C. Wright Mills and the Day Job

The sociologist C. Wright Mills concisely described a major problem facing those who must hold day jobs in his classic sociological study White Collar when he wrote of "alienation." This, as he observed, entails that "during the best hours of their day, the best"--and "most alert"--"hours of their life" they are required to "be serious and steady about something that does not mean anything to them," in the process enduring "boredom and the frustration of potentially creative effort, of the productive side of personality" for the sake of "making . . . money with which to 'live'" (236).

For more about the book, check out my review of the book at my other blog.