Most work in the world is done for income, and income alone, and love doesn't get a look-in. Photo: Louie Douvis
For a long time I had a copy of a famous Steve Jobs speech on my computer without knowing I did. You may have too. It was a hidden file on Macs, there to find if you suddenly needed some work-life inspiration from the late Apple boss. The speech was there whether you wanted it or not – kind of like that U2 album on iTunes.
I was thinking about this because there is a Steve Jobs biopic on at the moment, but also because of the central place given the speech in Miya Tokumitsu's recently released book Do What You Love: And Other Lies About Success and Happiness.
Tokumitsu sees Jobs' famous speech – and Jobs himself, with his comfortable jeans and black turtleneck – as perfectly encapsulating the "do what you love" ethos that has become so dominant in the way we think about work and careers.
In his commencement speech to Stanford University's class of 2005 – a speech forever being quoted by business gurus and turned into inspirational memes and which has been viewed 25 million times on YouTube – Jobs says "you've got to find what you love" and that "the only way to do great work is to love what you do".
We hear this kind of talk every day, of course, and most would think Jobs' advice is good and even inspiring. And certainly even Tokumitsu, a writer and academic, hopes people can find some source of pride and achievement in their work.
Tokumitsu's problem, though, is with the way "do what you love" has become a modern-day mantra that devalues actual work while obscuring the vast majority of workers. After all, if some work is elevated to being worthy of love, where does that leave all those doing unglamorous and menial work? They are nowhere, blanked from the culture, their lowly status even seen as somehow deserved because they didn't love hard enough.
To put this another way, Steve Jobs may have done what he loved, but what of the silent army of Apple contract and factory workers who made his love possible?
Most work, let's face it, is not the least bit loveable, and a good deal of it is barely tolerable. And this isn't going to change, no matter how many Steve Jobs quotes we share on Facebook.
Tough, low-wage work isn't going away. In fact, jobs in the service and care industries are booming. But a "do what you love" ethos hides such work, and the conditions of its workers, by keeping individuals focussed on the self and the belief that there is bliss to be found in a job if only they strive harder than those around them.
The truth is, any of us in a position to choose and chase work out of love do so from a place of relative privilege. Overwhelmingly, work in the world is done for income, and income alone, and love doesn't even get a look-in. As Tokumitsu has written elsewhere, do what you love "is the secret handshake of the privileged and a world view that disguises its elitism as noble self-betterment".
But if the work-as-love credo ignores and devalues the work of large swathes of the population, it also doesn't do any favours to those working in industries traditionally seen as desirable. As anyone who has worked – or sought work – in the media, arts or education will tell you, "love" for the work is increasingly thrown back at you as a way of questioning your motivation. What, you wanna do work you love AND get paid for it? The thinking here is that something as pure as love shouldn't be tainted by something as unseemly as money.
The desirable industries have become ever more expert at exploiting what media scholars Kathleen Kuehn and Thomas Corrigan have called "hope labour". This refers to all the work done by people for little or no pay, but simply in the hope that the experience and exposure might one day lead to actual income. While waiting for this day, of course, those not from wealthy backgrounds slide into debt, or are forced to abandon hope and let the "love" jobs go to those who don't have rent to pay.
Yes, a fortunate few find work they truly love, and good for them. No one wants to make their work less enjoyable. But Tokumitsu is to be applauded for calling bullshit on work-as-love culture, and for highlighting the propaganda, delusion and injustice that lies behind it.
We need to acknowledge all work as work, whatever it is, and to stand in solidarity with all who labour, whether they love their job or not. Our concern should not be with the select few occupations that are loveable but with making all employment more likeable — through fair wages, job security, safe conditions and reasonable hours.
It might be old-fashioned to cite the old labour movement slogan about "eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, eight hours for what you will", but there's still a beauty in it. And we need to recognise that it's only in giving everyone the time and means for "what you will" that more might find something in life to love — whether at work or away from it.
Simon Castles is an Age desk editor and a former editor of The Big Issue.
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