Antiwork and the Economy
A sustainable future will depend on rethinking how we think about and treat workers
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During the latest Black Friday, workers at Amazon across 20 different countries organized a strike to “Make Amazon Pay”. During the last two years of the pandemic economy, big tech like Amazon actually increased their profits while none of that wealth was passed on to the workers that support those industries. At the same time, a Reddit community called Antiwork with its over 1 million members also started to organize their own boycotts against Black Friday with a general walkout of retail workers. They’ve also rallied behind a $25 hour wage at McDonald’s, and posted endless stories of quitting against terrible bosses and inhuman working conditions. While all of this fizzled out without any noticeable impact on the pre-holiday shopping frenzy, it does signal a significant shift of the attitude of people towards work and consumer culture.
For the entire post-WWII economy, the world has been dominated by the idea of the capitalist free market. The American Dream was to pursue work, business, and profits above all else in order to make it big. This economic ideology would turn the US into the worlds leading superpower, demonstrating the power of growth through consumerism. It became infectious drawing in other nations across the Pacific. Like Japan, as it rebuilt and shifted its global identity. South Korea soon followed. And even China was forced to open its doors to the open market. But with any capitalist regime, it came with a human cost. Maximizing profits through the distribution of goods can only persist for so long before the rise of wages and fair working conditions start to cut into those margins. Materials are a non-negotiable cost, but labor costs can always be cut and Asia was the perfect opportunity. A lesser currency, desperation for trade, extreme working conditions, and, can’t forget, child workers, all provide cheaper options for labor. Quickly, China became the world’s factory and India the world’s call center.
Meanwhile, in the Americas themselves, wages started to stagnate, the cost of education continued to climb, the collective power of unions were dissolved, all while the steady march of inflation continued onwards. When the oughts came around it brought with it endless…
