Malvina Reynolds said it in less than 2 minutes
"Little Boxes"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_2lGkEU4Xs
6
“The 80-hour man sizzles…”
--From Juliet Schorr’s The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure, quoting a corporate recruiter.
“Karoshi” in Japan
“Death from too much work is so commonplace in Japan that there is a word for it -- karoshi. There is a national karoshi hotline, a karoshi self-help book and a law that funnels money to the widow and children of a salaryman (it's almost always a man) who works himself into an early karoshi for the good of his company.” --The Washington Post, July 13, 2008
“People are going to have so much leisure time, that one of society's biggest challenges will be figuring out how to keep citizens occupied.”
--A popular magazine from the 1950s predicting life in the 21st century.
“idle hands are the devil’s workshop” (proverb)
“With a very few exceptions, the world of jobs is characterized by stifling boredom, grinding tedium, poverty, petty jealousies, sexual harassment, loneliness, deranged co-workers, bullying bosses, seething resentment, illness, exploitation, stress, helplessness, hellish commutes, humiliation, depression, appalling ethics, physical fatigue and mental exhaustion.”
--From How to be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson.
31
It’s the evil commodification of everything that’s sucking the life out of all of us, or at least those of us who still have some semblance of a soul. But that will be completely crushed soon enough. Death will be our only liberation.
23
Ha ha. As if there is a choice. As if "harm" factors into the equation. You see, slavery has been perfected. Physical chains have been replaced with mass delusion. The sting of the whip by the reinforcement of shiny baubles and the glow of the screen.
But underneath, it is all the same. The many are enthralled by the few. The many toil for the benefit of the few.
The delusion, in case you are wondering, is that everyone, anyone, can succeed through diligence and discipline. Of course this means that if you are struggling, you only have yourself to blame. Your sloth prevents you from putting in the necessary effort to succeed. Hustle has become the most vaunted virtue. And so the robber barons rob and the fat cats eat while the 99% hope.
How do I know this is delusion? A little arithmetic. Let's go back to burger flippers whose cash pay is but a small part of their compensation as they receive priceless life and work experience which, if they are inclined, will help them in any endeavor they are ambitious enough to pursue. So, let's say that 90% of them put in 120hr weeks between work and school and earn degrees in programming. Most will find that their shiny diplomas are worth *drum roll* minimum wage. And what will most be doing? Yes, flipping burgers. Who needs millions of new programmers when that can be done in India? Who is going the flip the burgers? In all fairness, what kind of idiots would study the same thing as the next guy, right?
23
The debasement of everything we say we care about:
mon·e·ti·za·tion
/ˌmänədəˈzāSH(ə)n,ˌmänəˌtīˈzāSH(ə)n/Submit
noun
1.
the action or process of earning revenue from an asset, business, etc.
"the network supports the distribution and monetization of online content to any type of site or device"
2.
the conversion of an asset, debt, etc. into cash or a form easily converted into cash.
"the trust is actively reviewing the monetization of a portion of its assets to reduce indebtedness"
7
My son recently decided to take a break from NYC hustle after years of pressure to compete, to out maneuver, to figure what mind game was in play, to hustle, hustle, hustle. As much as he loves the city (as I do), the hustle atmosphere was taking a mental and physical toll, so much so that he had to make an escape and reconsider his goals and, in fact, life in general. for all its greatness in the arts, fashion, innovation, etc, NYC is arguably ground zero for hustle culture’s focus on ego, soul-crushing, non-stop work, and ruthless get-ahead competition (if Silicon Valley can be surpassed, that is). It’s a shame that young creatives like my son get caught up in this whirlwind which is relentlessly promoted by so many venues in our culture and lose sight of why they love their work and why it, and they themselves, matter. How much creative, productive energy is lost through acceptance of the hustle mindset, and, we should ask, what is replacing it? And, casual acceptance of the hustle culture in the far reaches of our society as indicated by the popularity of so-called realty tv shows, for instance, may make it seem to too many Americans that there are no casualties at the end of this game. The casualties are many, both individual and societal, as indicated by the physchic turmoil of my son and acceptance by so many of the hustling con man now in the White House.
28
That Elon Musk character flies around on his private jet -- about 150,000 miles a year -- and we all subsidize it.
The tax structure was co-opted by the hustlers long since -- i'm thinking Ronald Reagan. He pried the conservatives loose from the Republicans. One paid the bills. The other helped themselves.
But the Trump/Not Trump divide is still about Donald. Most of Washington is about the money.
18
The American president is not bent on taking the country backward. He is bent on taking it toward a new kind of false backwardness, a place that will prove to be far worse than the real America of yesteryear.
27
RIght on.
5
What Roger is talking about is one reason “minimalism” and the “tiny house movement” have gained such traction. I grew up in the postwar golden age of one breadwinner (usually dad), 40 hour week, enjoyable evenings and weekends. Life wasn’t polluted with banal distractions. You read the newspaper and watched one of three TV channels. You read books! You played outside, roller skated on steel skates, and used your imagination. I lived in a proverbial “Leave it to Beaver” neighborhood but even I couldn’t take the Beaver’s schmaltz: “Wally, why are girls so cruddy?” “I don’t know Beav, they just are.” We went from Ward and June pleasantly enjoying life, in a traffic-jam free world, to: GO GO GO, check your iPhone 150 times per day, FASTER FASTER FACEBOOK. 3 channels?...300 channels!!...in a vast mental wasteland. 40 hours....you lose! The team needs 60, or find another gig....and stay “connected”! Stuck on the Interstate at 5am, stuck on the Interstate at 5pm. An hour each way because you can’t afford to live near your job. Anti-depressant use nationwide up 65% in 15 years. 30 years at one company and retire?....you must be joking!!! Keep your skills up!....AI is coming!....outsourcing!....automation!....feet firmly planted in mid air! ....and don’t text while you’re driving!!! :)
46
Recently I thought about going to the library (I suppose that's revolutionary in its way, like reading the paper, so maybe I should get credit for that) and checking out a book that would be termed "self-help." But I paused for a moment to consider whether I needed anyone to tell me the "one way to think, one way to work" etc. or if I might instead take my accumulated knowledge (perhaps even some wisdom) and try to forge my own way rather than look to someone else to come up with the answer for me. I decided not to get the book. Two roads diverged in the wood...perhaps it will make all the difference.
15
To give the "other side" it's due:
Great projects require lots of toil, often by coercion, soft or hard. The Great Pyramids of Egypt and Meso-America. The Great Wall of China. Things more delicate, such as the Parthenon or Michelangelo's sculptures, required plenty brute toil to haul those heavy marble blocks. The Panama Canal. The Moon Landing. The mapping of DNA. The shooting of Musk's car into space. The grand system of brain & other body damage called football. Necessary are supreme dedication and toil over many many hours by many many "little people."
What else would they do? Sit on the couch and snack themselves to death? Dedicate their lives to their pets or playing video games or just sleeping in for a decade or more? They know they need the whip to round 'em up and get 'em moving.
5
Look for the homogenized people while you view the other sameness qualities in culture. The rows of people, heads down, all looking at their electronic devices not seeing what is around them at all encapsulated in their own bubbles of mediocrity. What have we arrived at? No connections at all.
168
I wouldn't go so far as to recommend reading a newspaper as a way out, as suggested in this rather insightful column ... as usual from R. Cohen. Though a momentary distraction, a newspaper is not, after all, exactly the Bible. As for the recognition of emptiness ... if one is fortunate enough to experience that as the other Cohen provided: What else could better signal un-health and therefore the need, if not the motivation to seek that which not merely leads to, but encompasses health? The worthy tool of "hitting bottom" as they say ... a prerequisite for health recovery. Connection to the point of "homogenization" is surely not the way. Nor is heroism to the point of arrogance. Nor is oblivion. Of the cardinal virtues, courage may be the most one important one for the personal security of being generous ... un-stuck on, yet honoring self.
2
Thanks for the reminder.........."Man, you people work too much." And yes, it's killing our culture and breeds anger and discontent. Unfettered Capitalism and the greed it rewards will be the death of us. Time and money. Who will ever have enough of both?
9
When the robots have replaced the workers we'll all have time to starve together. The local neighborhood bar is the last respite for honest loafers. Around mid-afternoon the place is almost empty, but for you and the bartender. There's no rap music in the juke. In that quiet one can contemplate why today's jazz wiseguys are more interested in Bill Evan's drug habit than his singular understanding of escape. Thanks RC.
8
Slavery never really went away. Oh yes, it became socially repugnant in its earlier forms, with human beings paraded across the public auction block like so many cattle, kept in involuntary servitude at the end of a gun or whip. But that all passed away when a better form of enslavement came about--debt bondage based easy credit and the gospel of consumption. All the masters have to do in this new iteration of slavery is use psychological manipulation (marketing propaganda via the media and sport teams the own and sponsor) and offer time payments. Even religion has been co-opted by the gospel of health, wealth, and happiness. Needless to say, we end up at the same place with masses of depleted bodies and souls longing for freedom to become human again. Few, however, can break their addiction to consumption and it's inevitable meaninglessness.
8
Thank you, Roger Cohen. How right you are.
7
I am no philosopher but why wait until you have cancer or some other tragedy and realize you wasted your whole life with no time to salvage one.
You want to find yourself take control of your mind, your life. Start by throwing out your tv, your computer, your smartphone, your headphones and live your life. Stop using drugs especially caffeine, nicotine, alcohol that fuel this empty life.
Find you life in thinking not knowing, in family and friendships, in love, in nature and in health.
10
Roger, you nailed it again.
After leaving our shared Remsen Street for SW Florida, I wanted to advance a radical proposal and, I think your column today affords me that window of opportunity .
Would you consider finding three scholars of Judaism who have enough credibility to make a stand for economic justice?
Our shared belief systems come mainly in the West from the mosaic tradition and the ten commandments which underlie most legal frameworks, so a few learned and respected voices may still hold sway in the nearly caricature world your column aptly describes around us.
Telling the historical Israelites nothing but to bear false witness nor to steal is now turned completely on its head by corporate C suite behavior around the world and the advertising practices they use to extract value from those who work.
Can it be done?
Sincerely,
John
1
People like Elon Musk plain do not understand that 'Normal' people would actually like to have a life other than laboring to make someone else fantastically rich: they want a decent slice of the pie for their labor AND the time to enjoy their gains with Family.
The rich person can work as much as he/she likes, nothing stopping them, but if they are so driven with their work, do they even understand real family life, outside obligations and the fact that those people putting in that much time to YOUR projects need to be amply paid so that they can achieve THEIR goals, not just your own.
And for them to profit so extremely from the labor of others is just plain Theft, especially if the workers are doing long hours, low pay and no benefits then they are little better off than slaves, in fact many feel like they are absolutely stuck at the job they have because the prospects for better are plain not there anymore.
Anyone making less than $125K is a pure wage slave or shelved as tainted product due to disability of some sort, most often caused by our own industries and the owners pay their lawyers to stiff the workers, even if badly injured and permanently disabled.
If you cannot have enough income in 40 hours from one person working, to be able to raise a family, buy a house, car, normal consumption type citizen then you are a underpaid slave laborer for those who are making hundreds of times your income.
Wage slavery is no joke, America is in it's tightfisted grip of greed!
227
Love the column Roger and it is right on! What I love even more? Meeting all the commentators and learning about what they do in the world that is so luxurious. Changing the world, one conversation at a time. Playing music. Reading. I didn't get through all the comments, but likely, pets, kids, plants, animals, birds, forests, oceans....these are the glorious riches of the world.
And mornings spent meandering the NYT.
Let's start a movement...actually, it is already started. But we can move from anger/disillusionment, to joy and fun. Truly.
Greetings everyone! I loved reading your thoughts and your lives.
12
It's not technology. It's not "hustle." It's not branding or globalization or homogenization. It's simply the result of the necessary motto of capitalism: "root hog or die." Competition is ruinous. It devours all smaller animals (local shops, artisans, families, the body) as a corporate oligarchs, awash with capital, and nowhere to really put it all, yet fearing the predatory nature of each other, rush to keep the beast alive by extending the "efficiency" of their chains before the other guy does it.
143
Mr. Cohen’s concluding observation reminds me of a moment in graduate school when the graduate advisor recommended that we spend the summer reading books we enjoyed. He then observed that he only taught during the summer session when he wanted to purchase a new automobile.
Some of us looked askance at one another. Did this self-absorbed cretin not realize that many of us had to hustle to pay the bills and that reading and writing were conducted during those hard-won intervals of leisure? Further, that most of us did not enjoy the luxury of choosing when we wanted to teach?
Homogeneity signifies on competing registers. As a symptom of globalization, it aptly describes the disappearance of cultural uniqueness and local culture. But it also reflects modernity’s capacity to disseminate goods and services internationally and to produce the “cracks” that enable the leisurely consumption of newspapers.
The nostalgic yearning for a pre-industrial, auratic culture is one reaction to modernity. But it is equally important to recognize the manifold ways in which modernity emancipates.
Coal miners and laborers have very little time to enjoy a newspaper. They are too busy sleeping after expending their energy. And how many peasants in China and India would not mind having a Sony or a Samsung in their abodes and an iPhone in their pockets?
Still, we get your point, Mr. Cohen.
What are you doing reading a print version of the New York Times anyway?
29
I wish I hadn’t read this on my tablet.
39
Get out of the big city. I recently moved from Manhattan to San Rafael, California. Although there are several Starbucks here, there are also small shops, many local restaurants, and a historic movie theater. Many of the restaurants and hair salons are closed at least one day a week or only open for limited hours. They can stay in business because the rents are cheaper than in Manhattan. New York City has become homogenized by greedy developers and also ironically by the influx of wealthy foreign buyers in the co-op/condo market, who have driven up rents but who don't shop or eat in the neighborhoods as they just use their apartments as expensive pied a terres. The city government is ineffective and maybe corrupted. My neighborhood had become nothing but NYU dorms (also a haven for the foreign wealthy), fast food, smoke shops and garbage. It was an expensive slum. This is paradise in comparison.
8
I blame the victims. No one has to live the TGIM, hustle lifestyle. People choose it. And, then blame someone else for it. It's not only possible to live another way, but you can thrive, succeed and prosper when you do. There are many ways to live a life.
5
My father's parents emigrated to NYC from Poland in the early 1900s. From the stories my father told, they hustled like crazy, at times owning a grocery store, painting apartments, doing whatever they could get paid for. Through the depression they raised 3 children.
In the 1980s I remember young consultants boasting about how many hours they worked. It was a competition. But they were young and work was also a social endeavor. In time some would understand the Faustian bargain and walk away.
The hustle has always been with us. But these days it seems to be glorified for its own sake, with the tangible and intangible benefits accruing mostly to The Man.
We really do have choices. Perhaps experiencing the homogenization and inequalities is required for people to say, "Take this job/life and shove it."
7
Ideally work is an expression of the creative self of an individual but only when it is freely chosen and accomplished with taste and self satisfaction. Once it becomes forced labour, dehumanising, and self-alienating it becomes a drudgery. Alas but where is the choice and opportunity in today's rigged globalised world?
