The Double Shift: Spinoza and Marx on the Politics of Work

by Jason Read

"Why do people fight for their exploitation as if it was liberation?" How Marx and Spinoza can explain our attachment to work, and what we can do about it

In a world of declining wages, working conditions, and instability, the response for many has been to work harder, increasing hours and finding various ways to hustle in a gig economy. What drives our attachment to work? To paraphrase a question from Spinoza, "Why do people fight for their exploitation as if it was liberation?

The Double Shift turns towards the intersection of Marx and Spinoza in order to examine the nature of our affective, ideological, and strategic attachment to work. Through an examination of contemporary capitalism and popular culture it argues that the current moment can be defined as one of "negative solidarity."

The hardship and difficulty of work is seen not as the basis for alienation and calls for its transformation but rather an identification with the difficulties and hardships of work. This distortion of the work ethic leads to a celebration of capitalists as job creators and suspicion towards anyone who is not seen as a "real worker."

The book is grounded in philosophy, specifically Marx and Spinoza, and is in dialogue with Plato, Smith, Hegel, and Arendt, but, at the same time, in examining contemporary ideologies and ideas about work it discusses motivational meetings at Apple Stores, the culture of Silicon Valley, and films and television from Office Space to Better Call Saul.

The Double Shift argues for a transformation of our collective imagination and attachment to work.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Economics, Labor, Nonfiction

225 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 12, 2024

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jason Read has a real talent for using examples from film and television to clarify concepts from philosophy and critical theory. I found those sections most compelling – the longer, purely theoretical sections sometimes felt a little repetitive to me.

[Ravi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and enjoyable read. The author skillfully integrates pop culture analysis (from Breaking Bad to Better Call Saul and from Office Space to Fight Club to name just some of the cultural products analyzed in this short book) to his reading of how Marx with Spinoza can help us better understand the politics of work. I suspect the light and breezy cultural analysis will draw in new readers. The central thesis is that Marx and Spinoza have immanence in common in three senses: immanence of economics to politics, ideology to bodies, and praxis to poeisis. Sort of a Spinozan David Graeber, Read has an engaging style. I would have preferred to see some discussion of disabled people and others excluded from the labour market as part of the reserve army of labour. He also does not provide a guide to reading Spinoza for the uninitiated non-philosopher like me. Still, in 200 pages he covers a lot of ground in a splendidly engaging style.

[Peter Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've not read any Spinoza, so can't comment in detail on how Read brings together his thinking with that of Marx. However it is a really interesting exploration of the double nature of work from a range of different angles starting from the separation Marx draws between concrete labour (carpentry, reading the news, and so on) and abstract labour (how under capitalism all work is fundamentally comparable, measured through the wage). Writing about the changes to work in modern developed economies, Read puts me very much in mind of Boltanski's and Chiapello's work (in The New Spirit of Capitalism) on the affective and emotional commitment required in the modern workplace. To some degree, Read provides the philosophy that supports Boltanski's and Chiapello's sociology. Overall, an interesting exploration of the philosophy of work.

[Reichnekov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read; while I do not know if it is simply treading over old ground, I think its introductory writing style is great for anyone looking to get their feet wet. I greatly appreciate any works that utilise Spinoza, and Read keeps it fresh with cultural analyses through movies.

[Guillaume]

This just seems to me to be a retread of Frederic Lordon’s work?

[Mr T · Rating 3 out of 5]

very technical