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While I’m not immune to the Sunday scaries or drudgery of email, I consider myself lucky to have a job I love. As an editor at The Conversation, I feel the work I do to bring academic research to the general public makes a positive contribution to the lives of our readers, and to the experts who write for us.
Of course, not everyone is so lucky. But what is it that actually makes a job meaningful (or meaningless)? This felt like a question for a philosopher. So I asked Caleb Althorpe, a philosopher who just happens to study meaningful work, to share his thoughts. He explains that meaningful work can take many forms. Maybe you feel strongly aligned with your company’s purpose, and can see how your job makes a difference in society. Perhaps you feel connected to your tasks and understand how they fit into your organisation’s wider mission.
But work (and our attitude towards it) is evolving. Young people are leaving companies that don’t align with their environmental or social values. Others are seeking out more work-life balance, and jobs that they, to put it bluntly, don’t have to care about. In this environment, is meaningful work still possible and worth pursuing?
I'll be discussing this and more at HowTheLightGetsIn, the world’s largest ideas and music festival taking place in Hay-on-Wye from 24-27 May. Join me, FT podcaster Isabel Berwick, political philosopher Caleb Althorpe, psychologist and psychotherapist Nilufar Ahmed and commentator Aaron Bastani at the festival on Sunday May 26. And if you want to get 20% of tickets, we’re delighted to offer a discount to Conversation readers here
with code CONVO24.
Elsewhere on The Conversation, the recent self-immolation of a protestor outside the court where Donald Trump is on trial was an extreme act of protest. But it's been suprisingly common in the US. Plus some much welcome news from a new study showing that nature conservation efforts are not only effective but getting more so.
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