5
Looming behind all of this is an ecological catastrophe of our own making. This relentless busy-ness and fascination with and absorption into ginned up consumer culture are a means of avoiding a frank acknowledgement of the death of the natural world, manifested by imploding biodiversity and a dramatically warming planet.
10
@richard
Yup. The Amazon Basin’s destiny will the canary that dwarfs coal mining as the harbinger of our fate.
3
It's the old adage that are we to live to work, or work to live ? (as so many do more and more in this day and age)
More and more people are playing the ''game'' of life as they perceive it, which is to acquire as much wealth and things as possible. The problems of course with that, is that our world has only so many finite resources (which is destroying our milieu) and which is pressuring all of us to engage in the same destructive tendencies.
If we are to achieve any type of ''comfort'' we are to use every ounce of strength and endurance to achieve it. As a result, it is breaking apart our relationships with each other, our families and ultimately our souls.
We are no longer explorers, just worker bees.
6
Thank you for this column Mr. Cohen. As a land use planner, I often see developers attempting to build “live, work and play communities” that mimic the authentic towns and villages they just razed.
People who have hours to spend on a myriad of social media platforms but no time to read a book or a newspaper amuse me. People who embrace slow food and slow cookers as long as they can get it quickly…”please, have it ready when I arrive” bemuse me. Colleagues, who cannot tolerate the thought of staying home on a long weekend to relax and enjoy their painstakingly renovated spaces, confound me. When asked: ”what will you be doing on the weekend”, I like to say: “I will be staring at the air in front of my face and going where the wind blows me”. The looks on their faces entertain me.
12
This column made me go back and listen to "The 59th Street Bridge Song" once more. Who knows, I may even renew my Hippie vows - when I find the time of course.
2
I have had a 40+ year career in business, from high to low. The conclusion that I draw from this experience is that 99% of what passes for important in business is hollow, as empty as our president's head. It is a culture of 'never enough', 'today's record is tomorrow's standard.' If you stand a side and look at the overall results of our culture, we are materially rich and culturally and spiritually bankrupt.
Let me ask the readers here, a fairly diverse and somewhat self aware group, are you happy? Does your life bring you fulfillment and joy? If you could be assured of having your needs met, would you continue to do what you are doing?
8
Since forever, people over 50 have lamented that the newest trends foretell the end of civilization as they have known it.
The railroad, the automobile, women's right to vote, the telephone, urban living, television, you name it and every change brings the end of truth, justice and the American Way.
Have a little more faith and and little less pessimism, Roger.
By the way the real enemies of 'the good life' are income disparity, corporate heartlessness and climate change.
Now there are things to lament, and work to change.
6
Roger, I loved this piece.
One of the most successful writers I've seen read at the Half-King once told me, "Affer 1500 words I do what I want for the rest of the day." Another one said a walk around the block is part of his revision process.
6
I am retired and fortunate enough to work about as much as I want to. I do lots of travel, recreational and work related. Among my favorite past times is talking to complete strangers. It is great fun and most people welcome the respite from their cell phones. I am changing the world one conversation at a time.
162
@Jack
nice
7
Looking down the road to retirement now, I hope to follow your model.
12
It occurs to me that, over the years/decades we all have bought into this hustle culture... back in the day, my father worked and my mother was a homemaker, raising 3 kids (in a lower/middle class family--basically paycheck to paycheck)...now, with choices made over time many of us need a two income family just to get along...THAT is your 80 hour work week...plus, it's a full time job taking care of a home and kids...non-stop merry-go-round...now, we seem to expect paid family leave and free child care...
3
Dear Mr. Musk, I've got you beat. My brain is working, at peak performance, a minimum 112 hours per week. I still haven't changed the world, but I'm sticking with it, anyway.
(What's "Tesla," if you don't mind my asking?)
2
Yes to all of this. The multi-national homogenization of late stage capitalism has obscenely benefitted a small few at the top at the expense of everyone else (and actually, considering what is happening with Climate Change, EVERYONE is going to pay dearly). For awhile, in this country, we had checks on the rapaciousness of the "greed is good" crowd - unions; minimum wage and overtime laws that kept up with inflation; corporate norms that considered something other than shareholder value; progressive taxation; and more.
There has been a long-term, multi-billion dollar effort on the part of the Kochs, and Scaifes, and Coorses,and Olins, and DeVoses, and Waltons, and Adelsons, and many other quiet billionaires to promote the "hustle ethos", strip mine the economy for their benefit, and remove any protections for workers, consumers, or our environment. These people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. And their complete and utter capture of one of our two major political parties has been a disaster for our country and, increasingly, the entire world.
10
The game is rigged by nature. America has worked to mitigate the natural world by approximating equality through rule of law. When leadership routinely lies to the level of cynicism/pathology found in our "leaders" in government today, using laws to only shore up their wealth and power -- up to an including official lies from the White House -- we take note. Trump and his ilk are the opposite of ideas, therefore they can sustain none.
We have sacrificed the American dream for an American delusion - that the only force keeping everyone from success is their own laziness. We used to allow individuals with less to have a helping hand. Good government has made small gains because of decent people in office and a solidi middle class. Now we all hustle just to get "the basics" - you know a home, a car, a computer, internet service, health insurance and, oh year, the ability to continue to churn and earn. And we have far, far less time to participate in democracy.
But we proles can still vote.
6
Roger: Some of us, more than you might think, have been fighting against globalization and homogenization for many years. I get up every day to do something creative, to add something positive to the universe, to learn from the world and the people around me. Enlightenment is from within; it can't be imposed from without. Incisive article here, as ever, thanks.
5
I'm afraid that Americans are, and will continue to be lured by the never-ending temptation of possessing and controlling "stuff." It's a disease perfectly identified as "affluenza" (extreme materialism and consumerism associated with the pursuit of wealth and success and resulting in a life of chronic dissatisfaction, debt, overwork, stress, and impaired relationships) back in the mid-90's. Too bad there isn't a vaccination against affluenza, because we badly need one!
5
I have believed for a long time that you have to make decisions about how to structure your life and be willing to accept both the upside and downside consequences of your choice. If you choose not to live your life in a blur of busyness, then you will probably need to be accepting of less material wealth. Or acclaim, prestige, success, power. More time, less of those. More of them, less time.
There is a temptation to allow the pace of all our lives to be set by the unusually driven. People like Elon Musk. There are many of them and they come in many forms. And, like the poor, I fear they will always be with us.
Many years ago I was complaining to a very wise woman I knew about the crazy busyness of my current days and she said something I've always remembered. She simply said "I refuse to live my life that way." That thought has stayed with me. I don't have to let the pace of my life be set by people who enjoy or need to live at breakneck speed. I can opt out. And let the chips fall where they may.
8
I could not agree more with Mr. Cohen. Read a newspaper; read a book to the end. Get involved to save your neighborhood from the maw of big development! Serendipity is the real source of joy and creativity. If you are always looking at your screen and always reading the recommended posts it will never happy.
3
Roger Cohen has captured the danger facing liberal democracy by recognizing the connection of the seemingly unconnected daily onslaughts upon both individualism and true community.
The wonder is not that Mr. Cohen understands the con job of T.G.I.M. and pseudo-modernity, but that more people – Americans and thinking people around the world – do not see the manipulation of meaningful lives by growing surveillance capitalism.
Homogenization kills the spirit. It has been eight decades since Aldous Huxley wrote “Brave New World,” but we are living it. Instead of a genetically modified citizenry, we have a working population desensitized by sophisticated propaganda in order to increase production and quell dissent.
3
Production can be accurately measured. Painting watercolors of rainbows and unicorns cannot. That’s why one is real, and matters, while the other is frivolity best left for the leisure class.
2
Although the articles that inspired this column did not include the name Trump, I have never read anything that explains the rise of Trumpism better than this. I want to share it with everybody I know.
6
Thank you, Mr. Cohen for this clear-eyed vision of today's overwrought work culture.
Years ago I chose between law or teaching. I've been in the eighth-grade English classroom in a middle class public school ever since. I sleep well at night knowing I've helped kids learn to read carefully, write clearly and most important, think critically. All of that requires time to foster a life of the mind. Unfortunately, even our young people are caught up in this vortex of ever more work/activity. Many of my students often don't get home before 9 or 9:30 after volleyball, extra lacrosse practice, tutoring, etc., etc..
Something has to give.
5
It begins to seem that I could meet my need to write comments just by doing variations on a theme of Don Siegel: his film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). This column suggests a variation that brings the science-fiction metaphor of the film back to the kind of reality that so disturbed Siegel in the America of the 1950s.
Some inhabitants of a small town notice that more and more of their neighbors and relatives are not quite themselves. Their personalities have faded into sameness. These people are apparently happy enough with their lives, but the lives have become complacent routines that really shouldn’t make anyone happy. It turns out that invaders from outer space are replicating the townspeople and replacing the lively, unpredictable human originals with the antlike, single-mindedly purposeful replicas.
In the film, the homogenization of society is the result of attacks on individual human beings. In a sense, it comes from within; individual lives are neutralized first, and the fate of society follows. But the trend you observe begins with the loss of society’s personality. The replacement of nurturing culture with hustle culture does the work of body-snatching from without. It doesn’t even require the introduction of an alien civilization; only the degeneration of ours.
3
Great piece Roger. Society and culture is being increasingly watered down. Generic. The marketing age has taken over. I cringe every time I hear the word brand.
Ever notice how fast the millennial age talks its almost robotic like some sort of A.I. has been shot in the fabric of their being. And what are they saying can be edited by two thirds because its meaningless flack.
6
Nothing is going to change without massive wealth redistribution because everyone will remain a scurrying little rat in search of the next meal, too busy and tired to rebel. This is what our uber-capitalists want. The more dire aspects of late-stage capitalism are being addressed by Chinese authorities right now in terms of their total surveillance society and "social credit score". In their rush to automate, China will be displacing many millions more people sooner than the West and the social upheaval that incurs will be dealt with through technology. If you can't be a docile, zombified, consumer, at least you can sit still and keep quiet, lest there be a knock on your door...The Chinese are leading the way but all the pieces are in place here.
5
I also bemoan the fact that there are few artisans who have shops where I can go in, talk to the owner and buy something unique. However there is Etsy.com. I discovered it while searching for chartreuse jewelry and a scarf to accent my gray dress for my daughter’s wedding. Each item that I bought was hand made by someone-all women- to included a thank you note in my purchase. Not quite like walking in a store but at least I knew who made it. I wonder how many folks are doing this...
4
Having worked some 100-hour weeks, I can tell you it's hard on your body. (Fortunately I was in my twenties at the time, and more resilient than today.) It's also hard on your mind: You might not make much sense at the end of that jag, and are unlikely to retain much executive functioning or ability to synthesize information. Perhaps this explains Musk's recent public meltdowns and loss of his chairmanship.
6
“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in. Modernity is a crack eliminator. The only cracks it allows in its polished, glistening, purring, scented spaces are fake ones."
Those words resonate in my mind and make me pause to consider how to distinguish modernity from change. Change is inevitable, at times reassuring and often gut wrenching.
Modernity is a contagious and debilitating state of mind that exalts the worst effects of change. Debilitating modernity is what we complain about even though we would like to think we have the power to control our own state of mind. We don't because modernity is contagious. As it affects the people we work alongside and it eventually penetrates our skulls.
We look at gentrification and sigh. We rationalize gentrification as progress and we ignore the plight of those shouldered aside as our neighborhoods change. We look at climate change and our gut clenches at polar bears stranded on ice floes and Pacific islanders struggling to hold back the tides. We won't be able to harness change until we can think clearly about its effects and find the will to ameliorate them.
5
Wow Roger this all resonates.
I work with my hands. I study music and practice my instrument every day. I bake natural leavened bread. Nothing is ever the same, nothing is ever perfect.
the light gets in.
215
@Peter Berley
I too live outside of this hustle world, but unfortunately it takes more and more work to ignore its encroachment on my environment.
21
"They should recall, however, that the 40-hour week was a hard-won concession, a victory for humanity over the barbaric 19th-century work conditions and relentless hours of early industrial capitalism."
Indeed. Now that I've retired from a working life of 40+ hours per week and I'm still busy, I have to wonder: How did I hold down a job all those years and still do all this other too? By staying very tired...
Here Nashville is also experiencing higher rents, heavier traffic, gentrification, and ever bigger buildings and homes. Every day I see yet another landmark demolished, multiple older, very nice homes being torn down to be replaced by yet another starter castle, high rises replacing single-story structures. There is much to enjoy here, but consideration should be given to affordable housing and public transportation. The need will not lessen.
"Efficiency" will be part of our downfall: When I see buildings and homes being demolished instead of their materials being salvaged to be used again, I despair. And this modus operandi goes on at many levels.
But I personally do have time now for reading the paper with a cup of coffee that I made myself, and stopping to fix toast if I want. And chat with grandson. And let the dogs out and back in. But outside it looks more like a rat race all the time.
Thank you for this column.
235
@JessiePearl
Yes, the rich fine places to love to death. Years ago they discovered Cape Cod. The charming little villages, the high dunes, and white sand beaches that were so beguiling drew them in. So, they bought up the waterfront areas and built McMasions on them. Now, the people who have lived here for generations can no longer afford to. Don't even ask about the beaches. The villages are full of Starbucks, mass produced souvenir trinkets, traffic jams and tourists. The charm is long gone. The rich loved it to death and sucked it all away.
46
I agree with you 100%, Roger. I was just disappointed that your proposed solution at the end was personal rather than societal. Social ailments require social solutions.
4
@George S. This is true but it's hard to see the appropriate solution. Unions already won the 40 hour week a long time ago, but who would we go on strike against this time?
Maybe the area of a solution is in the direction of a better safety net. A lot of this over-work isn't because people want to change the world, it's because they are desperate to keep their heads above the water.
And maybe another area is in the direction of education: the idea used to be that if a person didn't have to work twelve hours or more a day, they would have something they wanted to do with their own time. Would a wider education in the humanities give people more ways to value their leisure time?
Both of these directions should be pursued for their own sakes, but it's not clear that they would solve the problem Cohen discusses. But they might help.
1
@George S.
'All politics is local'. Change begins with you....
In my experience, only bad employees have to stay late. If you're good at your job, you don't need to work 80 hours a week. The truly brilliant can accomplish the same task in 20 hours or less.
Not because technology is so much better these days. Because the only thing keeping you in an office 40 hours a week is a boss that doesn't now how to use labor efficiently. Most good employees will finish their day playing minesweeper waiting for the boss to leave. They can't allow the boss to walk by an empty desk even when the work is already done.
Elon Musk is completely wrong. If there's a job that requires 80 hours of effort, fine. Making an 80 hour work week some heroic standard though is foolish. It's a transparent attempts to make your self seem more busy and intelligent than you actually are. Elon Musk is basically admitting he doesn't know how to staff and delegate properly.
