Work v. Life
Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.
Dolly Parton (2010)
... we might say that trying to delineate which part of social life is work and which is not, is not the most fruitful perspective to take, but rather work should be viewed as one way to act within society.
Jean-Philippe Deranty (2022)
Dolly Parton, is not alone in championing a better work-life balance. Arguments here swirl around social and economic forces, but before being so embroiled, a step back might help. Traditionally social activity was centred around the home, little money was involved in daily living, and the ‘boss’ was clearly the combined efforts of natural cycles and distant events; further, there was a fundamental demand that weight is ‘pulled’ within the community - a pull, however, which was very dependent on individual circumstances. In that context child minding, winnowing, and engaging with
strangers,
On another re-configuration revolving around our social lives.
although distinguishable, were not
separable parts
Arguments based on radical divisions can be seen in Adam Smith’s accounts.
of life. To reach an urban concept of ‘work’ the parts of life have to be radically
reconfigured.
For Wendell Berry our lives hang together, alienation follows ruptures and division.
So Deranty’s point can be pushed further: work is not ‘one way to act’ for that already assumes a particular construction. The shape shifting, osmotic, friable nature of social life is infinitely subtle, allowing unending re-configurations depending on social and cultural contexts; ‘work’ is but one possibility among these. The problem is not finding a balance, but resisting an imposed
dichotomy.
On forcing divisions which are not there.
Two firsts for Mosaic, being able to quote Dolly Parton, and, at the same time, someone writing on Twitter, as it then was, on 2010-08-09 at 6.21. Hers is an example of so many quotes to this effect. Deranty is a philosopher working in Macquarie University, Sydney. Here he is writing about work on the Substack platform . This quote is from the end of the short article: “Work” a Western invention? at https://onwork.substack.com/p/work-a-western-invention-not-according.
The photograph was taken just outside the city of Bengaluru - Bangalore as it then was.
Above, hovering on blue introduces a link: click to go, move away to stay.
Saturday 22nd June 2024
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