Job
From RationalWiki
For the Biblical character, see Book of Job
A "job" is a thing that normal people do in exchange for money. It is actually a terrible way to spend the hours of your life. It is not too hard to see why a "job" is a pitiful thing, when you look at how else the word is used:
- blow job (which can be fun, but is viewed as "work" by many of the providers)
- McSqueeze job (don't ask for any reason)
- hit job
Yeah, you get my point.
Historically, "jobs" were substandard replacements for what was essentially self-employment in agriculture. As the industrial revolution reduced the labor needs of agriculture, while simultaneously increasing the need for labor in factories (and mines, etc.), agricultural work became unsustainable, and people moved into cities, where living standards were poor and unsanitary, to work what amounted to harvest hours all year round for a barely liveable wage.
Advances by the labor movement in the 20th century ameliorated this somewhat, making possible a middle class, who earned enough from their jobs to not only survive, but to obtain some small luxuries for themselves and to provide a better chance for their children to be similarly employed, usually via higher education.
Unfortunately, there is a currently dominant school of economic thought that holds that the economy is most efficient if workers are in constant fear of unemployment or reduced wages. Under these conditions they will worker harder and longer for the same, or even less, compensation. Why would anyone want a "job" under such circumstances?
