The Flaws of ‘Do What You Love’
Published at Chronicle Vitae on September 30, 2015.
“Do what you love” (DWYL) is a command under the guise of inspiration and affect. Seek professions. Train for them. Love them. Work, DWYL whispers, is only valuable if you love it. Work, it insists, is about emotion, feeling, and meaning. Shouldn’t we love what we do? How can we do work we don’t love? (What does it say about modern visions of work and workers that we only care about the loveable gigs? What does this mean about how we understand the different tiers of work in academia?)