SAMHÄLLE
Anonyma tentor -
r/antiwork TEXT & ILLUSTRATION LAURA NILSSON
Is work necessary? How come endless hours at work are seen as the key to a “good life”? Why does work determine someone’s value and worth in society? Amidst the pandemic, a movement spurred to pose important and impactful questions - sometimes quite controversial. To comprehend the current situation of the anti-work thought and ethos, the history of work must be understood. There needs to be a distinction between work as in labor, and work as a formal employment. People have always worked in the sense of having a relationship with labor and producing some kind of tangible thing or intangible value to oneself or others.
an employee, giving a portion of their skill, time and energy to produce things for the employer. The employer then converts this into productive assets, getting returns and increasing profit. Rather than the production of labor, the work as a central means from which most people gain their income, social standing and sense of worth from, is the one being criticized today.
Today, work is usually synonymous with employment, a formal agreement between
Work has always existed, but it has dominated our lives to different extents through
OSQLEDAREN #3
14
history. The fixation with work originates from different cultures and thinkers. One of the most famous ones being early protestantism, where working hard was seen as being virtuous. German sociologist and philosopher Max Weber wrote about the impact of protestant ethics on the emergence of modern capitalism in the early 20th century. According to the predestination doctrine, the people sent to heaven after death were already predetermined, and this anxious idea led people to accu-
