In Passionate Work, Renyi 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. Not simply a subject of aspiration, passion has been deployed as a means to build resilience and mend disappointments with our experiences of work. Tracking the rise of passion in nineteenth-century management to trends like gamification, coworking, and unemployment insurance, Hong demonstrates how passion can emerge in instances that would not typically be understood as passionate. Gamification numbs crippling boredom by keeping call center workers in an unthinking, suspensive state, pursuing even the most banal tasks in hope of career advancement. Coworking spaces marketed toward freelancers combat loneliness and disconnection at the precise moment when middle-class sureties are profoundly threatened. Ultimately, Hong argues, the ideal of passionate work sustains a condition of cruel optimism in which passion is offered as the solution for the injustices of contemporary capitalism.
Renyi Hong is Assistant Professor of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore.
Acknowledgments 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
"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) "In today's context, where wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the few, and where inequalities between the top and bottom are growing not only within industries but also across regions of the world, Passionate Work offers a distinct contribution to scholarship by highlighting how our affective states are manipulated to keep us contented both at work and in work." - Kuansong Victor Zhuang (Lateral) "This book is a valuable contribution to studies of capitalism, labour relations, emotions and affect, management, and alternatives to capitalism. The broad range of occupations that it draws from reflects the affective structure of passion that runs across classes, occupations, and employment status. Passionate Work convincingly argues that in the absence of a realistic promise of a decent life, the association of passion with work has become an integral part of capitalist reproduction." - Birgan Gokmenoglu (British Journal of Industrial Relations) "Renyi Hong's book adds a valuable perspective to this ongoing discourse on 'passion,' especially as unprecedented market conditions prompt a revaluation of the very purpose of work. . . . Hong's work is insightful for management, sociology, and cultural studies students, offering a nuanced understanding of workers in capitalism beyond their labour characteristics and into affective dimensions." - Samseer Mambra (Economic and Political Weekly)