8
Many decades ago, during my Liberal Arts education, I was fortunate to read two works that have stayed with me and provided me with a bit of guidance on how to view the world. The first was Bertrand Russell's essay "In Praise of Idleness," in which he argued that the true benefit of increasing productivity and technological advances should be freeing of people to enjoy what is really important in living a full life. The other was Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem "Pied Beauty," in which he urges us to take delight in all that is unique in the world around us.
Working 80 hours a week to make more money for your employer isn't the route to a satisfying life.
11
I lived in New York for two years, and I could't believe how much of the city - this huge funky eclectic city I'd been hearing about all my life - was a wasteland of Chase Banks and Duane Reades and chain bagel places. Even the street fairs only had mass-produced fake crafts instead of the real thing.
291
@Katy as late as the 1980's and 1990's there were pockets of charm. community and individuality in New York City. On my recent visits back it's apparent that the city has been ruined by real estate and commercial developers. Sad.
65
@Katy, I'm so glad I had an opportunity to experience a different NYC. The one the Stones sung about in Shattered. It was dirty and dangerous, but it was exciting and full of life. I'm sorry you never had the chance to experience it.
41
@Mary May
That’s interesting. I moved to NY in 1968, as a high school student. Contrary to most folks’ memory of the place, the 1970s, for me (in the East Village) was a time of profound individuality and non-hustle culture.
The building on 7th street between Avenues D and C with the windmill on top, for which Con Edison was required to pay (given the extra energy the windmill produced)
The community gardens in alphabet city
The plethora of street musicians, often improvising with various passers-by
The dying began in the early 80s. I remember one homeless man with a clothesline and old clothes to sell, calling out, “Reaganomics, get your bargains here, Reagonomics...”
One day 3 “Finance” type guys carring attache cases were barreling down 9th street toward 3rd avenue, and a couple of St. Marks punk types shouted, “SUITS!!”
It was the beginning of the end.
Our landlord gave us permission to sublet our $750 a month apartment when we left for an eco-community in South Carolina (jan was working a few blocks away when the towers were hit - it was time to leave - at least, to take a break).
We got word a few weeks after leaving that the sublet offer fell through. The apartment soon went for $2500 a month.
We were in the city - the upper east side - for a few hours in 2005 - it was barely recognizable.
Godde knows what it has become
Www.remember-to-breathe.org
93
In 1970 a Swedish economist published a book, “The Harried Leisure Class” which became popular and seemed to explain the fact that while we had more leisure, we had less time because we acquired things which required our time to maintain them or use them.This was way pre internet so he was talking about boats, golf club memberships etc. What he said so many years ago is more than apropos now that we have electronic devices which consume so much time-so little time left for relaxation and reflection!
4
I spent a year thumbing around Europe in the 60’s. I saved up, left a good job in order to experience something other than the hustle. That year altered my thinking for life, and while I came back to the corporate hustle, I never succumbed to the doctrine that I owed my employer anything more than what I was hired to do. I was a diligent and hard worker, reliable and trustworthy but my greatest loyalty was to myself and the quality of my own life.
When I became a business owner myself, I never once guilted an employee into working harder to make me more successful. In short, I respected their lives both inside and outside the workplace. As an owner, the hustle was my responsibility to craft and as long as we all happily ticked along I knew the hustle was fair and working.
We live in a predatory world now where corporations deny a decent minimum wage for low-income earners, and swallow up the lives of those at the top of the ladder. Either way, personal lives are not valued, but one comes with a yacht he'll never use, and the other with a bus ride to work he'll never get off.
15
Read anything. This sixty year old is amazed, constantly, at people proudly proclaiming they “ don’t have time to read “. To me, that’s analogous to not having time to breathe. Books inform, teach, transport us to another time or place. Sure, it’s sometimes escapism, but sorely needed. And calorie free.
Thank you, Sir. Most refreshing.
396
@Phyliss Dalmatian Me too. I can't understand people who don't have time to read. A friend's teenage daughter, who is quite bright, told me she "doesn't read books." I felt sad and couldn't get it out of my head for days.
44
@Phyliss Dalmatian I completely concur! A day without reading a book is a lost day.
32
@Phyliss Dalmatian
Amen, Phyliss.
I worked 60 -70 hour weeks for 40 years, but always found time to read books galore, the NYT and WAPO. TV is and was a wasteland- books, not at all.
Now retired, I read about 4 hrs a day, before and after my AM walk.
28
A timely and thought provoking essay. Globalization and technology's AIs and robots may promise a move towards a guaranteed income to live on and lots more time to read, think, ponder, and become wise and whole. Or, would the absence of the purposeful life embodied in one's work-life extract an ultimate cost? Do we need all the AI and the automation, for everything? It seems that's where things are headed. But is the cost to our humanity and our souls worth it?
5
I so agree with this column, and it is not only in the business world that this has happened; the arts too have suffered from it. There was a moment when "successful" work in the arts became about world domination, mostly through PR. Some of those artists certainly deserved the level of recognition they got, but the increasingly corporate structure of it all led to less air to breathe for everyone "under" them.
We're headed for another generation of dropping out. I felt the impossibility of continuing that kind of life decades ago, moved to rural Maine, and have arranged my life so that I've half dropped out already, and am ensuring that when I can finally fully retire, I will be able to do necessary things like read, cook, garden, MAKE THINGS, listen to music, walk in the woods, shovel snow, feed the woodstove, visit my neighbors, watch the birdfeeder.
I am so lucky to be able to do this, I know, and it comes with a certain cost, but I hope that it will ultimately be a happier, healthier, longer life.
8
1981 gave us the song "Work that sucker to death." At the time we found the repetitive nature of the title in the song hilarious as the driver of the car I was in was doing his darn best to fit into a tight parallel parking spot in Manhattan. Back and forth, back and forth, but we made it!
Who knew, as the Reagan era was dawning, giving us what is now the past (though at the time future) history of the last thirty-eight years that this song title would become a mantra of unfettered capitalism, from the gig economy here, to China and who knows where all else? And they sit in the corporate boardrooms and complain not a whit, except perhaps that they aren't working the suckers to death as efficiently as possible to maximize profits.
12
Einstein: "Not everything that counts can be counted; not everything that can be counted counts."
We have allowed capitalism with its flashy objects and slick slogans to distract us into thinking that anything that cannot be counted is worthless. If you don't possess whatever is being pushed, you are also worthless.
We have monetized life to the point that most people have no sense of wonder, enjoyment, or simply connection to others. It manifests in depression, loneliness, and alienation. It also manifests in violence towards self and others and addiction to anything that helps us escape the emptiness of existence. We replace experience with sensation, love with domination, and joy with distraction.
Capitalism is killing both us and the planet. "Oh, but it is better than the alternative!" or so we are endlessly told. Yes, we need mechanisms to distribute goods and services, but that doesn't mean that we have to allow that mechanism to dictate the quality of life itself. We are not what we own; we are not what we doing to generate incomes. Our lives are our own and this planet is our home. Both of those are worthy of wonder.
14
My experience is that the Elon Musks of the world and others who claim to work 80 to 100 hours are liars. It's simply executive P.R., part of the edifice of corporate propaganda and credibility. Modernity manufacturers illusion: of authenticity, value, art, song, politics, competence, sex, satisfaction and work. It's the kind of illusion that propelled a man of such demonstrable administrative incompetence as Rex Tillerson to the position of Exxon's CEO.
The hardest working people are often the lowest paid in our society; and those who aren't are typically teachers, nurses, priests and ministers - which we now also know includes FDA inspectors, TSA agents and a host of government workers.
12
This is an all-to-accurate description of modern day trends - the buy-in to capitalism run amok, global homogenization, and a claw your way to the top work “ethic”. As a parent of high-schoolers, I feel like my greatest challenge is raising mentally healthy kids who value substance over superficiality, and strive to be their most authentic selves.
12
When I retired I was in a job in which the boss said "We have no priorities. Everything is a priority." Needless to say most of us took work home on the weekends and sometimes I got phone calls from my boss at 9:00 at night on the weekends and sometimes I was called in during the weekend because someone else had not done a job properly. (I really was not paid well enough for any of this but I had to get my years in for retirement.) I had dreams that I worked for a place in which instead of going home for sleep, you rode on a moving parallel escalator that temporarily put you to sleep as you moved from one part of the building to the next.
I went to a conference in Monterey California in which the attendees were constantly on their laptops instead of talking to each other between seminars. I'd never seen anything like it before. I didn't know if they were just trying to look busy or if they actually thought that no one at the conference had any interesting or useful takes on the conference materials.
It seemed like the people who were paid the most were the ones who appeared to be working on their computers all the time, sucked up to bosses, sent them e-mails in the middle of the night, and complained about their co-workers behind their backs but who never seemed to be able to provide real insight during meetings.
5
It's funny. Walk around the shopping districts of hyper-capitalist London and you'll see the same few brands, over and over and over.
Walk around the shopping districts of socialist Paris, and you'll find diversity, charm and surprise. But then, the French make a huge effort to keep their diversity, even if it means some very arcane laws.
Who would have thought? Hyper capitalism delivers nothing but the illusion of choice.
10
It's more than a bit ironic that a second definition of a "hustle" is a fraud, scam or swindle.
14
Disneyland everywhere!! =the authentic experience!
This and the article about Foxcomm makes me ask why is it not called Communism when the government (our taxes) end up paying for the creation (or noncreation) of jobs? (Wisconsin has a real mess thanks to their corrupt legislators!)
Also why is inflation a way to construct a "growing" economy?
It's all backward economic thinking -- the investment class-- creating more plastic pollution daily!!
So Karachi is now like everywhere else. No souk.
Boycott Starbucks not because Scultz is running for president but because you prefer to support your local coffee store, if indeed one is left. But pray tell, how/ why is it that the mega-corps survive and others don't? Could it be that they like our business savvy president never pay for anything directly and somehow get the taxpayer to foot the bill in both/all directions? (and why? so the price of art at auction can inflate?? Unbelievable -- this value(less) system.)
5
One way to puncture the balloon of homogeneity and go for a different take on things as a reader is to simply read paragraphs from the bottom up rather than top down. The information doesn't change but it opens the mind of the writer. And opening Roger Cohen's mind is worth it.
Dubcek's call for socialism with a human face in communist Czechoslovakia in 1968 prompted a briefly noticed remark in this country calling for capitalism with a human face. Seems to me these are the times when that would a good campaign slogan.
2
......and where exactly does Trump fit in with all this, or is it just that Cohen can't write a single column without mentioning his name?
2
Good ol' Roger Cohen. One day he is lambasting the opponents of mass immigration as racist and antisemitic, the next he is lamenting the erosion and dissolution of various national charms. If you can see the coherence in this, you're smarter than I am!
2
I sincerely doubt that the raging voters who attend Donald Trump rallies — and join in his mean chants and applaud his nasty insults —are angry because there are just too many Starbucks where they live.
3
Somehow Trump is the fitting symbol of late capitalism. And why I feel like such a refugee with an urge to flee, searching desperately for a better way to not contribute to all the big by resisting and growing myself smaller. Looking for the off-ramp app to less. And ways to lessen the noise and the hate on the way down the slope from peak fossil. Dealing with the pain of seeing fossil's remains -- flotsam in streams of fragments.
Identity with refugees. On the shore of getting it -- what the natives got by the arrival of the culture of where's mine. Trump's terrible swift broad sword to the masses. Not a king but a conquistador. Riches to hoard. Natives -- plants, man and animals -- to demonize and confine. And now to steal their rights against toxins. And robbing them of their freedom to carry life to new generations without making their lives a total hell.
Late capital capture. A fitting end. All the smiling faces in the whatever-ads singing karaoke down the hard road.
How can I be a refugee from myself? From my madness with my place in the madness. How can I be a refugee from the refuge from accountability -- "everyone does it"? Where is my ticket over the wall of the fallen?
4
An excellent column Roger, thank you.
2
This op-ed is the light shining through the crack. Thank you.
1
Please read a book. Once and a while. An old one. First published 30 or 40 years ago. Yes, read a newspaper too, but don't look at reality only through the newspaper. Or through on line magazines, newspapers, social media. What you put in your brain affects your consciousness. Get some serious thinking in there.
4
Hey, we can all play this game. Invent a culture. Hustle culture! Rape culture! And then talk about how terrible it is.
In short, stop and smell the roses, better yet grow your own.
3
"Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And they put up a parking lot"
–Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi" 1970
6
Thank you.
Very fundamental issues. Strange coming from a guy who seems to have done his best over the years to promote globalization and careerism.
Homgenization of our mass, consumer-based society has been a profound issue in America since at least the middle of the last century. Since then, we've effectively exported this, along with corporate capitalism, throughout the world, giving new meaning to the Domino Theory.
The sinister part of homegenization from globalization is that the hollowness it produces drives people to seek MORE security from bigger and trusted institutions of their society - it's a viscious cycle. Even when science (our modern authority) tells us Wonder Bread is unhealthy, we turn to new, "bigger and better" corporate products. We've been treating ourselves to the same very marginally better, "whole wheat" products, known as bread, since the 70's.
In addition to liberating ourselves from our belief in lassie fare capitalism, Americans should reconsider our damaging, "melting pot" self-identity. Provincialism is not the necessary alternative. The mosaic model of Canada seems to work well.
Lastly, the domination of "work culture" seems to be a consequence of homogenization. It doesn't really drive the wheels of corporate capitalism. These fully-consuming lifestyles that help (somewhat) bring purpose and meaning seem to be more "culture" than "work", from what I can tell.
6
The familiar spots may be going, or gone. But new spots are being born in other places.
You just have to discover them.
Nathan's didn't become an institution until it was there for awhile and neither did Papaya King.
It is the tectonic nature of the world we live in, things arise, flourish, get covered in dust and vanish. Just like that.
2
When you characterize homogeneity as "the prodigal child of turbocharged global capitalism", Mr. Cohen, you are absolutely correct. How psychologically exhausting -- and draining -- to be a perpetual "consumer".
Feed your soul and stoke a mini-rebellion by devoting time to look at a tree, listen to music, give a hug, and yes, meander sans agenda through a newspaper. Freedom to express ourselves outside the bounds of the profit motive -- well, if that's not being authentic, versus a corporate-sanctioned version of "authentic", I don't know what is.
8
The same thing is happening in Boston. Go to the Charles River, look at the skyline, and you'll see six or more cranes piercing the sky, signs of the moneyed development interests that are slowly erasing the spots that once made Boston distinct from the more homogenized American cities.
And it's not just the physical cityscape that changes in the hustle culture. Civic engagement, especially in the neighborhoods, is far less vibrant than it used to be. The 80-hour-week workers are caught up in making their own way, but the commitment to a city meant for lots of people living different trajectories, not just those who can afford the high rents, is diminishing.
8
Serendipity. That's what newspapers offer. I chance to turn the page and see a small article that changes one's life. Try doing that on digital media where searching for a pre-determined subject overshadows happenstance. No wonder the digital generation is so boring.
7
People like Musk are fools.
