New Economy rhetoric framed corporate labor as creative self-actualization to secure unpaid overtime.

Evidence

The second major change concerned the working conditions under which new media professionals labored. Richard Florida’s influential The Rise of the Creative Class chronicled the increase in creative labor, “people in design, education, arts, music and entertainment, whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology and/or creative content.” New Economy rhetoric rejected the hierarchical, buttoned-down company or ga ni za tion of large, traditional business, which was derided as Dilbert-ish cubicle culture. Instead, dot-com companies were supposedly structured to indulge and reward skilled artisans by emphasizing self-actualization, creativity, and autonomy. Workers could wear what they wanted, show up at noon, play foosball and video games on break, pursue creative interests outside of work, freely voice their opinions and concerns, and collaborate with others in intellectually stimulating environments. Ross writes that “in such a workplace, the zeal of employees was more like a quest for personal and existential stimulation, closer in spirit to extreme sport or adventure travel than to the sobriety of the self-dependent man who saw himself as a pious and productive member of society.” Inculcating this passion in workers, particularly young workers willing to work sixty or even eighty hour weeks without overtime, was of course more advantageous to companies than to their employees. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 144

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to David Graeber’s bullshit jobs thesis and to the broader critique of ‘passion economy’ labor, and resonates with the exploitation-of-enthusiasm dynamics seen in the ADDENDUM article on sacrifice. — connects to: The New Economy buzzword promised low unemployment, fast growth, and low inflation. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 141; Self-branding shifts economic risk onto workers while demanding constant unpaid labor — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 524; Creative work rhetoric shifted capitalism’s promises even where work stayed mundane — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 441 (+6 more)
• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to the sacrifice article: it shows how companies inculcate passionate, self-sacrificing devotion in young workers for free overtime — a form of everyday sacrifice of self for the corporation.
• SEED: Article angle: how ‘follow your passion’ corporate rhetoric repackages labor exploitation as self-actualization, from 1990s dot-coms through today’s influencer economy.

Broader Connections

• The rhetoric of creativity masks Marxian exploitation of living labor. #corroborates (0.95) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 452
• Self-branding shifts economic risk onto workers while demanding constant unpaid labor #corroborates (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 524
• Creative work rhetoric shifted capitalism’s promises even where work stayed mundane #corroborates (0.78) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 441
• Gig-economy liberation rhetoric masks new and deeper labor exploitation #corroborates (0.75) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 225
• Neoliberal freelance work can genuinely provide self-actualization despite exploiting workers #complicates (0.75) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 519
• Scripted labor produces a distinct theory of selfhood for workers. #expands (0.72) — , The Braided Reading EPUB, 3268
• Neoliberal entrepreneurship rhetoric masks a reality of collective corporate effort #corroborates (0.72) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 306