Elina explores the dynamics of the gift economy in the workplace, the challenges of union busting, and the nature of authority and solidarity within corporate structures.

The stark contrast between reciprocal relationships and extractive practices, emphasises the importance of collective action and the need for workers to reclaim their power against oppressive systems.

Keywords

gift economy, union busting, workplace dynamics, power relations, solidarity, corporate culture, collective action, social bonds, reciprocity, labor rights

This episode explores the concept of collective action through the lens of recent events at Rockstar Games, highlighting the contradictions within the culture industry and the threats posed by unionization to corporate power.

The discussion delves into the dynamics of power, the role of the culture industry in pacifying dissent, and the significance of collective bargaining as a means of reclaiming agency for workers.

Keywords

collective action, union busting, corporate power, culture industry, labour rights, David Graeber, capitalism, worker agency, entertainment industry, social agreement

What would it look like if instead of owing 1s and 0s we built reputation and social capital through generosity and constant exchange of giving - of time, resources, care.

If success was measured by what you gave rather than what you could keep. This is what is known as a 'gift economy'.

Debt isn't just what you owe - it's an architecture of obedience. It colonises your time and keeps you trapped in bullshit jobs.

But in ancient societies, they knew permanent debt would destroy citizenship, so what can we learn from that?

We all live inside the cage of modern work culture, but that cage doesn't confine everyone equally. This episode asks: whose exhaustion counts as virtue, and whose is simply erased? Who gets to perform the sacrifice of overwork, and who is the sacrifice itself?

From the masculine spectacle of Musk and Zuckerberg's 100-hour weeks to the corporate Cool Girl who laughs at sexist jokes to survive, we trace how the system recruits us - all of us - into performing our own oppression. We explore the invisible rules that were never designed for most of us to win, the sycophantic rituals that keep hierarchies intact, and why the WGA strike matters as proof that collective action works even when we're exhausted.

Why are we so exhausted we can only imagine how to hustle harder rather than imagine alternatives?

In this episode, i explore how corporate culture transformed exhaustion from side effect to strategy. From the absurdist theatre of return-to-office mandates to tech billionaires who preach 100-hour weeks whilst paying others to play their video games, i examine how the weaponisation of work keeps us too tired to resist.

Drawing on Graeber, Arendt, and my own experience in toxic tech culture, i explore how arbitrary rules, hyperemployment, and the performance of busyness create an altar of exhaustion we're all sacrificing to.

What makes play different from games?

In this episode of Your Local Anthropologist, i explore the concept of play versus games, emphasising the invisible rules that govern modern work culture and social interactions. The discussion highlights how these rules can create a purgatory-like environment, particularly for marginalised groups. The episode also delves into the potential for collective action to challenge and change these oppressive systems, drawing parallels between gaming and real-life struggles against arbitrary rules.

Play and craft offer the power to transform us. Work used to house the technology that allowed us to transition from childhood into autonomous adulthood. But today's work no longer delivers transformation, instead we are stuck in a perpetual adolescence.

Keywords

Utopia of Play, invisible rules, social violence, work culture, games vs play, collective action, capitalism, gender, race, neurodivergence

This episode is historical - what was the role of work in early societies? How did Christianity influence labour and play? And what does the modern workplace have to do with plantations?

Watch a Kwakiutl potlatch here

Full show notes per post found at YourLocalAnthropologist.com

Why do we work this much? Even hunters and gatherers had shorter work days than us. Play is the crucial ingredient for breakthroughs and new ideas, so why don't we do it more?

This is the first in the series to deconstruct how we got here.

Full series can be read on https://www.yourlocalanthropologist.com/

Elina's been dying to figure out why we don't construct better worlds. Armed with a politics of hope and knowledge of our histories, she's hoping to find ways of solving this crisis of imagination.