The title of this focal article (unashamedly paraphrased from Edwin Starr’s classic 1970 antiwar song) is only partly intended to be tongue in cheek; work is a strange thing with a very checkered history. For the most part, it is something we take for granted. Most able-bodied adults work. Working hard is taken as a sign of being an upstanding citizen. Right wing politicians even insist that “government handouts” only be made available in exchange for participation in “workfare” programs. Moreover, work is not just something we do; over the last 100 years or so, it has become a defining, constitutive feature of who we are as human beings. Our very sense of identity and well-being is tied up with our relationship to work. It is no accident, after all, that the first question we ask a stranger is, “What do you do?” (and we are not asking about their hobbies); we see this question as a way of taking the measure of that person.

中文翻译：

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工作：有什么用？（绝对没有）——批判理论家的观点

这篇焦点文章的标题（毫不掩饰地从埃德温·斯塔尔 1970 年的经典反战歌曲中转述）只是部分意在开玩笑。工作是一件奇怪的事情，有着非常曲折的历史。在大多数情况下，这是我们认为理所当然的事情。大多数身体健全的成年人都在工作。努力工作被视为一个正直公民的标志。右翼政客甚至坚持只提供“政府救济”以换取参与“工作福利”计划。此外，工作不仅仅是我们做的事情；在过去 100 年左右的时间里，它已成为我们作为人类的一个决定性的、构成性的特征。我们的身份认同感和幸福感与我们与工作的关系息息相关。毕竟，我们问陌生人的第一个问题是，这绝非偶然。“你做什么工作？” （而且我们不是在询问他们的爱好）；我们把这个问题看作是衡量那个人的一种方式。