Sure he is rich and have commoditized something things that made him rich. But like all fools who make a lot of money, he really thinks it is because he is smarter and harder working than others.
That is hogwash. There are a 1000 or even 100K people within miles of him that are just as smart, just as educated, and just as driven as he is. He just happened to be at the right place at the right time. It is just a lottery and he won it, but in no way is his 100 week in any way having any bearing on his win.
In the early part of the 20th century the 40 hour week was not only "won" but it was discovered.
It was discovered in that people who actually studied work and work productivity learned that beyond 40 hours a week people really are not that much more productive.
Yes, for short bursts that can be. However, after a couple of months it drops. They work the extra hours, but they do not really get more done. This is all based on the science of work.
People like Musk have bitten into the apple of The New Dark Age. They take the science they like that matches their view of the world and they reject that science that does not.
The "Tech Industry" rejected all that science about worker productivity that was done from 1900 to about 1980.
The Hustle culture is just that. The "new industries" are Hustling the workers, or Coning them may be a better term.
6
The problem isn't that there is too much homogenization but that there is not enough. Conflict between the two political parties is vicious -- "lock her up!" -- and reflect regional hostilities. They make reform impossible because they can't cooperate . 50 years ago they used to complain that the parties were too much alike.
2
It's all well and good to advise people not to work that hard. But the reality of keeping a roof over one's head and a family fed, clothed, healthy, and educated is difficult to ignore. Everything costs a lot, from rent to food to college to a doctor's visit. But look at folks who comment in the Times. If you complain about exhaustion, you're blamed for deciding to to into the arts forty years ago, instead of software engineering. If you complain about student debt, you're blamed for not being fortunate enough to get multiple scholarships or a full ride. If you complain about the cost of living, it's your fault for not being thrifty and saving enough. If you complain about the greed of the wealthy, you're accused of being envious, or of waging class warfare against the rich. If you get sick, you're blamed for not taking care of yourself. If you're anxious and afraid, you're prescribed some pills and told to get on with your work. Never is the lousy society that's been constructed for us to blame. It's always the fault of the individual that s/he is poor, never the fault of a badly constructed society designed to reward only a tiny fraction of the population and keep everyone else in wage slavery. When I read, write, play an instrument, garden, sew, or bake, I'm not getting paid. I do these things at my own financial peril, and good luck trying to get anyone in more comfortable circumstances to understand your plight. They'll just blame it on "your lack of responsibility."
30
@Allison "When I read, write, play an instrument, garden, sew, or bake, I'm not getting paid. I do these things at my own financial peril, and good luck trying to get anyone in more comfortable circumstances to understand your plight."
As a lower middle class millennial without a double income, this comment really resonates with me. I *always* feel some basic level of guilt doing recreational activities like reading or writing or baking for fun, even on weekends. I have only a moderate income, and, having been raised in this country's hustle culture where 'you're on your own so you better make your own,' those are hours I could be spending trying to make enough money so I can save for an uncertain future. Taking time to relax really loses its luster from that perspective.
5
Perfectly penned. Just remember folks, even if you win the rat race you are still a rat.
42
i've travelled fairly extensively and lived japan as well.
europe over 40 times, israel a few times, china, singapore, oz a few times and NZ five times.
every province in canada save one plus the sub arctic a few times.
california and arizona about five times each plus nyc, washington and upstate new york.
when i first went to europe in 1981, i used to like going into small stores to search for local sweets.
15 years later, it was almost impossible to find something i couldn't get in every western country i visited.
availability was nice, but unique had almost disappeared.
9
As a young man, I read four words by Jack Kerouac that influenced my entire life, "Rest, and be kind." Another author gave me, "Do less." With those words in mind I've worked since age 14, fought for social justice, written poetry, and have had a hell of a time. I'm currently in Mexico visiting the Monarch butterflies. To any "TGIM" readers - don't be fooled.
129
@Richard Wells
Yes, but how big is your TV?
Its that relentless intense consumerism. It has taken over as the driving human force. Not the spirit. Not the joy. Not the pursuit of purpose.
Well done. And well said.
17
@Richard Wells You're lucky, and I'm liking this because those are perfect words to live by even though Kerouac was a misogynist and alcoholic who died young. "On The Road" is a wonderful book, and as a woman I try hard to separate the art from the artist. But I do see a certain irony.
8
What Cohen and many (most) east-coast elites don't see or refuse to acknowledge is that the tens of millions of votes for Trump were a response to the deadly homogeneity and rampant inequality generated by unregulated global capitalism. The response was misguided but it reflected the reality that Hillary Clinton was just as responsible for the current dynamic as Trump and even less aware of its impact on America's working-class.
9
I just spent two months in India visiting old friends I first met in 1979, mostly in Bangalore and Mumbai. The India I knew seems to be gone. Everywhere I looked were huge apartment buildings and half-built overhead Metro tracks. Uber cars with smartphone drivers. All my old friends tapping away on the damn things.
India used to be a place where you could walk the streets and see things you never saw anywhere else. Now you see Subway and McDonalds and Starbucks. It's sad. How could a 5000 year old culture be emptied out so quickly?
15
@paulyyams I lived in Bangalore for 3 years . Find yourself in the mall at UB City, and you could be in an upscale mall anywhere in the world.
2
If you look at how the world has changed over the past 40 years and you extrapolate ahead another 40, there’s no doubt that we will experience a global sanitization that will make all foreign countries nothing but Disneyland versions of their former selves.
But here’s the thing: everything that we experience is ultimately dependent upon the depths of our minds. Meaning, an incredible novel or history book allows an individual living in a boring, homogeneous subdivision the ability to experience the type of gritty uniqueness that can mold the plasticity of his/her brain in incredible ways. A homogeneous exterior can belie unimaginable diversity beneath the surface.
Young people must be taught to read, think, and imagine.
6
@Cass
While I agree that reading is wonderful for many reasons and more people of all ages should discover its joys, I would prefer it not to be an end in itself to escape the barren plain of 21st century life.
Read and take note of what you find alluring there. Are people in novels or biographies having authentic interactions and sharing their true - not "curated" - selves? Are families supporting each other even if they disagree? Are communities joining in celebrations and sharing in difficulties? Analyze the experiences you are taking part in vicariously and set out to create those experiences in your everyday life. It is revolutionary in the best sense.
We are not going to set the world on fire. The larger the world's population grows, the less likely it is that any one of us will rise to the top. You can be outstanding in a small village doing things that wouldn't even be noticed on the global level. Become content with that. It frees you to create a life of meaning for yourself and those near you.
Meaning does not come from a selfie posted on FB; it comes from immersing yourself in the experience and enriching your inner self in the moment.
5
Harlan Ellison wrote a story in the 70's "Repent Harlequin, Said the TickTockMan". This should be required reading for every member of the hustle generation. But none of them will ever have the time.
6
If you have ever worked in advertising or direct mail fundraising you already know this counter-intuitive fact: full-page ads with 1,000+ words of copy, and direct mail appeals that run four to eight pages, will produce fewer responses but invariably raise more money from donors who are more committed in their interest and support.
In other words, people who read and think prefer more content than less. They read long-form journalism, books, those magazine length features in the old New Yorker -- like Fate of the Earth, the Greening of America, etc. Literate readers prefer to edit for themselves what they find extraneous.
I remember when USA Today launched and half their readers loved the "McNuggets" style of condensing every report to two paragraphs because it gave them the illusion of being well-informed without actually reading stuff. The other half was appalled at the shallow reporting that was just headline plus caption.
Today I suspect most raised in digital culture would find USA Today more than they care to read.
In Japan, the top two newspapers -- Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun -- have 10 million and 8 million readers respectively.
In the US, USA Today tops out at 1.5 million, followed by WSJ at 1 million, and then The NYTimes at almost 500,000 (not counting digital readers).
Reading is active thinking. Electronic media is passive reaction.
Obama reads books. Trump watches junk cable news and Shark Week.
He's the harm in hustle culture.
33
Wow. "if we've lost Roger, we've lost America."
1
“True wealth is discretionary time. You can always make another dollar but you can’t make another minute.” - Alan Weiss
23
Words of wisdom from a very wise man.
2
Just read about a 69 year old man who froze to death working for Federal Express. "Work until you're you're dead" is a reality, and it probably pleases the 1% and our Republican politicians.
14
Ah, Roger, as they say, “Mais ou sont les neiges d’antan?”
I comfort myself with the knowledge that back in those “snowy” times their was even more sorrow and unfairness than now.
Too bad we couldn’t have kept more of the good though.
3
@Nancy
I doubt that there was actually "more sorrow and unfairness". Why? Because there was more attachment and community. Social support is a great buffer against "unfairness"; besides, unfairness and sorrow are just part of the human condition. In overcoming them or sharing them, we grow.
2
Well said it Roger!
1
And this is what results from rapacious neoliberal capitalism. Call it by it's name! This inherently deadly and exploitative system won't stop until we stop it!
10
On chain stores: When my children were little, occasionally I took them to a different shopping mall for entertainment. Alas, I found all the malls had the same stores and eateries. They were carbon copies of themselves ! Some time ago, while on a driving vacation through Italy, we always ate Italian eateries (no surprise), and I noticed that each one was different from the others: ambience, menu, food taste - Nice !
On work: I have put in my share of 80-hour work weeks, and longer. I find that my mind can't think straight for such long periods. Sure I could tend automated equipment, making sure it didn't jam or catch fire, but if it were something requiring serious mental thought, after about two hours my mind went south, and does so after even shorter periods today.
4
The homogenization of culture and slavery to commerce are not new problems, and Roger Cohen's deeply thought out and beautifully written column isn't breaking new ground—all of us more or less sense how the forces of efficiency and conformity are eroding the beauty of life and replacing it with a prepackaged synthetic version. The value of Cohen's commentary, rather, it that it reminds us, as we need to be reminded, that the remorselessly grinding machinery of capitalism must be consciously resisted or it will engulf and inundate us without our realizing what we've lost. Resistance is difficult, perhaps futile—looking around at the world given to us by Amazon, Apple, and social media, it's easy to see how money drives out all other virtues; even the coffee shop owner on Queens Boulevard has dreams of how wonderful life would be if he could only franchise the Greek diner business model. But resist we must—this inspiring column sends us out on our way with a much-needed kick in the pants. Thank you!
11
Thank you. Though I'm now retired, I've been very concerned for the this trend over the last 40 years, yes, its been going on that long. Of course it wasn't as bad then as it is now, but I saw the trend then. At last someone is calling it out.
Hey, I believe in efficiency, I was always looking for more efficient ways to do things. I don't however believe in slavery. Every human being has the right to have time in their lives for a family life and recreation. Businesses need to start understanding that.
We also have the right to have time to sit down and read a book or a newspaper. We have a right to just be. What in the world happened to that? Oh I forgot, those CEO's need to amass their billions, because they think that's their right.
15
@wolf201
The search for efficiency should not be about increasing the velocity of the exchange of money or the hoarding of it. It should be time saved for more meaningful and fulfilling pursuits. It is a means to something better, not an end in itself.
2
No, this is not new. Read “Babbitt” by Sinclair Lewis published in 1922.
1
What a wonderful column! Thank you Mr. Cohen.
"Hustle Culture" is Greed Culture - whether you are a greedy overlord or a serf serving a greedy overlord. Money accumulation is at the heart of the "Hustle Culture." And that turns the meaning - the very value - of life into an accounting exercise.
But, as the saying goes, no one on their deathbed ever regrets not spending more time at work.
12
I join the others in thanking you for this thoughtful piece. I always look forward to reading your next column.
14
It's so easy and acceptable to be caught up in the world of work to the exclusion of almost everything else. Look at these kids in Silicon Valley whose lives center on their cubicle or open space. They are paid a ton of money but they eat, sleep and get their laundry done on site. They interact mostly with their fellow drones. And let's face it, much of California is mostly "beige." But if the pleasure centers of the brain are heightened by writing software rather than opioids, who's to complain?
5
@R. Anderson
Fear drives all kinds of behavior. But I am not sure how much longer the party can go on. Not that I see revolution, but perhaps even this generation of super rich may eventually take on some of the values of the 1960s honed on those of previous generations with the understanding that everyone would like to have some small share of the pie and that that would be a fair thing.
3
America's diseased "Hustle Culture" of today didn't exist last century. All the bads -- bigotry, racism, tribal behaviour among Americans did exist -- but there was no war to end all wars during the 21st C. Today's Gen Zs are now in their teens, children of our Gen Xers will be our leaders -- come what may -- in this century. One generation rises, then falls, the biblical law of lives lived.
Your words strike a deep chord, Roger Cohen. Re-reading a paper newspaper (that was created from the unsustainable source of trees growing in our earth). Job One is getting away from social media's "turbocharged capitalism" -- the Orwellian rigged system of America's dystopian consumer culture that is killing our democracy.
From coast to coast, we who receive snail mail in our post boxes (in addition to spam and email on our smartphones and pcs), are sick of the killing of trees to produce throwaway instant junk mail. Prayers and pleas for money gifts from the honest humane organizations begging for moolah for their people in distress. We don't read junk mail. We weep while we toss their humanitarian demands (that we can't fulfil)l into the ashcan..
Yes, America's system is rigged. We have shriveling into anationalistic tribal society in this age of tech wonders, social media and a president the world laughs at and loathes. We are all part of the family of mankind on rearth, and won't be able to act when our planet's climate has passed the point of no return.
8
A wonderful and moving essay. It makes me think immediately of Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times,” where pushing a man to his limits of productivity leads to comically catastrophic results.
Words like “productivity,” “efficiency” and “outcomes” turn out to be lethal weapons.
10
Exactly. This is hardly a new phenomenon. It’s been happening for at least 100 years.
2
@MindyW
And, like climate change, it is accelerating.
1
Two subjects here, homogenization is one, work until you drop is the other. I will take on homogenization first using the one-off personal approach. A second submit will take on the other.
Here in Linköping SE coffee-shop homogenization is extreme but there are saving graces. Espresso House - at least 3, one of them a multi-room palace, was there yesterday. Wayne's Coffee, at least 2.
The saving grace: Many languages in the air, all the time. As I wrote in my journal the young man next to me was communicating in what seemed like Arabic but different so I kept listening for the telltale "Insha allah" that never came. So when he stopped talking, I asked him in Swedish, what language he was speaking and he replied Arabic - but. The "but" was that he, a Coptic, had come to Sweden from Egypt, and Egyptian Arabic is different from the Arabic I usually hear at the Red Cross where I have been a volunteer for 18 y.
I asked him to write his name in my journal and that simple request led to a remarkable 30-40 minute conversation with starting point last name Boutros-Ghali - Google that!
My newly acquired acquaintance had the same last name, first name Ramon. We talked in mixed Swedish-English then he pointed at two men whom he had welcomed as they entered - Assyrians (Iraqi Christians).
On my way out I asked them if they knew my Assyrian friends, the Odishos and the Moshes - of course.
