Talks to Watch

Isn't the purpose of work just making money?

20K views · Oct 6, 2008 · 5:07 · 0 HN recommenders · 5 mentions · discussed 2017–2024

A five-minute clip in which Erich Fromm asks whether the purpose of work is just making money. He argues that white-collar workers end up selling their personality, relating to others the way goods relate to each other on a market, and he points to creative pleasure, participation and usefulness to society as what work could offer instead.

Why Hacker News points people here: HN commenters repeatedly cite it for Fromm's line about selling one's personality at work, especially in threads on careers, mental health and labor.

“Our main way of relating ourselves to others is like things relate themselves to things on the market.”HN comment, 2017

What Hacker News said 5

Cites itthinkfurtherJun 2017

“Our main way of relating ourselves to others is like things relate themselves to things on the market.”

Source of Erich Fromm quote on selling one's personality.

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> Our main way of relating ourselves to others is like things relate themselves to things on the market. We want to exchange our own personality, or as one says sometimes, our "personality package", for something. -- Erich Fromm ( this video ) > The danger of computers becoming like humans is not as great as the danger of humans becoming like computers. -- Konrad Zuse And when Picasso said that computers are useless because they only provide answers, was he just being witty, or pointing at an abyss, knowingly or not?

in “Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.” · view on HN
Cites itmusageApr 2018

“Our main way of relating ourselves to others is like things relate themselves to things on the market.”

Fromm interview on white-collar workers selling their personality.

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> Jeff Schmidt demonstrates that the workplace is a battleground for the very identity of the individual, as is graduate school, where professionals are trained. He shows that professional work is inherently political, and that professionals are hired to subordinate their own vision and maintain strict "ideological discipline." I'll need to read that book, thanks. In the meantime, I was also reminded of things Erich Fromm wrote, or said, in this case: > Our main way of relating ourselves to others is like things relate themselves to things on the market. We want to exchange our own personality, or as one says sometimes, our "personality package", for something. Now, this is not so true for the manual workers. The manual worker does not have to sell his personality. He doesn't have to sell his smile. But what you might call the "symbolpushers" , that is to say, all the people who deal with figures, with paper, with men, who manipulate - to use a better, or nicer, word - manipulate men and signs and words, all those today have not only to sell their service but in the bargain they're to sell their personality, more or less. There are exceptions. -- Erich Fromm in an interview, this video

in “Time to talk about why so many postgrads have poor mental health” · view on HN
Cites itPavlovsCatFeb 2019

“Our main way of relating ourselves to others is like things relate themselves to things on the market.”

Fromm interview on selling personality in modern work.

Full comment

> Our main way of relating ourselves to others is like things relate themselves to things on the market. We want to exchange our own personality, or as one says sometimes, our "personality package", for something. Now, this is not so true for the manual workers. The manual worker does not have to sell his personality. He doesn't have to sell his smile. But what you might call the "symbolpushers" , that is to say, all the people who deal with figures, with paper, with men, who manipulate - to use a better, or nicer, word - manipulate men and signs and words, all those today have not only to sell their service but in the bargain they're to sell their personality, more or less. There are exceptions. -- Erich Fromm, this video > What is finished... is the idea that this great country is dedicated to the freedom and flourishing of every individual in it. It's the individual that's finished. It's the single, solitary human being that's finished. It's every single one of you out there that's finished, because this is no longer a nation of independent individuals. It's a nation of some 200-odd million transistorized, deodorized, whiter-than-white, steel-belted bodies, totally unnecessary as human beings, and as replaceable as piston rods... Well, the time has come to say, is dehumanization such a bad word. Because good or bad, that's what is so. The whole world is becoming humanoid - creatures that look human but aren't. The whole world not just us. We're just the most advanced country,

in “Life and society are increasingly governed by numbers” · view on HN
Cites ithowaboutnopeAug 2021

“Our main way of relating ourselves to others is like things relate themselves to things on the market.”

Fromm on symbol-pushers selling their personality at work.

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> work is asking much more, not physically but in terms of behaviors and beliefs > Our main way of relating ourselves to others is like things relate themselves to things on the market. We want to exchange our own personality, or as one says sometimes, our "personality package", for something. Now, this is not so true for the manual workers. The manual worker does not have to sell his personality. He doesn't have to sell his smile. But what you might call the "symbolpushers" , that is to say, all the people who deal with figures, with paper, with men, who manipulate - to use a better, or nicer, word - manipulate men and signs and words, all those today have not only to sell their service but in the bargain they're to sell their personality, more or less. There are exceptions. -- Erich Fromm, this video

in “Will the rich world’s worker deficit last?” · view on HN
Cites itjohnnyworkerJan 2024

“Our main way of relating ourselves to others is like things relate themselves to things on the market.”

Fromm on symbol pushers selling their personality at work.

Full comment

> Our main way of relating ourselves to others is like things relate themselves to things on the market. We want to exchange our own personality, or as one says sometimes, our "personality package", for something. Now, this is not so true for the manual workers. The manual worker does not have to sell his personality. He doesn't have to sell his smile. But what you might call the "symbol pushers", that is to say, all the people who deal with figures, with paper, with men, who manipulate - to use a better, or nicer, word - manipulate men and signs and words, all those today have not only to sell their service but in the bargain they're to sell their personality, more or less. There are exceptions. -- Erich Fromm, this video

in “Fired comedian ordered to get day job back after jokes ruled 'simply funny'” · view on HN