By Barbara Ehrenreich

The Cult of Busyness

Barbara Ehrenreich

About the Author 67 years old Born August 26, 1941 Isabelle Oxley and Ben Alexander Ph. D in Cell Biology Rockefeller University Writer Columnist Feminist Socialist Political activist

About the Author

Writes on social topics Social criticism 14 books Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting

by in America – New York Times Bestseller

Columnist at New York Times and Time Magazine

Lives near Key West Florida

Inside The Cult

•Being busy = being successful

•No more hobbys, but more than one career

•Men attracted to busy successful women

True Success• Path-breaking scientists, best-selling novelists, and designers of new major software• Not busy• No “To Do” lists•Anything worth doing is worth doing well•Busiest people will never be successful• Waitress• Success = surviving the shift

Social Experiment

Nickel and Dimed from the American Ruling Class

Is it worth it?

Busyness does not lead to success Success can cause busyness Busyness = less time for worthwhile

activities Come so far to lose everything

worthwhile

Critical Thinking Questions“Success in United States culture is becoming more and more dependent on personal image. It doesn’t matter whether you’re any good at what you do as long as you say you’re good at what you do and look and dress the part.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Over the past twenty years, the media have devoted considerable attention to Americans who are too busy to pause for breath. Yet it is likely that these career-fixated, time-obsessed people are still a distinct minority. The majority still follow the example of Homer Simpson: come home at 5:30, eat supper, and watch television. What have you observed about people and their attitudes toward work? Have you noticed any differences between the way women approach this issue of work versus leisure time and the way men do?

Tyler Durden: The things you own end up owning you.

Tyler Durden: It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.

Tyler Durden: Do you know what a duvet is?Narrator: It's a comforter...Tyler Durden: It's a blanket. Just a blanket. Now why do guys like you and me know what a duvet is? Is this essential to our survival, in the hunter-gatherer sense of the word? No. What are we then?Narrator: ...Consumers?Tyler Durden: Right. We are consumers. We're the bi-products of a lifestyle obsession.

Obsessed with Busy Lifestyle

Tyler Durden on Modern Society

Fight Club and The Cult of Busyness

Vocabulary

Pastime -agreeable activity Monologue – long speech by one

actor Tribulations – cause of suffering Ingestion - absorb something into

body Distractable – attention easily caught Fey – irrational; supernatural Incorrigible – unable to be corrected

or changed Conspicuous – attracting attention

More Vocabulary Upwardly mobile – aspiring to higher class Insignia – official symbol Neurosurgery – operation on nervous system Upscale - expensive Feminization – make something suitable for

women Shiftily - resourcefully Dispersion – distribution of values Demeanor – outward behavior Adage – a saying

Even More Vocabulary

Slovenly - an offensive term meaning not concerned about conventional standards of personal hygiene and tidiness

Acumen – sharpness of mind