Outward homogeneity, inward total diversity.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
0947 cet
6
I've never worked 80 hours a week in my life and I used to drown in the Sunday New York Times or Washington Post and it never made me any happier. I discovered that I needed to be at my piano, or out on my bicycle, or something in that vein, to feel fully alive. Similarly in our time, the world of the Internet can draw you in like a black hole if you let it. Insulted as Cohen and other media people may feel to be told this, they don't hold any of the answers either. We have to find those for ourselves. Now that I've said my peace, I'm going to shut down my laptop and begin living my cherished Saturday.
7
We are a stress addicted society, forever in need of more stimulation to keep those feel-good stress hormones (dopamine, endorphins, adrenaline, serotonin, etc.) flowing. We abhor "boredom", central to the experience of meditation, as we are thrown into a state of withdrawal from these feel-good neurotransmitters if we ever get off the Merry-go-Round of our "hurry-up" culture. Unfortunately, this overproduction of stress hormones, most particularly cortisol, dopamine, and serotonin, is resulting in all of our exploding "diseases of civilization", including depression. In my 42 year medical psychiatry practice I was forced by my patient's complaints to write 1,000,000Rx in an endless attempt to restore their loss of the feel-good hormones/neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. And then it hit me, but not until I wrote "Stress R Us" in retirement, that our very hurry-up lifestyle is burning out our ability to keep up the production of these natural chemicals and, thus, 1/3 entering college freshmen are already taking an anti-depressant (to restore burned out dopamine and serotonin). Population density stress is killing us now through all of our 'diseases of civilization", including depression. Good Luck! Stress R Us
6
Whether or not you "turn on", you really do need to drop out. And turn it off. All of it.
But of course no one can. And, worse, almost no one wants to.
The moving finger swipes....
2
There will be burn out, there will be anger and there will be revolt.
When the hustle ends, the hustlers will find they do not actual have real lives. They will have friends who were not friends at all and families that were not families. And they will find alienation around every corner.
5
If I recall correctly, you used to write columns denouncing social democratic countries in Europe. Sclerotic economies, yada,yada, yada.
Putting the profit motive above all else is what gives us the results you don’t like. Why should we have small quirky stores when we could have Walmart?
1
If the 1% ers would pay their fair share there would be plenty of money for health care, education, infrastructure and a free un-enslaved workforce.
Just cleaning up the messess they make polluting the air and water would make for a zero unemployment rate world wide.
There is only one way to save humans from world wide enslavement and it will not happen as long as even one despot has control of the people's wealth.
5
Two subjects here:1) homogenization, 2) Work until you drop. Comment on 1 in print, here a new version on 1.
Here in Linköping SE coffee-shop homogenization – mostly Espresso House and Wayne’s Coffee - is extreme but there are saving graces.
The major saving grace is that the people who gather in these places have come to Sweden from all of the countries on Donald Trump’s ban list. At my favorite Wayne’s I am very likely to meet Kurdish or Assyrian acquaintances from Iraqi Kurdistan from which the core staff also came.
Yesterday, at mega Espresso House, I was writing in my journal My So Called 13th Life. Next to me was a young man talking on the phone in a language that sounded familiar but a little odd.
When he stopped talking, I asked him about the language, and he revealed that it was Egyptian Arabic. I asked him to write his name in my journal and led him first to ask if I knew who Boutros-Ghali was. I did know.
He wrote his name and guess what the last name was – Boutros-Ghali! Coptic Egyptian!
That led to a long conversation about the different ethnicities of people around us, how we see them and maybe how some ethnic Swedes see them – and much more. Next to us a Swedish couple, over there two Assyrians from Baghdad who, it turned out, know my own Assyrian friends very well.
Outward homogeneity given by coffee-chain brand names but inside those rooms, remarkable diversity.
Never in my USA but common in Sweden!
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
3
Having spent 35 years in the corporate culture, I can pinpoint the exact moment in America where the sole goal of productivity began to dominate our working lives. It started when Ronald Reagan became President. His famous words to the effect that government was the enemy of the people resonated throughout all the rural areas of America. That mindset meant that if government was the enemy then free enterprise was your friend. That twisted logic has been playing out ever since. And now has concluded with a greedy and corrupt Donald Trump as our President.
39
@Babel Exactly, cemented by breaking the PATCO strike. Reinforced by co-opting and conflating religiosity and faith with voting for repugnant politicians as a path to salvation. And here we are, with assurances that the treasonous, racist, lying, cruel and cowardly malignant narcissist con is a gift from the divine.
8
Sorry, but history tells us that you’re wrong. Read about American culture in the 1920s. Start with Sinclair Lewis’ “Babbitt.” Or even de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America.” Americans have always put homogenization and material wealth above everything else.
6
Thank you Roger for another great piece. Reading your work is one of my favorite ways of slowing down and arming myself to examine my own thoughts and feelings.
6
Thank you. Your writing continues to inspire me. I would only add to your last sentence, read especially the parts of the newspaper that do not mention Trump.
Oh and here’s another revolutionary act, disengage from as much social media as you can.
7
This was the best read of the week. My wife and I go out for coffee and bagels every Sunday at Eastern Market in DC and read the NYTimes and Wapo. I really got into his page after page line. I pride myself on sticking to the 40 hour week. Way to many things to do besides work. Dogs, collections, books, time with my spouse are way better than trying to make that SAS program work today. It will be there tomorrow. But the moment with your family might not. And as far as gentrification goes, when the Rock and Roll Hotel in DC goes (built in a funeral home) I am toast.
6
I have only 20 or so years left, I figure if my life lasts anything like the average for my generation. As I close in on these last precious years the more my conformity, complying and competition seem not only pointless but out right destructive to myself physically and emotionally, to everybody else and to the environment. I had come to this conclusion a few years before reading this but seeing it in print is more heartening than Mr. Cohen will ever know.
In that time coming to the same conclusion, I've pondered what I can do about it for myself and for others who need more of a nudge to disengage from the cannibalizing mechanization of the human experience by as many here have noted the .01% and their toadies.
It's the one thing having changed from being a government worker to being an artist and craftsperson has perfectly equipped me to do. Art is not the practice of art, but the unhitching of the mind applied to the authentic human experience.
We need more of that. There's a reason why the first thing authoritarian regimes go after art and artists first. Today those are the CEO's like Bloomberg and Schwartz and why not one of them must ever step foot in the White House.
12
Brilliant, well said. I had exactly the same reaction last month when walking down King's Road in Chelsea (London) and seeing all those chain shops and restaurants. I remember when it was funky and fun.
9
I'm lucky. I had lunch yesterday at a hot dog joint (The Lafayette Coney Island) that's been unchanged since I first started going there 46 years ago. Even the countertop is the same.
5
The Hustle Culture confuses motion with progress.
A word about the "rigged system": remember what gamblers say "a rigged game is the easiest to beat"
10
I am glad that I had the privilege of attending school in France in the early 1970's, when it really was a different place. Anyone remember yellow headlights?
Or visiting London when it was mostly cleaned of the soot from the days of soft coal, but while it was still a charming, coherent, Victorian city of low-rising buildings, and unsullied by the "gherkin" and other glass towers that are prime examples of the emperor's new clothes worldwide, ignoring as they do millennia of aesthetic experience with the Golden Mean.
On the other hand, when I saw my first convenience store at a petrol station in an English village c. 1988, I did pause to question why I should have the convenience of 7-11 in greater New York, and my British friends should not, just so that I could enjoy scenes of the 19th century as I tooled around the countryside.
The historian, Henry Steele Commager foresaw this fifty years ago and more, of everything converging over time. It is not just soulless capitalism. Urbane snobs love to sneer at the Olive Garden or Starbucks - and there is certainly a bogus quality to each - but when traveling, at least one knows what to expect. This was not the case in my youth, where stopping in to local establishments was distinctly hit or miss, and sometimes awful.
So, the world is getting more and more like itself. I am deeply nostalgic for what was, but I appreciate the predictability and reliability of what we have now.
6
@D I Shaw
This sounds like investment advice for the petrified. Remember, low risk gives low returns. The uncertainty of life opens the possibility of tremendous experiences. Who cares if there is some uncertainty that you won't like cuisine from a local joint; do you go to Spain to eat at McDonald's? The world belongs to the risk takers and to those who broaden and deepen their lives. Globalized capitalism is killing us.
3
@bluebob
"The world belongs to risk takers."
You are imposing your personality on others, and assuming it is superior to those who are more cautious. You are the outlier, not them. The world need not be conformed to your need for novelty. Most people are just trying to get through their day without too many unpleasant surprises.
Looking at "risk-takers," the current thinking in Silicon Valley is "move fast and break things." How is that working out for the average person?
Not so well! It makes for a very few winners and lots of losers who have to deal with the detritus of what is broken. Have the kindness to permit them the comfort of Applebees.
I always think "Time is HONEY!" So I let it run through my life real thick and slow and sweet and golden.
I try not to waste a drop of Honey or Time in my life. Both are so precious and I'm totally passionate about life and everything I do daily.
Let the wheel spin wildly for the hustle culture which is out of control and working 80+ for the riches they want and desire.
My riches and treasures are deep in my soul, as is my currency in life, which doesn't go up or down with the markets. I carry it within me and spread it far and wide to share with those I love.
21
Thanks. Do this more often. I missed all three of these stories, and I'm glad to have them pointed out to me. Very good column, and a good underlying message as well.
5
While you are correct in conclusion about the Hustle destroying humanity, you also don't seem to offer any solution other than 'slow down.' How about if there were fewer and less rewards because of a graduated tax that prevented one of the incentives for workaholics--profit.
The hustling rat-race has become a strong, unifying wind that grabs and pulls along everything it touches. It has reached the point where if I--a public school educator for over 25 years--want to retire, I need to get a second job to afford my 25K car lease and Condo 1/2 a mile from the beach.
Greed has gotten so celebrated--directly an indirectly--it forces everyone to keep a hand on their pocket and an eye for any opportunity to get out of debt.
5
Many years ago I discovered one city in all the world where you didn't have to go on a freeway to get to town from the airport. Copenhagen. You saw the people, the houses, the shops on your way into a wonderful city. I wonder what's happened to Copenhagen, and to the scooters you could pick up at the airport to get from gate to baggage. How different. How quirky.
Now all is homogenized. Everything is the same everywhere. Without signs you'd never know what country you are in. No wooden shoes in Holland. Sometimes that's called progress. To me it's a loss of specificity.
As for the 80-hour week, I like to think of myself in the vanguard of the proletariat. I love not working all of the time. I can get to read the newspaper. Thanks Roger Cohen for your endorsement of my weirdness.
10
Lucky you to be able to let go and forget about earning a buck for a couple of hours. This is treasure. There are some, probably less than one percent of us, who have enough bucks but always need more. The question I wonder about is how many bucks is enough?
8
Patronize small, independent, non-franchise businesses and you find people who understand that their survival depends on your satisfaction. Patronize large, conglomarate-owned or franchise businesses and you find people who understand that their survival depends on pounding you - the customer - into whatever standardized shape, size, or behavior is most efficient and profitable to their corporate masters.
Once the business model gets big enough, it's all about turning everything and everyone - including the customer - into a commodity.
There is a reason we have antitrust laws. It would be nice to see them enforced with some good ol' fashioned "zero tolerance".
28
I enjoyed this article. The irony that our individual search and adventure for authenticity by going to remote places is exactly what kills the authentic. Humans cannot simply observe and enjoy, we must alter and “correct” to our own image and ego’s. Most of us cheered the cleaning up of Manhattan in the 80s without realizing what the consequences would be.
14
I read that George Soros warned the folks at Davos about homogenization in China with their surveillance to the point of handing out credits and demerits for good citizenship. It seems the world is entering an age of coerced living from cradle to grave.
And most of us are too busy to stop and look around or read the news in depth. Or just stop period--maybe that's why meditation is catching on. A little time away from the hustle and conformism can renew our soul.
9
Small point - most of our US globalists - lawyers, consultants, tech execs, et al - are in bed with the Chinese. We should be applauding Trump for standing up to China. It may be our last chance.
1
Two odd and spontaneous things came to mind while reading this. When I choose a dozen eggs at my local grocery, I know the name of the farms owner and I do this intentionally (go ahead and call me a privileged elitist). A wonderful lyric in a song by Wilco says ... "when the Devil came, he was chrome".
2
@Chris Clark I like that Wilco lyric. Also Jay Farrar's "The devil lives in Branson, drives a backhoe and wears a gold chain."
2
If anger leads to hate, and if, as I believe, all hate is a version of self hate, then the homogenization described so eloquently by Roger Cohen has finished off the sense of self and thar humans once had. We feel that loss and are angry about it.
We commenters live in that world yet find the time to peruse the paper and tap out a comment or two. Our average age might be pretty high. I know I’m old enough to have writen letters to the editor by hand, with a fountain pen.
Smart phones have changed the written word into a graven image.
8
My wife and I visited southern France (Bordeaux and Sarlat) last fall with a group. We quickly observed that the towns and villages had no chain restaurants (or fast food restaurants), no malls, and few big box retailers. Dinner was frequently at a small family restaurant that had one seating (imagine that in an American restaurant). Loved it.
32
My friend, who studies Arctic exploration, once asked me "Where would we be without our passions?" So true! For me the passion was the Custer fight. I read every book, every journal, everything. So, one day I was reading an account of Reno's charge and suddenly I was there! It was like time travel or some weird out-of-body experience. I remember Custer waving his hat, shouting "We've got them on the run, boys!" and disappearing along with E Troop. I remember approaching the camp, dismounting, forming a skirmish line, warriors attacking, remounting, the chaos of the cottonwoods, the running battle as we galloped back towards the bluffs. I began losing it when we hit the waters of the Little Bighorn and then it was gone and I was just reading about it again. But, crazy as it seems, to this day, 40 years later, that moment remains one of the most exciting of my whole life. My point is that one way to escape today's work-work-work-hustle-hustle-hustle culture is to find something to be passionate about and to pursue it. Something work un-related. It really does bring great joy.
10
I don’t remember a day without reading. When I was very young, I found the characters in books more interesting and genuine than people in real life. I majored in English Literature and dreamed of moving to Paris and spending nights in “salons” with angry men and glamorous, brilliant women like the ones in the 20th Century novels and biographies I read. Instead I became a lawyer. But I still read every day and rather indiscriminately – anything from history and science to mysteries and chick lit. Professionally I’ve paid the price for being an introvert and not hustling or networking enough. I’m constantly bombarded with messages - in unsolicited emails, social media, television, even newspapers - reminding me of what I haven’t accomplished and don’t have. When it starts to get to me, I just need to have a really good cry and curl up with an old familiar book.
59
When the Highline went up, it was the end for Al Brownfeld, a third generation mechanic whose autobody shop dated back to the 1920s.
Al was a master mechanic with tatoos. motorcycles and a bunch of superb guys working under him.
He was also one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. He drove me to my job in NJ in his pick up when my car broke down. He nursed our old Toyota along to make sure it passes inspections.
When his shop closed, he left NY. We could find no one else like him and sold the car.
And not just Al. Friend after friend has been broken by this new culture and moved, quit, gone on to do something else.
