A Self of One's Own: Work and Meaning from Weber to Brave New World to AI

3 credits

How much of who you are comes from the work you do? This is a course in the sociology of work, self, and meaning. The self, well argue, is not simply found within us; it is shaped by markets, organizations, families, and ideas about a worthy life. And not everyone is even asked to find a self in their work; that expectation is unevenly distributed--a privilege for some, a pressure on others--while many just want a paycheck.We trace that call to "find yourself" in work--from Webers calling, to Riesman's lonely crowd and Sartre's "bad faith," the driven self that conforms without knowing it, to the trap of "follow your passion," Huxley's Brave New World, the digital nomads, and the question AI forces on us. Sociology leads, helped by psychoanalysis, existentialism, and literature. The course offers no formula for who to become, only the company of thinkers who have struggled with that question, so you can struggle with it well.