KATHI WEEKS or AGAINST WORK, FOR UTOPIA

In this episode of Always Already, Rachel, John, and Emily find a whole lot to like in The Problem With Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries by Kathi Weeks. We discuss the subjectivizing power of the “work ethic,” as well as Weeks’s important contribution to scholarly debates about methodologies in theory-oriented disciplines. We think through her insistence on “demand” and its relationship to utopia, talk about her turn to Marxist feminism, wonder what her work has to say to democratic theory and to debates about ‘ideal theory’, and question her discussion of sex work, all while trying not to think about the “work” of producing a podcast to reach our audience! This episode also includes a not-so-anonymous advice question regarding how to not talk about your dissertation to strangers AND a not-so-anonymous One or Several Wolves segment analyzing John’s recurring childhood dream. Requests for texts for us to discuss? Dreams for us to interpret? Advice questions for us to answer? Email us at alwaysalreadypodcast AT gmail DOT com. Subscribe on iTunes. Follow us on Twitter. Like our Facebook page. Get the mp3 of the episode here. RSS feed here. This episode’s music by Rocco &amp; Lizzie and by B. https://alwaysalreadypodcast.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/ep31.mp3   Links!  The Problem With Work at Duke University Press Weeks’s page at Duke University The Right to Be Lazy blog’s review of the book Kathi Weeks giving the  plenary talk on “Feminist Politics, Social Reproduction, and Life After Work,” Historical Materialism Conference 2012 Weeks’s article “Beyond the Wage System” at Dissent Silvia Federici’s Wages Against Housework pamphlet New York Wages for Housework Committee pamphlet Peter Frase on “The Politics of Getting a Life” at Jacobin     Weeks giving a talk on the book at the UC Santa Cruz Institute for Humanities Research: http://ihr.ucsc.edu/portfolio/kathi-weeks-2-6-14/

In this episode of Always Already, Rachel, John, and Emily find a whole lot to like in The Problem With Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries by Kathi Weeks. We discuss the subjectivizing power of the “work ethic,” as well as Weeks’s important contribution to scholarly debates about methodologies in theory-oriented disciplines. We think through her insistence on “demand” and its relationship to utopia, talk about her turn to Marxist feminism, wonder what her work has to say to democratic theory and to debates about ‘ideal theory’, and question her discussion of sex work, all while trying not to think about the “work” of producing a podcast to reach our audience! This episode also includes a not-so-anonymous advice question regarding how to not talk about your dissertation to strangers AND a not-so-anonymous One or Several Wolves segment analyzing John’s recurring childhood dream. Requests for texts for us to discuss? Dreams for us to interpret? Advice questions for us to answer? Email us at alwaysalreadypodcast AT gmail DOT com. Subscribe <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/always-already-podcast-episodes/id879272845" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">on iTunes</a>. Follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/AlwaysAlreadyOn" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. Like <a href="https://www.facebook.com/alwaysalreadypodcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our Facebook page</a>. Get the mp3 of the episode <a href="https://alwaysalreadypodcast.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/ep31.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>. RSS feed <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/alwaysalreadypodcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>. This episode’s music by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Rocco-Lizzie-892861140799138/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rocco &amp; Lizzie</a> and by B. <a href="https://alwaysalreadypodcast.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/ep31.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://alwaysalreadypodcast.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/ep31.mp3</a> Links! <ul> <li><a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-problem-with-work" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Problem With Work</a> at Duke University Press</li> <li>Weeks’s <a href="http://womenstudies.duke.edu/people?subpage=profile&amp;Gurl=%2Faas%2FWomensStudies&amp;Uil=kweeks" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">page</a> at Duke University</li> <li>The Right to Be Lazy blog’s <a href="http://righttobelazy.com/blog/2012/01/the-problem-with-work/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">review</a> of the book</li> <li>Kathi Weeks giving the  plenary talk on<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o072JYSTNt8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> “Feminist Politics, Social Reproduction, and Life After Work,</a>” Historical Materialism Conference 2012</li> <li>Weeks’s article “<a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/beyond-wage-system-kathi-weeks-universal-basic-income" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beyond the Wage System</a>” at Dissent</li> <li>Silvia Federici’s <a href="https://caringlabor.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/federici-wages-against-housework.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wages Against Housework</a> pamphlet</li> <li>New York Wages for Housework Committee <a href="http://bcrw.barnard.edu/archive/sexualhealth/WagesForHousework.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pamphlet</a></li> <li>Peter Frase on “<a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2012/04/the-politics-of-getting-a-life/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Politics of Getting a Life</a>” at Jacobin</li> </ul> <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-problem-with-work" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> <a href="http://ihr.ucsc.edu/portfolio/kathi-weeks-2-6-14/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a>Weeks giving a talk on the book at the UC Santa Cruz Institute for Humanities Research: <a href="http://ihr.ucsc.edu/portfolio/kathi-weeks-2-6-14/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://ihr.ucsc.edu/portfolio/kathi-weeks-2-6-14/</a>

Ep. 31 – Kathi Weeks, The Problem With Work