The book Vanishing New York describes the destruction of this city. You might as well say vanishing country or vanishing world.
43
We have a farmers market in my town every Saturday from May through October, as I am sure many people do around the country. It is absolutely mobbed. If you want a bag of arugula or mixed greens, you had better get there in the first couple of hours or you will miss out.
Beyond the organic produce and meat, there is local honey, baked goods, a crepe stand, and most beautiful of all, a master gardener whose table is covered in a rainbow of bouquets made from zinnias, phlox, delphinium, pansies and other old-fashioned Valentine-card-type flowers. It is breathtaking.
People are starved not just for fresh, real food but for true, authentic beauty.
Every time I see a young person with his or her eyeballs glued to a little screen I want to shout at them about the brevity of life and that time is the most precious commodity of all.
As the saying goes, very few of us lay on our deathbed and say, "I wish I'd spent more time at the office."
34
The sad and obvious consequence of hustle culture is that it is not conducive to family life, to community life, to being in tune with the rhythms of the natural world, to the religious experience in our lives. It's a rat race out there. Charlie Chaplin's comic character in "Modern Times" continues to make us laugh. Hustle culture is another variation of 'little guys' getting caught up in the cogs of the industrial behemoth. It does damage to the body, mind, and soul.
Nice column, Roger Cohen. We all need a periodic reminder of the insanities of the rat race. It helps to give us a bit of an edge, a bit of a hedge against the infernal machine.
14
While I agree with the essay I’d like to caution against the word ‘rigged’ as it will begin to evoke hatred, anger and overreaching solutions. Also and because Mr. T uses it so often and misleadingly, is reason enough to find another word to define the issue. The issue being: capitalist consumer society turbocharged by anodyne technology run by amoral chieftains and lap-dog directors bulldoze the authentic in pursuit of profits.
7
There is a reason that start ups are populated by young people, and it has nothing to do with creativity, energy or willingness to work. "Performative hustle" is another variation on a performative culture enabled largely by social media. It doesn't matter whether you are actually accomplishing anything substantive in your work day, it just has to look like you are "all in, all the time."
The irony is that when start ups decide they are ready to scale, they hire people with more experience who often grew up in a professional culture where it was a "win" to achieve the highest result with the least effort. In other words, if you were leaving at 5:00, you were a genius not a slacker. The culture clash is inevitable and all too often the more experienced employees are dismissed as too old (horrors, 45!), too rigid, too slow for the new economy.
The lack of an alternative perspective in the work place denies younger employees a chance to see another kind of work model and perpetuates the hustle culture, which is constantly being stoked by organizations like WeWork. It probably also explains why the vast majority of start ups fail. At some point, what matters is results, not performance.
11
This is really good advice if you can actually subsist on your salary and have one reliable, regular job, with actual benefits.
If you are making minimum wage, you are not going to be able to survive on a 40 hour a week job and the 80 hours you may cobble together from several gigs provide NO Benefits. Just ask the thousands of contractors who will never recoup lost income as a result of Trump's punitive shutdown . The Hustle culture is not a choice, it's the failure/success of late stage capitalism.
71
Roger,
For a minute there you were right on the cusp of real understanding.
One World Culture is an idea that is offensive to many, many people. People want their own culture because they like their own culture. Why should Athens be just like Brooklyn? Why should Bavarians in dirndls and liederhosen be be seen as disruptive, hostile? It's taken a while but the contemptuous dismissal from the other people, the globally minded, has finally caused emotions to boil over.
And, by the way, I don't think that John Lennon meant the song "Imagine" as advice or even a practical aspiration. He was talking about what goes on inside of people's heads. The idea that we will have reached some zenith of civilization when we're all wearing the same clothes (those uni-sex onesies from Star Trek) and eating the same food is just silly. It always was.
Really.
9
Sing it loud, Roger! The quote from Elon Musk is particularly telling when we remember his recent erratic behavior so strongly suggestive of amphetamine psychosis. People have talked themselves into living a deathstyle. Nothing good will come of it.
12
I have another way of saying what Roger Cohen's saying here: the modern world has a way of eradicating actual beauty (and replacing it with faux "meaning" and "experiences").
I've been in Florida lately; with the exception of a vanishing few genuine places that all pre-date globalization, it is one giant, exceedingly ugly strip mall. Punctuated by casinos that seem to thrive on madly driving people to believe they're having "fun" to phony, gigantic "amusement" parks and tarted-up "nature" shows. The lack of everyday beauty hangs over life there like a mind-scrambling albatross.
This is what the cultural mine canaries Mr. Cohen cites are telling us: the commoditization of every life experience does not equal satisfying experience. Nor does the severing of work from meaning, not only in the 24/7professional work culture described but in the far larger, soul-sucking service sector. These things crush meaning. And people are noticing, even if they often can't quite put their finger on what's bothering them down deep.
Read. Garden. Play ball. Ride a bike. Do not do work that doesn't speak to you. The dystopia of science fiction novels is nearer than many realize.
55
Mr. Cohen, I always read you, even when I'm not interested in what you're talking about, because yours is the most beautiful writing in any newspaper.
6
Of course, there are poor people who have no choice but to hustle, often working three jobs in order to make ends meet.
12
Two subjects here, homogenization is one, work until you drop is the other. I will take on homogenization first using the one-off personal approach. A second submit will take on the other.
Here in Linköping SE coffee-shop homogenization is extreme but there are saving graces. Espresso House - at least 3, one of them a multi-room palace, was there yesterday. Wayne's Coffee, at least 2.
The saving grace: Many languages in the air, all the time. As I wrote in my journal the young man next to me was communicating in what seemed like Arabic but different so I kept listening for the telltale "Insha allah" that never came.
So when he stopped talking, I asked him in Swedish, what language he was speaking and he replied Arabic - but. The "but" was that he, a Coptic, had come to Sweden from Egypt, and Egyptian Arabic is different from the Arabic I usually hear at the Red Cross where I have been a volunteer for 18 y.
I asked him to write his name in my journal and that simple request led to a remarkable 30-40 minute conversation with starting point last name Boutros-Ghali - Google that!
My newly acquired acquaintance had the same last name, first name Ramon. We talked in mixed Swedish-English then he pointed at two men whom he had welcomed as they entered - Assyrians (Iraqi Christians). On my way out I asked them if they knew my Assyrian friends, the Odishos and the Moshes - of course.
Outward homogeneity, inward total diversity.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
7
The author is right, it is ugly, and depressing , and enraging and its all due to turbo-charged capitalism/globalisation.And who is responsible for this model? I will let the question hang in the air.
8
"How to journey when every voyage is a return to the same place?"
As T.S. Eliot observed: "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
Apparently that place for us now is mayonnaise on white bread. Like Moby Dick, it reflects our sins back onto us. But it doesn't have to be that way forever.
5
It could be reading a newspaper - or, if current events don't help bring down stress and anger, try something else. It doesn't even have to be for two hours.
Play and curl up with your pets.
Try a new recipe.
Call up an old friend (the voice is lost in texts).
Take a crack at a crossword.
Invite a neighbor over for a snack and a chat.
Take a nostalgic trip with some old photos.
The point is, there are so many things to enjoy in our lives. Time and money limits notwithstanding, we have the antidotes to taxing workloads and other obligations around us. We need not go far, or pay lavishly, for amusement. A little decompression goes a long way.
7
I don't know, Roger.
What hope can follows the brutal blandness of capitalism?
Is happiness an entitlement?
Freud didn't think so.
Are we at the edge of a revolution?
Where do we go from here?
3
"Excessively precise economic analysis can lead to assessing everything in terms of its easily measurable melt value - the value that thieves get from stealing copper wiring from isolated houses, that vandals got from tearing down Greek temples for the lead joints holding the marble blocks together, that shortsighted timber companies get from liquidating their forests. The standard to insist on is live value. What is something worth when it's working?"
Stewart Brand
4
It's too late: the homogenization of world culture started seventy decades ago with the United States' victory in WWII.
Took a trip to Fort Myers, Florida, recently. Nice town. Very antiseptic. But a "culture" doesn't flourish under such conditions.
7
If you don't have it, you didn't deserve it.
If you work real hard maybe you'll get it.
When all your work produces it,
then you will no longer be needed.
If you slow down someone will take it.
If you don't invest it in something,
it will disappear.
If you don't eat it
it will go to waste.
If you don't have it,
you've got to get it.
If it wasn't you it would be somebody else.
1
"At the heart of homogenization lies emptiness. Anything-but-this anger follows."
I think we Americans at least, have lost one of the qualities possessed by many of our ancestors; namely independence. Many of our fore bearers came to America because they were different from the folks at home. It became a point of pride that individualistic streak, even stubbornness if you will, to stand by and for themselves. We find it still our rural areas, but even there the latest generations seem more concerned with being "liked" than being themselves. Now, I am on the wrong side of 60, so I'll understand if younger people think I'm full of bull puckeys, but I have noticed a wide spread lack of the ability to do something useful with your hands. I think you can combat that "emptiness" by digging up some weeds in a garden or building a birdhouse or learning to cook something new or taking a class to learn how to weave or throw pots or build a canoe or just about anything that will allow you to get back in touch with being a human that can do something useful with their hands. Try it, you might be wonderfully surprised.
6
One of my very favorite op ed writers...always fresh and imaginative. Don't go anywhere Roger- I look forward to your next contribution and I will reread previous ones.
3
You could put Roger Cohen's writing to music (Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" would work).
2
Homogenization of society in 21st century?
This seems a consequence of the two great wars of 20th century, the solution in aftermath by economists and politicians of certainly the major powers and regardless of their political and economic differences. Everybody seems to agree that development of culture as historically understood, as a powerful military, aesthetic, integrated system phenomenon is an extremely dangerous process and in need of disruption, curtailment, management, and even destruction. Whether we think of Sitting Bull's Sioux or Germany and Japan exploding in 20th century and of course historical trajectory of England, France, Spain (feel free to add to the list), everybody since WW2 thinks these phenomenons should be mostly stopped.
Oscar Wilde said the U.S. appears to be going from barbarism to degeneration with no civilization (read culture) in-between, well we all seem bent now on not allowing any civilizations, cultures, to rise in between. We say we want to devise some new political/economic and world uniting framework beyond historical cultural and civilization differences which cause so much sorrow, but it's an open question how much we are transcending to new and greater culture creation and how much we are just squashing culture creation, creativity, the world over and just moving to some mixture of barbarism and degeneration all propped up and desperately masked with sterility by the political and economic masters of society. Switzerland?
4
For a long time now, as I read novels set from about 1900-1970, I find myself wanting to be in the settings as they were then. I generally don't travel to cities anymore because of the depressing sameness. At least the countryside retains most of it's unique qualities.
3
If you drive inland from Jacksonville FL there is a small town called Palatka, on the St Johns River. It has pretty much dodged the one-dimensional Florida sameness by virtue of being largely poor and black. There is a minimum of development and the town has a bit of the flavor of "old Florida". It is off the tourist trail and close to the wonderful Ocala National Forest. It is surrounded by agricultural acreage. It has a very unique "feel" compared to the "hustling" towns on the coast. I'm also told, by those in the know, that there is some intellectual ferment there as a number of U of Florida professors from nearby Gainesville make their home in Palatka.
4
@Economy Biscuits
Then please keep it a secret!
3
Read The Enigma of Capital, by David Harvey. Give an accurate Marxian evaluation of our situation a fair reading. Follow the logic of Harvey's "what are we to do", and we will find a solution.
3
Moderation, moderation. As Aristotle described as the golden mean, as the Swedes embrace lagom, as my father often said, "don't over do it" (and he was an engineer who started a successful business).
Work can be interesting and rewarding, but it is just one aspect of a life well-lived. Any pursuit that is obsessive produces an unhealthy mind or body whether food, sex, exercise, or singular mental pursuits.
26
"Pursuit of happiness?" That aspiration was changed to "property" by the time drafting the Constitution came around...
10
A soul smarter than I once opined that, in the future there would be a store called, Food, one called Clothes, etc.. I fear we have reached that point. Character and difference have been routed out in favor of this distressing sameness. It makes me very glad that I have traveled much in my life, so as to have seen those London streets prior to their wicked white wash....
5
I witnessed the beginning of homogenization as a boy.
I grew up in California in the 60's and 70's. My father was born and raised in eastern Kansas in the 30's and 40's.
Every other summer my family and I would travel to the middle of the country in our 1967 Ford Country Squire wood-sided station wagon, camping in random spots along the way. Our journey was only basically planned; sometimes we'd take the northern route from the Bay Area to Kansas, other times the southern, or the central route. We'd travel there for a week; be in Kansas for a week; and travel home the third week.
In those years, the Interstate freeway system was under construction. I remember the earlier trips were slower because we would have to take the older highways. Unlike the Interstate, the highways didn't cut through the topography of hills, so the drive was like a slow motion rollercoaster. As time went on, more and more of our journey was on the straight line Interstate roads.
The old highways would become Main Street in little towns along the way, with storefronts and mom and pop cafes.
The Interstate helped kill those little Main Streets—the first blow against them, followed by Walmart, then the Internet. And now the Dollar Store and automation.
Those old highways were like traveling upon vast ribbons that traced the topography of the land. They were dotted with real towns full of real people. You could have conversations with them over a cup of coffee and a slice of pie.
Gone.
131
@Questioner I hear you about travelling the back roads. Your words remind me of the 1978 book," Blue Highways" by William Trogdon.
7
@Questioner The real people and towns are still there – no one forces us to take the freeways.
4
@Questioner
Aren't you glad you finally made it here?
If Massachusetts ever goes the way of the slave states (right to work) we at least can walk into the ocean in the winter and move on.
5
The young people who have bought into the "Nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week" Elon Musk nonsense have been sold a bill of goods unprecedented in modern history.
The truth is, very few people, by dint of experience, skill, power or opportunity, get to change the world. Yet another app that helps you to edit photos and share them with people who don't care certainly won't change the world, at least not for the better.
But fake enthusiasm is infectious and young adults are generally naive about these things.
I suggest that "The Man In The Grey Flannel Suit" (1955) be required reading in middle school to help young people establish the foundation that work is important but it isn't everything. Don't want to read it? Watch the movie from 1956 with Gregory Peck and Frederick March who, as the head of a major corporation who has amassed every perk that immense wealth can buy, finally realizes that his success has come at the expense of his family and a balanced, healthy life.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
58
Homogenization is easier for large entities to deal with and control and make money from. Uniqueness can be a big money maker, but it is not subject to business planning and rational utilization. So to be dependable, uniqueness must be manufactured or invented. But it is not real, and sometimes becomes unsatisfying.
