Is Your Dream Job a Trap? The Dark Side of America's "Make Your Own Job" Obsession.

American work culture pressures individuals to find self-expression in jobs, fueled by entrepreneurial spirit & positive psychology, leading to exploitation, burnout, & a tragic cycle.

• The Core Idea: American work culture pressures individuals to view their jobs as more than just work – a calling, a means of self-expression, and a vehicle for personal growth. This pressure comes from employers seeking intrinsic motivation and from self-help ideologies promoting the entrepreneurial spirit.

• Book's Argument: Erik Baker's "Make Your Own Job" argues that this "entrepreneurial work ethic" has exhausted America. It traces the origins of modern work-related issues like gig work and the celebration of charismatic leaders back to earlier historical periods and movements.

• Unholy Union: The book explores the relationship between American psychology and business, highlighting how concepts derived from economic scarcity are presented as universal truths.

• Historical Roots:

  • New Thought Movement: A 19th-century spiritual movement that believed individuals could manifest opportunities through positive thinking, even in difficult circumstances.
  • Napoleon Hill & Dale Carnegie: Authors who capitalized on post-market crash anxieties, urging people to market themselves and turn passions into cash.
  • Norman Vincent Peale: Popularized positive thinking, aligning it with anti-union and anti-New Deal sentiments.

• Positive Psychology's Role: Positive psychology, now integrated into business school curricula, provides intellectual support for the entrepreneurial ethic, blurring the lines between psychology and entrepreneurship. It encourages a focus on personal branding and winning the affection of coworkers over developing character.

• Exploitation & Well-being: Baker argues that the entrepreneurial ethic makes it cheaper and easier to burden employees with maintaining their own well-being, leading to exploitation.

• German Social Science Influence: German social scientists like Max Weber and Joseph Schumpeter influenced the idea of "joy in work" and celebrated the entrepreneur as a heroic force. However, this can lead to a "Nietzschean conqueror" mentality, even in Silicon Valley.

• The Illusion of Alignment: The entrepreneurial ethic creates the illusion that tech billionaires and gig workers are aligned against government regulation, masking exploitative relationships.

• The Tragic Cycle:

  • Burnout from intense hustle culture.
  • Anomie (social decay) from deindustrialization and job loss.
  • The fear of joblessness drives increased demands on workers, leading to innovation that renders workers obsolete.

• The "Me, Inc." Mentality: The pressure to build a personal brand corrupts relationships and souls.

• A Better Approach: It's fine to love what you do, but it's even better to prioritize love itself as the most important work.