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originalhat's review against another edition
4.0
I've never considered myself spiritual or religious, but after reading this book it's clear that “there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” Chen outlines the case for how intertwined steam-cleaned spirituality has become, how this has happened, and what issues this presents for society. Workplace spirituality has become a tool leveraged by the technocratic elite to extract additional and often self-elective consensual labor by blackmailing our innate desire to belong and believe as part of a greater cause. An eye-opening read that I'd recommend to anyone in tech!
juliahendrickson's review against another edition
reflective
1.5
Should have been an essay for all the repetition in the text…
bootman's review against another edition
5.0
This book quickly became one of my favorites of 2022. I’ve been really interested in sociology, and Carolyn Chen killed it with this book discussing how work has become the new religion. She specifically focuses on tech companies in Silicon Valley, but what she discusses is widespread, especially as so many of us work from home. Basically Carolyn shows how although there are more atheists, we’re making work our new religion. Work is what’s giving us meaning and purpose in life, and we make it a big part of our identity. Most importantly, she explains how companies are capitalizing on this.
I think my favorite part of the book is that Chen doesn’t really say whether this is a good or bad thing. I almost wanted her to give more opinions when discussing this, but I’m glad she didn’t because it makes the reader ask important questions. For example, if we’re learning to take care of our mental health at work or finding meaning through what we do, is that bad? What if the motives of our employer is simply to make us happier at work so we work harder to make them money? Are we being manipulated and exploited, or would it be better if we took the risk to find meaning and purpose elsewhere? What if we didn’t find the same benefits outside of work and just isolated more?
I could go on forever about this book and the interesting topics. The one place where Carolyn Chen has some criticisms and points to some vocal critics is toward the end of the book when she discusses the co-opting of meditation and Buddhism. As someone who was once a huge fan of how widespread mindfulness had become but learned the problems with it from McMindfulness by Ron Purser, I’m still torn on the topic. One thing for sure is that employers could be doing a better job with all of these things from mindfulness to bringing in self-help speakers and cultivating certain types of workplace culture.
Anywho, go get this book. It’s important, and I don’t think many people realize what’s going on. Whether the manipulation of workers for profit is good or bad because we may benefit, it’s still a manipulation that we need to be aware of.
I think my favorite part of the book is that Chen doesn’t really say whether this is a good or bad thing. I almost wanted her to give more opinions when discussing this, but I’m glad she didn’t because it makes the reader ask important questions. For example, if we’re learning to take care of our mental health at work or finding meaning through what we do, is that bad? What if the motives of our employer is simply to make us happier at work so we work harder to make them money? Are we being manipulated and exploited, or would it be better if we took the risk to find meaning and purpose elsewhere? What if we didn’t find the same benefits outside of work and just isolated more?
I could go on forever about this book and the interesting topics. The one place where Carolyn Chen has some criticisms and points to some vocal critics is toward the end of the book when she discusses the co-opting of meditation and Buddhism. As someone who was once a huge fan of how widespread mindfulness had become but learned the problems with it from McMindfulness by Ron Purser, I’m still torn on the topic. One thing for sure is that employers could be doing a better job with all of these things from mindfulness to bringing in self-help speakers and cultivating certain types of workplace culture.
Anywho, go get this book. It’s important, and I don’t think many people realize what’s going on. Whether the manipulation of workers for profit is good or bad because we may benefit, it’s still a manipulation that we need to be aware of.
deblina's review
2.0
Read for Reboot and think I remember finding this kinda meh. Doesn't really do much to distinguish religion from other collective forces / general institutional collapse / neoliberal malaise. Loved Kevin's review though.
amina_writes_books's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting look into religiosity in the valley. A good study however not very updated considering the pandemic happened. Would be interesting to see a new edition studying the phenomena of work=religion post pandemic.