Description
Book SynopsisRenyi Hong theorizes the notion of being passionate about your work as an affective project that encourages people to endure economically trying situations like unemployment, job change, repetitive and menial labor, and freelancing.
Trade Review“This interesting, deeply thoughtful, and erudite book addresses a key issue of our time, making a substantial contribution to conversations on the roles of emotions, affect, and related phenomena in modern political economies, particularly in the West. By bringing passionate work to the discussion, Renyi Hong captures something that operates at many levels, from management literature to self-help and gamification movements to office design.
Passionate Work is a book by a truly curious and committed intellect.” -- Thomas Streeter, author of * The Net Effect: Romanticism, Capitalism, and the Internet *
"A vivid portrait of the changing expectations and emotions of contemporary work. Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty." -- J. Bekken * Choice *
"The unionization efforts of Starbuck baristas, warehouse workers with Amazon, drivers with Uber, higher education workers in the University of California system, and now undergraduate resident assistants at places like Barnard all testify to a massive reevaluation of what work is for us and, perhaps more important, what it ought to be. We are fortunate, therefore, to have Renyi Hong’s
Passionate Work to guide us through the thickets of this new world of work." -- Thomas A. Discenna * International Journal of Communication *
"Much of
Passionate Work is so satisfying to read because it confirms and names a tension that
feels deeply true." -- Iana Robitaille * Public Books *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii
Introduction. Passionate Work and the Good Life 1
1. From Happiness to Passion 23
2. Jobless, Undamaged, Resilient 53
3. The Compassionate Imagination 88
4. Urban Preserves 121
Conclusion. Passion in the Last Instance 160
Notes 175
Bibliography 203
Index
