Elizabeth Anderson (1) (1959–)

Hijacked: How Neoliberalism Turned the Work Ethic against Workers and How Workers Can Take It Back, by Elizabeth Anderson, is an extremely well-researched and argued look at how what had once (to some) been a positive has been turned into a weapon and thus a negative. Unless, of course, you're either one of the super-rich or one of those brainwashed by them.

I think what makes this such an engrossing read is that a lot of what Anderson highlights isn't so much unknown to us, but we have been raised, for generations now, to view things a certain way, even if it makes little or no sense once we stop and really think about it. I enjoy when a book brings things together in a way that makes them make sense and disrupts the things we have ended up taking at face value from those benefitting from the misunderstanding and misappropriation.

Reading this at the same time as I was reading Taming the Street helped give even more depth to that book, which focused on FDR trying to reign in Wall Street and the capitalism that was destroying the country and most of the citizens. I suspect that being armed with this new perspective will help me, and most other readers, connect the dots between many movements and coalitions that seem to not only work against most citizens but works against even those championing the cause. Once we accepted that there is such a thing as a "work ethic" we then had to figure out for whose benefit it was directed and, along similar lines, how broadly the benefits would be distributed. Unfortunately, a small percentage have diverted whatever good was in the ideal and made themselves the sole beneficiaries of everyone else's hard work, while making us feel guilty or worthless if we aren't putting enough profit into their pockets.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in how we ended up working ourselves to death so a select few can not do any work at all yet reap the benefits. This is also a call to action and, if need be, perhaps a call to consider further action if we can't make society more equitable within these parameters. Whatever means necessary.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (meer)

i agree with conclusions but this is not as deeply argued as i wanted from a philosopher. it is more polemical and impressionistic. the cited Nickled and Dimed by Ehrenreich is a better because more detailed and because first-person account of the indignities and pain of many actual jobs. the history of ideas here is OK as far as it goes: Adam Smith didn't foresee and wouldn't want walmart greeters to be treated as they are and that is true enough. But that is the heart of the argument: our thinking about free markets has mutated over time into something dumber and worse, ignoring how insidious actually existing employment (as opposed to theoretical employment imagined by economists) can be. anderson's recommended solutions (codetermination like in germany) are tentatively offered and not examined, since that's not her area. the included replies from critics are helpful, but as one points out what is really missing here is a full account of what (more generalized) government really is and what can make it bad.… (meer)