8
I occasionally drive through the small street in Paris where I rented my first tiny apartment 40 years ago and it always makes me sad. The family bakery I lived above, and where, in season, I would (being American) buy a cherry tart for breakfast, is long gone and replaced by an upscale hotel. The wine shop I sometimes cursed for its noisy deliveries of clinking bottles at 6 a.m., but where the proprietor helped me, on a limited budget, choose wines that were more than “correct,” is now a hotel as well. The charcuterie where I bought “a stuffed tomato” on Tuesdays and a slice of “potato tourte” on Fridays is now an office, and the building which housed my old cheese shop, where I graduated from buying Swiss gruyère to lucious smelly cheeses, is (ironically) a “centre de fitness.” The people who frequented these shops and lived in my “quartier” may have been solidly bourgeois, but they weren’t 1 percenters by any means. My ancient landlady, who owned my whole building, lived simply and parsimoniously.
Despite traffic and pollution, Paris is still such a bewitchingly beautiful city, that gentrification and mass tourism were perhaps inevitable, but the homogenization and 24/7 lifestyle Roger describes has destroyed much of the Paris I experienced as a student/worker of limited means, without even a telephone for the first two years, but blissfully happy. I’m only grateful, that I got in on the tail end of what Hemingway so lovingly described as Paris’s “Moveable Feast.”
81
Perhaps another small feeder into the hustle culture is the exploitation of young people’s enthusiasm for work and for being part of something. I found this in tech work back in the 80s where people bragged about putting in 60 to 80 hour work weeks( no extra compensation of course because we were “professionals “. If you did less, you were seen as over the hill. Mind you, no one had kids and few were married.
As for the homogenization of culture, I am baffled, even appalled, when visitors to my adopted city of Prague flock to cheesy look-alike souvenir shops ( which number in the hundreds, something to do with money laundering I am told ) selling Russian Matrioska dolls ( alien to Czech culture but they are colorful and I suppose look foreign. ). And of course to McDonalds, Starbucks, Costa -the whole tedium. Few seem to want to risk even eating something they might not have had before. I am not sure what the point of all their travel is, but these are people who are not slaves of the gig culture and it bugs me that they dont know better.
19
Living next to a university with a school of music there are many fine concerts. Thursday night there was a provocative clarinet recital. Friday night there was the brass faculty quintet.
There was plenty of room for more to come and enjoy the live, non-commercial music.
9
@David B. Benson How does one live next to a university in southwestern Washington State?
2
Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for an insightful and moving column. I've had similar thought for a long time, but was unable to express them so well.
At 76 going on 77, and having lived in several different countries, I've witnessed what you describe everywhere, and find it unbearably sad. Unfortunately, any attempt to resist this tendency becomes in itself a privilege for the wealthy and "trendy", who can afford it, and who often proclaim their behavior loudly in public to display their great "sensitivity". That's perhaps the worst aspect of all. "Slow travel", "slow food", "slow" everything; "downshifting" -- the words themselves cry out their privileged nature. I myself am able to enjoy all of them, but I'm constantly aware of how privileged I am in doing so.
What's the solution? I don't know.
38
Let me add another thought. Throughout history, human beings have dreamt of a life without the necessity of work. in Genesis, Adam and Eve are punished for their transgression: “in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread”. Folk traditions everywhere speak of a land flowing with milk and honey; the cornucopia or horn of plenty, the Finnish “sampo”, which gives us everything we need; the pot which never empties; the land where one can lie under a tree and fatted roast birds fall into one’s mouth (admittedly not my own fantasy). Now, with the spread of AI and automation, for the first time in history this dream is potentially realizable. What it needs is a viable system for the distribution of the income derived from production, in the form of a universal basic income, plus an educational system that would provide everyone with the resources to use their leisure most enjoyably. After that, it’s up to the individual.
A major shift in values would also be useful: making the greatest amount of money possible, by whatever means possible, would no longer be the primary sign of success, overriding everything else.
Yes, I know at present this is just as much a utopia and a fantasy as the tree full of roasted birds. But does it have to be?
18
@Ellen Valle I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. There's certainly no need to feel guilty. Instead of fretting you should be grateful.
I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me -- I need to start packing for my next trip, which I assure you will be at a relaxed pace, with plenty of scope for serendipity. Working while I'm away? Why not? Have laptop, will travel.
1
Two subjects here, homogenization the 1st, the Hustle Culture, the 2d. This a view from Sweden and Finland on the 2d via consideration of the 4-day work week/6 h work day and guaranteed income for all.
Various experiments have been/are being carried out in Sweden, especially at health-care facilities on either a 4 day work week with 5-day pay or 5-day 6 h work week. Perhaps the parties pushing hardest for this are V - left and S - Social democratic. Positive results have been reported from some trials but getting the economics to work out seemingly has not been solved.
Enter the guaranteed base income for all. Finland has ended a 2 year trial in which 2000 randomly chosen people were given a basic cash income better named as supplement. The trial was seen by researchers as too short but has led to analysis of other proposals interestingly favored by both the left and the right. In Sweden there is much discussion focused on recognition that sooner or later with the endless rise of automation a basic income for all may be needed.
A fundamental question raised even by me but more widely by researchers in Sweden and elsewhere is<: Will this lead to emptiness resulting from not having a job in which one can take pride?
I do not have that problem even though retired here in Sweden for 22 years. Drafting NYT comments is just one of many things that make every day a great experience.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE (still !)
18
@Larry Lundgren-This, my 2d submission, was accepted instantly, presumably because the algorithm let it through. A puzzle arises,however. The 1st submission did not get algorithm acceptance and recent experience tells me that for reasons unknown, it may never be approved either by a live reviewer or by the algorithm.
Let's see what happens to this self reply submitted at 09:12 CET.
Just me, LL
5
@Larry Lundgren I have similar problems a few comments get lost regularly and not,I imagine, because of incivility etc etc.
5
@T.R.Devlin Thanks. All of a sudden just now several appeared, some of them 2d tries. The puzzle is why one, as you note, perfectly civil, is accepted instantly and another, just as civil and on topic takes all day.
I guess best to just accept.
2
A fine essay. A few points to add: 1) The source of the hustle culture has a lot to do with corporate greed, which I hope Mr. Cohen will tackle in a next column. Homogenization comes from aiming lower to reach a mass market. 2) Most working people are not able to make the choices to opt out f the hustle culture, spend an entire morning reading the Times or bicycling through a park. 3) A lot of this has to do with the American economy losing the sort of making-things jobs that for thousands of years provided workers with inner satisfaction, but that have now been replaced by jobs in retail, personal services, people management, etc., that do not provide the same sort of balance between work and life. 4) European countries are going in the opposite direction, of purposefully hobbling the hustle culture. France has a 36-hour work week, disallows overtime (so that more people can be employed). Germany mandates 13 weeks of vacation a year. Such activities have been regularly derided by those who promote the hustle gospel, but Europeans regularly report greater job and life satisfaction than Americans do. 5) Life balance and individualization, which I take to be Mr. Cohen's positive aims for ditching the hustle culture, would be better served if people did not feel they had to work overly hard to assure themselves and their families of health coverage.
39
@Tom Shachtman I take your point, but I'm afraid nobody gets 13 weeks of vacation in Germany, probably not even school teachers. It's more like five or six. Not that I'm complaining. What is true is that you basically never have to worry about health insurance, even if you can't handle the Sturm und Drang of life in the fast lane.
10
@Richard Janssen
Only 5 or 6 weeks of vacation? Many many people in this country don’t even get 2. And many people never take what vacation they have because it looks bad or they could never catch up. Vacation meaning leisure results in re creation. And that’s beneficial to everyone-bosses included.
6
@Tom Shachtmanm I am sure most Germans would love 13 weeks of vacation but the mandate is 4 weeks with the typical employee getting 5 to 6 weeks!
Better than almost any American vacation plan for sure!
3
Great observation. Things do change yet they stay the same. Another article I just read here at the Times focused upon the importance of supporting Starbuck's founder Howard Schultz get more support from Democrats. Yet here we are with your article in a way decrying the Starbucksination of the world's culture, which has happened. The laptop at Starbucks combined with "Startup Weekends" paved the way for "We Work". You describe perfectly what is happening in the world today, yet now the culture is becoming more far-flung because of these high rents to be paid by the Starbucks and McDonalds of the world. Cheap rent and the ability to think and convey ideas is what is needed for the uniqueness to persist, yet somehow the media re-wraps it and homogenizes it for all of us, with me typing on MacBook Pro into your database queued for review by some keyword searching AI algorithm sifting through these digits to decide whether or not these words are worthy of a person seeing, or not before possibly being seen while I sit alone in the dark with wife and daughter sleep in the other room. One hundred and fifty years ago it would be me writing by hand by a lantern or candle alone, while my wife and daughter sleep in the other room. The accents were unique before the unifier of television arrived and now the post-modern divider of thoughts, ideas, and people into subsets occur, the uniformity complete while the end user thinks they are unique. Illuminating.
1
2 separate, albeit related, phenomena are being conflated - homogenization and the frantic hustle. Hustle comes from fear. And the fear is valid. While the author and many commenters seem to have gotten themselves at least somewhat set for life, most of the rest of us look at the glorification of the "gig" economy - no security - none, and the continuous attempts by the billionaire class to cut "entitlements" - that word always said with a sneer. So, what will be left of Medicare when we need it? How will Social Security be demolished by a thousand cuts? You bet your a.. we "hustle." Homogenization is related to this hustle imperative in at least two ways: firstly, that when a million potential small scale enterprises are replaced or pre-empted by Starbucks, a few people get rich, while a million potential owner-operators lose a livelihood, and all the left-behind have to get by on barista wages (and be available to rush to work with a smile, when, and only when, their also-low-wage manager calls them in), and second, when people buy a coffee or an iPhone or a Tesla, or a McMansion they really cannot afford, they are often making an ultimately vain attempt to calm their entirely rational anxiety - convince themselves they will be OK - "hey, if I can buy this (with borrowed money, often), I must be doin' allright, right?" Yes, the game is rigged. The world does not need to be like this for so many.
125
@Barbara
Hustle can be countered only by organized effort to change what compels hustle. This means unions and political organization.
50
I've read the NYT my entire life. Couldn't start the business day without checking through the first section; somehow never read the Saturday paper; and, finally, spent a leisurely Sunday reading most of the sections.
Roger is right...you never know what you'l find.
I now read the electronic version of the Times every morning because we retired to France and I won't spend a fortune for the printed version that's flown in. I said no when asked about an electronic version tailored to me. Huh? No, I want to be surprised by an article found in the Science section or Style or Food. Of course I still check the first page first, World, US, etc and couldn't get through the day without Opinion and the readers comments only available online as opposed to the printed letters to the editor I used to read.
So, some progress isn't bad, and I can still find individual shops for coffee, bread, etc. in the middle of a world class city because most of the French refuse to be hustled.
Back to the paper...
60
Idem, Rob. My sentiments too.
Roger Cohen, thanks as always for your inspiration articles.
5
What a great piece. This is why I read the Times.
A note about community. My neighborhood in The Hague was built about 100 years ago. Literally every corner of every block used to have a shop. The evidence is still there. Big plate glass windows and corner doors. I know people, many retired, who were born and grew up in this neighborhood. They recount the time when virtually anything you needed was just around the corner. From butchers to shoe repair to fabric sellers, second hand shops and tailors, they were all here. All families supporting, and supported by, their neighbors.
It was a community and it is now gone. All those shops are now apartments. So I was particularly touched by "How to know community in a digital group?" Economic and digital isolation and picking apart of community has dissolved our culture in untold ways. It seems unstoppable. I despair. Alas.
11
My thoughts in far better words. For that I thank you. I escaped San Francisco. where mausoleum meets mall styled architecture has been replacing the homes and business fronts of the past century or so, only to realize that the funky little cafes of my neighborhood are being replaced one by one by tech workers in sterile spaces.
It's not just about hustle. It's about soul. What a pity.
81
I recommend the book Unruly Places by Alistair Bonnett. In the opening chapters he discusses how zealous political and religious (and, by extension, economic) ideologies obliterate the past to promote the current ideology. The real estate developers will have their way, because greed is good.
6
We need a movement for a 32 hour work week, four days working, three off. Maybe even 28 hours or less, shortening those days.
I found that the 80/20 Rule applied to work time too. The best 80% was done in only 20% of the time. A lot of time was wasted. You can only do so much, then you're burned out for a bit. Better to do the good stuff, and then go home.
If that creates more jobs, well good, we need those too. But it would not actually have reduced my productivity, nor that of most people I knew and watched.
31
@Mark Thomason
I agree with what you write, but... are people going to earn a living wage working that few hours/week? I think not, under the current model. But as automation reduces the need for people- see Harari's "useless class"- we will need to deal with the problem of displacement from all kinds of jobs beyond that of just manufacturing. This is going to be one of the great problems of this century.
10
@Mark Thomason and also @ replier enhierogen - I report on this subject by pointing to trials run in Sweden on decreasing the number of hours while retaining full pay and on the Finnish trial of providing some kind of basic income or supplemental income - URL is
http://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/opinion/burnout-hustle-culture-gentrification-work.html?comments#permid=30440978
That got microsecond approval thanks to the NYT algorithm but unfortunately not all submissions are seen as equal by that algorithm so my first submission awaits review, perhaps by a person, and as recent experience suggests, may never appear "in print".
I agree completely with your comment. At age 86 - soon 87 - I still work as a translator for Swedish medical researchers - Swedish to English - but I could not do that hour after hour and wonder how translators of something as difficult as the Elena Ferrante novels manage. Wish they would tell us.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
3
@enhierogen Manufacturing? Robotics will eliminate manufacturing, that's its purpose. Only pieceworkers somewhere in Asia will have jobs, putting the robots together. Until they're replaced robots too. Cubicles that suck the brains out of young generations will be the workplace of a majority of workers.
3
More than 30 years ago, I got a job producing content for a thriving enterprise. I was a newspaper photographer; and I thought I was hustling.
Now I see that the ‘80s and much of the ‘90s were the 11th hour of a slo-motion craft. The speed limits imposed by the old technology seem pleasant in retrospect.
I can still feel the steel reel in my left hand, the Kodak Tri-X black-and-white film spooling through the fingers of my right hand. I remember the pitch darkness, the cloistered silence.
Tipping the eight-reel metal tank up and down, I agitated the developer at regular intervals, then banged the tank on the counter to dislodge any air bubbles from the film’s emulsion. There was a stink to the hypo-fixer that made the image permanent. I got to like it, even though proximity to the stuff made my arms itch.
Gallons of water poured down the drain as I washed the film. I held the unfurling, dripping negatives up to the fluorescent light. What had I gotten?
47
@Railbird
What a beautifully written comment. Thank you for expressing the theme of this essay in such an elegant and unique (non-hustle) way.
12
One of the pleasures of my life as an ex-pat is living in a culture that still has the myriad shops throughout the neighborhood. Even as I struggle to learn the language I am welcomed and feel the vibrancy of a less flattened entrepreneurial society.
On the other hand, the gig-economy as practiced in the USA really looks like a way to get young white people to perform as a cheap labor pool for their corporate masters.
29
Born in 1924, my father worked in a factory for 42 years. Everyday he worked on a press and everyday a foreman came by and set the rate for the job he was doing; how many pieces my father had to make and hour on his machine.
