Jason Read and Jeremy Gilbert on Marx, Spinoza, Work, and Breaking Bad

Even as the rewards of work decline and its demands on us increase, many people double-down on their commitment to wage slavery—working harder, doing overtime, and learning to hustle. To paraphrase Spinoza, why do people fight to be exploited as if it were liberation?

Jason Read's book - The Double Shift - turns to the intersection of Marx and Spinoza and examines contemporary ideologies and the modern phenomena of work—motivational meetings at Apple Stores, the culture of Silicon Valley, as well as film and television, from Office Space to Better Call Saul—to argue for the transformation of our collective imagination and attachment to work.

Here he is interviewed by Jeremy Gilbert, Professor of Cultural & Political Theory at the University of East London, and co-author (with Alex Williams) of Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back) https://www.versobooks.com/products/4...

Jason Read is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine. The Double Shift:
Spinoza and Marx on the Politics of Work is out now https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/prod...

00:00 Intro
00:56 Why Spinoza and Marx?
03:22 Why Work?
11:35 The Ideology of Work
15:15 The Psychology of Work
20:57 Freedom
28:21 Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul
42:07 ‘Seeing the better and doing the worse’
44:49 Negative Solidarity - Sorry to Bother You
51:23 The Future of Work