Work Attachment, Work Centrality and the Meaning of Work in Life

Baldry, Chris; Bain, Peter; Taylor, Phil; Hyman, Jeff; Scholarios, Dora; Marks, Abigail; Watson, Aileen; Gilbert, Kay; Gall, Gregor; Bunzel, Dirk

doi:10.1057/9780230210646_1

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Regardless of how we make sense of it, deriving meaning from work would seem to be highly important to workers, and for many people, this is the most important feature of their work. Moreover, a dominating neoliberalism has promoted a new work ethic that has cemented the centrality of employment in the lives of citizens, maintaining a social order where personal fulfilment is almost only defined in relation to involvement in paid work (Baldry et al, 2007).…”

Section: Bullshit Jobsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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On the bullshitisation of mental health nursing: A reluctant work rant

McKeown

2023

Nursing Inquiry

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This discussion paper offers a critical provocation to my mental health nursing colleagues. Drawing upon David Graeber's account of bullshit work, work that is increasingly meaningless for workers, I pose the question: Is mental health nursing a bullshit job? Ever‐increasing time spent on record keeping as opposed to direct care appears to represent a Graeberian bullshitisation of mental health nurses' work. In addition, core aspects of the role are not immune from bullshit. Professional rhetoric would have us believe that mental health nursing is a therapeutically beneficent occupation organised around ideals of care and compassion and providing fulfilling work for practitioners. Yet, there are some key characteristics of the experience of mental health nursing work that afford alternative judgements on its value and meaningfulness. Not least of these is the fact that many mental health nurses feel quite existentially unsettled in the practise of their work and many service users do not recognise the professional ideal, especially when compelled into increasingly coercive and restrictive services. In this context, Graeber's thesis is explored for its applicability to mental health nursing with a conclusion that many aspects of mental health nursing work are commensurate with bullshit but that mental health care can possibly be redeemed from bullshitisation by authentically democratising reforms. Engaging with posthumanist ideas, this exploration involves a flexing of aspects of Graeber's theory.

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Section: Bullshit Jobsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, a dominating neoliberalism has promoted a new work ethic that has cemented the centrality of employment in the lives of citizens, maintaining a social order where personal fulfilment is almost only defined in relation to involvement in paid work (Baldry et al, 2007). includes the desirability of meaningful, nonalienating work.…”

Section: Bullshit Jobsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the bullshitisation of mental health nursing: A reluctant work rant

McKeown

2023

Nursing Inquiry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Work Attachment, Work Centrality and the Meaning of Work in Life

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

On the bullshitisation of mental health nursing: A reluctant work rant

On the bullshitisation of mental health nursing: A reluctant work rant

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