We talk about paid work a lot in NZ politics. It’s the cure for any societal ill you care to name: poverty, mental illness, economic growth, domestic violence. But the reality is, many people cannot be in paid work. And it’s not the be-all and end-all of a person’s life.
I was reminded of this by a recent Captain Awkward post about the anxiety created for people who aren’t in paid employment when faced with the small-talk staple of “so what do you do?” or “where do you work?”
There are some great suggested responses, and also a few ideas for those of us doing the asking – what about saying “what do you do for fun?” or “what keeps you busy?” if you’re looking for something innocuous to talk about?
But there’s a wider political point. The focus on paid employment – especially full-time, permanent work – has a tremendous impact on our attitudes and policies. That’s where you get phrases like “the deserving poor” – because we can’t want to help everyone living in poverty, just the ones who make the grade.
That’s what gets dogwhistled by the phrase “hard-working Kiwis” – it’s not a line used to talk about people who volunteer at local charities or are at home raising children with disabilities. When a politician says “hard-working Kiwis”, they’re inviting you to compare yourself to those other people who don’t work hard (and just want a handout, and spend it all on fags and booze, etc etc).
Paid work is important. But so are the many unpaid forms of work which people do. Raising kids. Volunteering at community organisations which provide vital services for families, victims of crime, migrants. Organising local events and helping maintain our environment. Some of those services probably should be provided by the government; they’re not luxury extras. But for now, they rely on unpaid labour, and a lot of the time it’s actually not feasible for it to be done by people in full-time paid work.
It is possible to talk about helping people into paid work – when it’s feasible for them – and about the importance of secure jobs, good wages and conditions, and job creation. But it’s also possible to do that without implying that people who can’t or don’t work are less worthy of dignity and self-respect.
Stephanie Rodgers 
“Let’s face it, we live in a capitalist society that places a lot of worth on “being conventionally employed” and yet socially we pretend we don’t, so “What [paid work] do you do?” is not treated as the kind of fraught question it is, but rather appropriate small talk for strangers”
Whoa! On the button there Captain Awkward.
Even when I was was working the “what do you do? ” question at a party or gathering I found completely cringe worthy, as if the topic of your tradable hours, can ever be an appropriate ice breaker, as if we are completely defined by our work role, that our work exists in isolation from our whole selves, or even even consumes the self.
Now that I’m not working due to health problems that question is even more fraught (I did have a part time job for 9 weeks recently but was too unwell to continue) so complete avoidance of of strangers in a social setting over the festive time was called for -the heat of judgement on being a non paid working human can be intense. It’s makes going out just too much of an unpleasant experience.
Tasks like caring for an elder and how physically and emotionally draining that can be doesn’t register on the radar of social acceptance, nor does volunteer work, that’s viewed as a quaint hobby in between real jobs.
“What keeps you busy?” or “What do you do for fun?” are much more suitable openers. Both questions provide an opportunity for a much more interesting flow of conversation without pigeon holing anyone.
Don’t start me on “hard working Kiwi’s”………………