If dad made, and beat, the rate, he made a living. If he didn't make the rate, which was subjective more than objective, he made day wages, which were impossible to live on. So dad made the rate.
THAT, Mr. Cohen, is the definition of the "Hustle Economy."
So dry up your crocodile tears in 2019 and give me a break.
8
Wow. A lot of those aphorisms sound as if they could be taken straight from Chairman Mao's Little Red Book. We may break our backs, but at least we're doing it with a smile and joyful thanks to Our Dear Corporate Leaders.
8
"offered clues to the anything-but-this anger coursing through the politics of developed societies"
It is also an important clue that this specific angry response is coursing through politics in so many places.
I'd suggest it reflects a consciousness of being helpless to get a desired change.
All one can do is oppose a specific long-lasting bad thing, "anything-but-this," and it is anger rather than some deliberate choice.
An algorithm hides much of that too.
5
@Mark Thomason - Mark I am going to reply to your other comment but here a note on the algorithm.
I submitted my first comment, which focused on homogenization and made clear that it was the first of two. Not accepted yet.
Then I submitted the second, which focused on shortened work week and guaranteed basic income and that was accepted in microseconds, possible only via the algorithm.
So I tested the system and replied to myself and zip, the reply passed the algorithm test.
This is troubling for me since day after day one submission is never accepted and another of similar character is instantaneously in print.
Now I will find your other comment and reply there.
Larry
3
Note that "time-out" is now mostly a term and practice of punishment. To sit all by yourself, in solitude, with your own thoughts and feelings, and an absence of ready distractions, and also without the instigations of more inwardness, aka art ... that is what bad kids have to do.
Good kids get busy, busy, busy. With assignments.
Once upon a time, the was the assumption of another realm beyond this one, beyond time. And that we have and can attain more contact with this great otherness ... we had souls, inner embers, sparks from this great otherness. Which demand attention also, and development.
But that's all gone now. We are consumers of material needs. Nothing more. Bugs.
7
@Mr. Samsa
It’s still “here” (there and everywhere and everywhen) as much as before. Only never before have so many put so much effort into narrowing their attention to the point of spiritual destitude.
2
You need to get out more. There is a world out there that hasn't been flattened by those that Thomas Friedman loves. It exists online, it exists in real life, and it goes back and forth with that constantly.
But here is the thing, large portions of it are younger than 45. Like most the American Population. And also it is diverse. It is not a bubble of white men passing judgement. Though if they can leave that behind, engage and share, they are valued there too.
There are writers, and podcasters, people putting together music of all types. There are books, that might be self-published, and only available online.
You might not like that it often is less edited, less cut to form, and that might give you great unease, and I imagine a desire to dismiss, because the quality you want is not there. The edit you are used to makes you not see it.
The thing is, it will not be where you always found it before. It will not be in the pages of your newspaper. It isn't held in the corporate world, it exists in spite of it.
What you might be surprised by is that it prizes not that you show up as audience, as reader. But engage as equal in conversation, sharing, exploring.
The thing is, this is not a world about you, it does not exist for only your money, only your eyeballs, only your well curated agreement.
It is not about monuments to place, it is about people. And they find a way, it is there, if you join them.
2
@Edward Brennan
Attempts at any counterculture seem easily co-opted by our dominant consumerism which excels at deflating, flattening, reducing. It's so easy because we haven't come up with any compelling alternative.
11
As a millennial who's first job experience and residence away from parents was obtained at the height of the recession, I find it almost hard to believe that hustle culture is even a thing among my generation. Did we not learn from the past, from our experiences as youth? Didn't we hustle enough, to little to no avail? And do we actually think our hustle ways of yore, where we had no other choice, are what are sustainable or relevant now? Perhaps our anxiety, shaped by our trial by fire, our sink or swim, live or die economic roots have overgrown and ungrounded us. Perhaps the fear of loss overwhelms our inner psyche, images of boomers losing everything cloud our judgement, our rejection and loss from job after job, ramen packet after ramen packet, rent spike after rent spike. May we never live it again. May we work so hard, that it never happens again. That false horizon we chase will be our undoing unless we get a grip. We must remember what is important, like the author calls for. We must remember the soul and nourish it everyday, lest we continue to nourish our anxiety instead.
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Cohen has written an important piece. It makes me value even more the time I spend with friends and family, talking, sharing a meal, and the latest news, personal and political. This is the fundamental source of happiness -- at least for me.
5
80 hour work weeks? There is only 168 hours in a week. Then there usually is time wasted commuting, sleeping, eating. People make a lot more mistakes when they are exhausted.
9
Splendid essay. The best, as far as I can recall, by Cohen.
To aim for the bigger picture, what used to be called the Olympian view, or flights of fancy, or conceit, or the feuilleton, seems almost indecent now. Certainly is not often indulged in with gusto or aplomb or gravitas in the news.
Perhaps the nearly-total dominance of the market is a cause. The existence of any alternative, any greater Other, any transcendence, etc. has come to seem only fake news. No way out of Plato's cave? There is no outside?
"Free" time is available to many. But it is given over to trivia, entertainment requiring minimal mind-work. Exhaustion at the end of the demanded workday, and more general entropy seem at work, and the great greed and egomania of Musk and his ilk. Why have we gone along so sheepishly and lemming-like?
7
"Emptiness is what people feel. At the end of all the myriad diversions offered up by technology-at-the-service-of-efficiency lies a great hollowness."
__________________________
Careful there Cohen.
You're edging awfully close to alienation as described by Marx.
16
READ? It seems few still do. Not even in schools. Principals don't want books, they want a sleek, modern, library. "Everything is online anyway". No, ma'm, everything is not. And even if it were, do you know how to find what you're looking for. And if you're only looking for a certain thing, where is your opportunity to discover things you never knew? Serendipity? What's that? Observing? How can you when you have your phone plugged to your ear all the time? Book Fairs? Done on line, less fuss, less muss. No time for browsing books, checking out new gizmos. Everyone is hurrying. Hurry to where? And what will happen when we get there?
9
I just had dinner with a friend, a dentist. He was looking for a practice to purchase, but a consultant told him it was a seller’s market. Why? Because Venture (vulture) capital speculators are buying them up for inevitable consolidation and liquidation of capital goods. Until we stop the relentless conversion of every public good and service into raw capital, more quirky bars, mom & pop retail, public schools and parks, and even providers of medical services will contract and even disappear.
21
For more than 50 years I have read the Times. I have never lived in NYC. At times it was delivered. usually it comes by mail.
I read the digital version every day, but the print edition arrives 2-9 days later and I read every single article. It is my guilty pleasure.
Newspapers and the Times in particular are the blood of the body of our nation.
45
A wonderful piece. I couldn't help thinking that Mr Cohen should have a good sit down conversation with David Brooks, another opinion writer on the Times, about the search for meaning. Perhaps you are both kindred souls. Illness has kept me from working for the past two decades. But I have remained an engaged observer and have all my life been considered "weird". I couldn't conform to this brave new world if I tried. Sometimes I feel a haunting shame in this, but most of the time I'm relieved. There are few expectations I need to live up to. And I'm now of an age where I could care less. Of course, I feel deeply troubled by my friends' distress. Life is terribly hard. We all need one another.
26
Well, Elon Musk has so many irons in the fire he has to work 80-100 hours a week. The first time I saw his SpaceX Falcon Heavy rockets land upright on the pad, I thought "wait till the people at NASA see this, they'll be crushed." His Tesla cars are also kind of impressive.
Then there is the San Francisco company building state of the art survellience satellites. They have used AI to process the staggering amount of satellite data so that one engineer can manage multiple satellites whereas it used to take many to handle one, observing tiny real time changes of interest on Earth.
Similar mind bending developments are occurring in biotech and other fields as well. These people are driven by the sheer enormity of impact of their work.
But for the rest of us mere mortals, Jack Ma, richest person in China, has a different vision, of a 4 hour, 4 day work week within 30 years, probably from home.
The Hustle culture may not be intended to last for decades but rather just long enough to achieve financial independence in an uncertain world. For that kind of forward thinking, I applaud the Millennials.
BTW, there are still places in the world with no chain restaurants or coffee shops, we happen to be in one now. There are over 100 restaurants in this bustling little town but only one little Subway carryout wedged into a corner. People have moved here from many parts of the world to bring their own one-off brand of homeland cooking and drinking to the residents and tourists.
3
The globalization of all major cities is so depressing. We all have to do our best to support the small cafes, independent bookstores, and mom and pop hardware shops. Without support these places will fade away into more chain stores. My mother complains about the prices in independent stores but if you love the experience of strolling through small shops on main street you have to participate in protecting it.
12
Technology can contribute to the pressures on us, much as it can also make life better.
Having work-issued laptops and cell phones can mean bringing the office into the last place where we usually want it - home. The workday doesn't end when we can't unplug. There has to be a space we can carve out for ourselves where we are beyond the reach of even "high priority" emails. We are people, not gadgets.
8
Thank you for pointing out the obvious--that losing the chance to savor life might just shorten it
During lunch today with a good friend a little older than I, we began comparing what we used to routinely do in our professional heydays, day after day, like so many cogs in a wheel.
But never in a 1000 years, could I have worked 80 hour weeks.
I like your insinuation that when workers buy into the extreme work culture they don't have the time or energy to realize how much they're willfully contributing to hustle culture. in an odd juxtaposition to getting ahead, a layoff here or there actually might get folks to shut off their hustle gene.
Anyway, after reading this, I'm just grateful I'm retired. As the Byrds immortalized in song the already immortal Ecclesiastes verses, "To everything, there is a season and a purpose, a time to .....".
Thanks Roger for reminding us that refusing to acknowledge our seasons and purposes shouldn't simply be wasted on a frantic race to nowhere.
49
Part of the homogenization Mr. Cohen speaks of comes from our plugged-in culture, surrounded as we are by constant images, voices, and sounds.
Yet we do have the power to unplug to some degree: to turn off the news; to sit and really listen to music rather than have it in the background; to walk outside; to make time for genuine conversation rather than communicate via text messages; and, if one is so inclined, to meditate and sit in peace with our own thoughts. Nowadays, all of these are radical acts.
Such actions will not solve the suffocating problems of 21st century modernity. But they may offer us relief, and point back to the real purpose of our lives . . . not profit, power, and an 80-hour work week, but love, connection, and shared commitments to one another.
8
Stunning and thought provoking essay. This homogenization of work and culture deprives us of craftsmanship and the individuality it creates. How many people today can build something with just hand tools? How many can sew a garment by hand? How many can cook a meal without prepared, processed foods? How many musicians can create an album without computer synthesized sound tracks? The inclusion of all of this high tech automation ruins the years of individuality that the craftsman strives for.
I study ballet on a serious level. We have live piano. We have highly skilled and knowledgeable teachers to guide us down the path to progress. This is how it was done before the age of the hustle world. Each person moves differently. Each person needs different guidance and each progresses at a different rate. Even though we are all doing the same movement, it is a different experience for each of us. Our individuality is preserved and accentuated. It is truly a wonderful experience.
I own my own business. I never made much money, straight up middle income. But I have time to take ballet, to ride my bike on a beautiful afternoon, work on my house, write these comments, and take a nap when I need to. I am rich in individuality and am not consumed with anger because of it.
The hustle culture exists to make money, to enslave us to meaningless work. Not for me. I'll leave the emptiness to the people that think life can be scored. It can't.
321
@Bruce Rozenblit... Me too.. and a beautiful post script to Roger Cohen's.
25
A thoughtful and timely effort by Mr. Cohen, whether or not in this culture it gets the attention it deserves. Any city resident can see the blight, the corporate conformity, as the unique and even eccentric sites fade from the scene. And the hustle is digital too. One need only see all the zombies in the streets, mesmerized by their precious little phones and unable to function without them, so oblivious they remain unaware that someone behind them might be trying to walk past. I've never seen so many so desperate for 24 hour diversion, their biggest fear an interlude of peace. These same characters will moan about all the stress in their lives, even as they facilitate it and crave medication. But it will only get worse. This ship has sailed.
17
There is a direct connection between the growth of the workaholic ethic and the enrichment of the 1%. Globalization is certainly a culprit, but so is the destruction of unions, the withdrawal of public funds for college (and the predatorial lending practices that the government encouraged that produce from students a population of bonded laborers), and the many new kinds of monetary instruments invented by banks since the 1980s. This is late capitalism at work, churning, ever churning to extract the abstraction of money out of every possible experience and being. Who do I know it’s late capitalism? Climate change—industry’s terrible consequence—will put an end to workaholism, banking, and exploitation for good.
164
@MMS Yes, admit it or not, like it or not, there is a limit to development and exploitation. I was thinking sort of down the same lines but couldn't sort it out. You did. I also consider our profound inequality as a direct result.
19
@MMS
There we go.
Thanks for making the ultimate connection that Roger sort of hinted at in his excellent column but didn't quite make explicit.
We've allowed "the pursuit of happiness" to be defined by those who only see one measure of it--net worth.
20
Roger (and Roger fans),after 40 years of 40-hour weeks move to Vermont (or Norway). Shovel snow. Feed your wood-burning stove. Grow a beard. Ignore your cell phone (no reception anyway!). Wait for the next snow storm. Read the NYT paper version two days late. Spend one hour a day checking the the Guardian (Australian edition), Le Monde (French version), der Spiegel or die Zeit (German version) or whatever on the internet. Above all, forget about the Hustle Culture. Have a beer (or two) instead. Keep moving on snow shoes or in a canoe. Travel to Europe (or elsewhere) in mud season. Be sure to be back by Indian Summer to enjoy the purple-haired leaf peepers. This is the only way to make it into your ninth decade without suffering too much damage. And to continue the pursuit of happiness.
253
@Fritz Freshwater
Yup, only without the beard as I am female. Lived in big cities, was a performer who travelled all over for work, and finally moved to non-hip rural Maine and EXHALED.
However, if you're thinking of coming here, it's too cold for you; don't come!! :)
25
Did anyone run the numbers on how much more fluid would be the economy is people had more time to fill outside of work? Minimum wage $20, maximum work week of 32 hours, how would they spend their time off? And would it perhaps stimulate the economy?
95
@Gerard The arts economies in many cities are huge, but no one thinks of them. Having more time to enjoy the arts (and nature, and . . .) would of course stimulate the economy in a positive and local way.
23
"authentic" becomes a packages marketing ploy - exactly. Much like the "local" movement. Much like the "farmers" market.
Fortunately they are not going to ruin Italy - it seems impervious to efficiency.
62
@Ard
Yes, we can visit life itself in Italy. They take great pleasure in small things. It is a lesson for us all.
6
"I read the paper the other day, a satisfying two-hour meander..."
No disrespect, but how many people devote a solid two hours to anything these days, much less feel they have the luxury of doing so?
8
@Scott I imagine a lot of people spend two hours online, on their phone, TV, sports, etc from time to time
11
I think that’s the point of the article.
6
Thanks, Roger, for what I hear is a thoughtful, interesting, and inspiring column. I didn’t read it - too busy on social media.
43