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Carolyn Chen is a sociologist and UC Berkeley professor who researches faith, race and ethnicity. Her new e book, Work Pray Code: When Work Turns into Faith in Silicon Valley, options in-depth interviews with staff and employers to discover how spirituality begets productiveness on the planet’s tech hub.
As a professor of faith, what sparked your curiosity in Silicon Valley?
I’ve studied Taiwanese immigrant evangelicals, evangelical Christians, Buddhists of their communities, however I believe anybody who lives in a western industrialised nation, in a metropolitan space, is aware of that faith is on the decline when it comes to spiritual affiliation and non secular participation. To me, it felt as if there was one thing lacking if I used to be solely capturing individuals who self-identify as spiritual. How will we see faith working on the planet? What’s the modern manifestation of faith? I used to be actually considering trying on the presence of faith in secular areas.
Which took you to yoga studios and what did you study if you spoke to secular folks utilizing this religious apply?
I seen that work was actually outstanding in folks’s narratives and of their biographies. Once I would ask folks: “So why do you practise yoga, when do you practise yoga?” it usually centred on work. Folks would say: “Effectively, I practise yoga as a result of, after an extended day, I really feel like I want stress reduction.” However there was additionally one other line: “Yoga actually helps to revive me in order that I can turn into a greater X” – and right here you might fill within the clean – a greater nurse, a greater engineer, a greater accountant or lawyer. It turned clear to me that work was actually faith of their lives – that work was what they had been prepared to submit and give up and sacrifice for. And, if something, yoga was merely a therapeutic ancillary – it was to assist this different factor that they had been, you might say, worshipping.
So it turned clear to me in these interviews that I used to be trying within the fallacious place. As a result of I used to be taking a look at one thing that had spiritual origins, which is yoga, however what was it that they had been really worshipping, what was really sacred of their lives? It wasn’t yoga. Yoga was serving to them worship their work.
And your e book chronicles how Silicon Valley CEOs use this to their benefit – first, providing yoga courses at tech headquarters, and now encouraging Buddhist practices reminiscent of mindfulness and meditation. Why have the latter taken over?
Yoga bought changed by meditation and mindfulness, as a result of there are millions of research on [the benefits of] meditation and mindfulness – there’s an entire cottage business. However, as I write about within the e book, a number of the research have been performed in managed labs, so they won’t essentially be relevant in a office setting. And it’s not even clear what mindfulness is when it’s utilized in these secular areas. I simply felt like these firms had been at all times in search of the brand new subsequent huge factor, a straightforward factor. It wanted to be handy and quick to optimise their employees’ productiveness.
Which is actually the crux of your e book – tech giants are utilizing religious practices to optimise productiveness and religious ideas (“missions”, “origin tales”, “leaders”) to make folks commit their lives to work. However why now? Why optimise staff on this approach, of all methods?
It’s a part of an extended development and bigger shifts within the economic system – the rise of the data economic system and a shift from an industrial to a post-industrial economic system. In an industrial economic system, the best way that you simply would possibly enhance your backside line is normally by way of the exploitation of pure assets. In a data economic system, an important asset is the data and abilities of your labour pressure. How do you develop that? You’ll be able to enhance an individual’s worth by educating them, however you might additionally enhance their manufacturing, develop their worth, by rising their spirit. How do you seize that religious facet of them, that emotional facet of them, in order that they’ll make investments totally into the workforce? Loads of the phrases that we use now to explain work, reminiscent of “ardour” or bringing your “entire self” to work, get at this idea of the way you handle labour right this moment in a data economic system; it’s not simply essentially the talents of the human employee, it’s additionally that religious side, too.
In apply, this implies firms present staff with free wholesome meals, life coaches, wellness centres… When studying, I sort of thought, “That sounds nice.” How do you persuade folks to problem that? What are the drawbacks of what you name company maternalism?
First, let me simply say that I felt the identical approach. As a result of what the tech firm presents is probably the most environment friendly resolution – and environment friendly is an important phrase right here – to offering a significant and fulfilling life. Once I was spending time there, I assumed, “I might be a significantly better scholar, instructor, mom, even, if I had been right here, as a result of the corporate would handle all these items.” So I struggled with that exact same query that you simply’re asking.
However there are drawbacks to it that I noticed as a sociologist. I talked about within the e book how the office acts as this big magnet that pulls the time, power and devotion of a group. However what occurs to different establishments? What occurs to the household, to religion communities, to varsities, even small companies, arts organisations, neighbourhood associations? Within the American mannequin, we see these civic establishments as basically vital to preserving our democracy. All these different establishments begin to develop smaller and smaller, as a result of you might have this alpha establishment that’s attracting all the pieces.
Proper – and also you famous how janitors and caterers don’t get the identical perks as engineers, and the way the moral dynamics of spirituality are utterly misplaced. Among the perks on supply are eyebrow-raising: I used to be shocked to examine Vijay, an engineer who was basically given a relationship coach by his employer. What was probably the most stunning second for you in your reporting?
This one HR particular person stated: “Effectively, we will’t get our employees to work 24/7 until we give them flexibility.” And when she stated that, a lightbulb went on in my head. We actually want to consider this as we’re transferring in direction of a extra hybrid mannequin. Employees are pushing in direction of flexibility, however what is usually a consequence of that? It may be that you simply work 24/7.
Earlier than I opened the e book, I assumed it could largely be concerning the cult worship of individuals reminiscent of Steve Jobs. It’s extra difficult than that. Who is the God in your equation? What’s the determine of worship?
Steve Jobs is sort of a saint – there’s this hagiography, there’s a cult of Steve Jobs and folks began practising meditation due to him. However it’s basically worshipping a system. It’s this perception that work goes to save lots of you, it’s the factor that’s going to offer you that means and function and, in a way, immortality.
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