What's Wrong With Work?

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Original Air Date: 
September 01, 2018

How do you find not just a salary, but meaning at work? It's not easy in America today to find work that matters, that’s meaningful, and that pays enough to live on. Which is the one thing we don’t talk about. 

So let’s talk about it: What’s wrong with work — and how do we fix it?

man moving steel
Articles

Alissa Quart spent the last few years traveling around the country, talking with all kinds of people about work. What she found is a lot of people with jobs that look good on paper but who feel — in a word — squeezed.

Length: 
12:26
man walking to work
Articles

The anthropologist David Graeber says “BS jobs” are an epidemic. Especially in that circle of hell known as middle management.

Length: 
11:51
punch the clock
Dangerous Ideas

When we talk about reforming work, fixing work, creating new kinds of work — author and historian James Livingston thinks perhaps we’re not going far enough. 

Length: 
4:51
Niki poses with some of her staff. She makes accommodations for employees struggling with prior convictions or legal status.
Audio

A few years ago, Niki Okuk started a tire recycling company in Los Angeles. Run along the lines of a worker-owned cooperative, the employees are people who would ordinarily have a hard time finding any job. 

Length: 
11:01
Studs Terkel in studio
Interactive

Studs Terkel talked with people from of all walks of life about their work, from firefighters, to steel workers, to labor activist Cesar Chavez. As part of a whole radio hour examining work, we hear snippets of Terkel's wisdom on how life for blue collar workers has changed over the years.

Extras

Show Details 📻
Airdates
September 01, 2018
August 31, 2019
September 05, 2020
September 04, 2021
September 03, 2022
Guests: 
Graeber_resized_author_photo_credit_Marijan_Murat.jpg
Author, Anthropologist and Activist
Author and Professor
Studs Terkel
Journalist, Author and Broadcaster
Categories: 
Last modified: 
August 30, 2022