Why work?

There's a thread in the modern industrial narrative that categorizes work as a moral imperative, scaffolded by Protestant values and buttressed by its basis in “contribution to society”. The nature of work has more recently entered mainstream political discussions with the proposal of universal basic income as a means of displacing poverty and fostering a happier society. The canonical argument against UBI suggests that people are inherently lazy and, given sufficient funds to survive, will stop working and by extension stop contributing to society.

A tricky, sticky aspect of the opposition to UBI tends to be in its moral underpinning — the winners of capitalism and the prosperity gospel are the morally righteous, the ones who have worked hard, pleased God, and reaped the rewards of their industriousness. I imagine that zealots of this gospel see themselves as the heroes of their own story, ones who have struggled against the odds, pleased God, and have found themselves atop a mountain with a beautiful vista. The have seen the way for themselves; if only others had the same industriousness, denied their own laziness, and believed in their ability to manifest prosperity through the grace of God — then would others too be able to reap wealth.

There are also those in between — they have bought into the gospel the Christian American dream but not yet reached prosperity. Their firmly held belief may indeed bring them to that prosperity; there is great power in determination, grit, and even placebos. Those who haven't reached will also proliferate the meme that everything will work out with faith and industriousness. It's an effective formula: the quality of faithful determination and willingness to work can lead to prosperity, no doubt.

But I digress. Why do we work?

The structure of our society has made work a requirement. If we do not work, we enter into a cycle that threatens our health, social relationships, happiness, and life. We limit our access to healthcare, humane treatment from others, and food. There's so much we lose at every layer poverty, even if our poverty is significantly better than those living in more abject conditions. It certainly gets worse when you're homeless, lack access to running water, etc.

Perhaps the vision and promise of UBI is that our reason for working can evolve from survival to something greater. I imagine this “something greater” would not emerge from romantic idealizations of how noble humans are after they climb Maslow's hierarchy. I think nobler reasons for work will emerge when the incentives to work are sufficiently compelling.

Work is currently sufficiently compelling — but for a reason that may solicit a fear response, resentment, frustration. I would like to see a world where we're incentivized to work for connection, for a genuine desire to contribute to others, for a sense of belonging, for generative joy.

I do not want to work for survival — but for most of my life, I've felt work to be a chore, a necessary form of servitude to a system that would ultimately reward me with freedom if I played by its rules. I've come to see this attitude is misguided and corrosive, as compelling as it often feels.

I want to evolve my own attitude for work to something greater. I want to work because I feel compelled, because I feel aligned with a purpose. I think that one of the most powerful incentives to work is a sense of purpose in our work — that sense of purpose is powerfully supported when we are accountable to others and can see it helping others in some form or another.

I reflect on this with my music. So much of my reasoning for music has been to “express myself” or some similar narrative that feels ultimately self-serving. I've explored other ideas like music therapy or teaching — pursuits focused more on serving others, but this also didn't quite sit. I suppose the ideal is somewhere in between, where a genuine expression also leads to a genuine benefit to others.