the GReat woRK MYth

Vocabulary:

• press: newspapers and magazines
  work gets a terrible press
• deprive: to take something, especially something necessary or pleasant, away from someone
  you can't function properly when you're deprived of sleep.
• scapegoat: a person who is blamed for something that someone else has done
  work has become the scapegoat for all out woes.
• woe: great problems or troubles
  unusually poor harvests have added to the country's woes.
  i'm cold and wet and i havent got enough money for my bus fare home. Woe is me. (said to express how unhappy you are)
• persuasive
• as far as something is concerned: if we are discussing or thinking about a particular thing
  As far as work is concerned, we've never had it so good.
  As far as unemployment's concerned, a change of government would be a good idea.
• maternity: the state of being a mother
  a lot of firms offer longer maternity leave.
• sabbatical: a period of time when college or university teachers are allowed to stop their usual work in order to study or travel, usually while continuring to be paid
  a third of firms now offer sabbaticals.
• rhetoric: part of a talk or speech; clever language which sounds good but is not sincere or has meaning
  The rhetoric about longer working hours also needs to be put in perspective.
• in perspective: an object or person that is in perspective has the correct size and position in comparison with other things in the pictures
  the rhetoric about longer working houes also needs to be put in perspective.
• despite: without taking any notice of or being influenced by
  Despite all the improvements in work over recent decades, there is still an ingrained attitude that happiness lies outside work.
  He managed to eat a big lunch despite having eaten an enormous breakfast.
• ingrained: (of beliefs) so firmly held that they are not likely to change.
  the belief that you should own your house is deeply ingrained in British society.
• alienated: being separated from
  alienation: separation
  He described workers being alienated from the product of their labour.
• constitute: to form or make something
  what constitutes the alienation of labour?
• mortify: to cause someone to feel extremely ashamed or embarrassed
  it does not develop his physical and mental energy but mortifies his body and ruins his mind.
  he'e mortified by the fact that at 38 he still lives at home with his mother.
• dubious: feeling doubt or not feeling certain
  work is becoming too important for it to be of dubious quality.
• poll: a study in which people are asked for their opinions about subject or person
  according to a poll by recruitment consultancy
• prevalent: happening often
  In truth, they are simply made to feel as if they have a problem because of prevalent attitude.
• futile: (of actions) having no effect or achieving nothing
  futility
  the shift of work towards the centre of our lives demonstrates the futility of much of the current debates about "work/life balance".
• stack up: match
  yet the idea that it is being forced upon us without our choice just doesn't stack up.
• ultimately: finally
  Ultimately, our goal must be to begin seeing work as an intrinsic part of our life.
• intrinsic: being an essential and basic characteristic of a person or thing
  maths is an intrinsic part of the school curriculum.
• adjunct: something attached or connected to a larger or more important thing
• don: a college teacher especially at Oxford or Cambridge University
• manifesto: a written statement of the beliefs, sims, and policies of an organisation.
  he has the right manifesto for the future of work
• abolish: to end an activity officially
  abolition
  the abolition of slavery
  that i mean abolishing the distinction between work and leisure.
• leisure: the time when you are not working
  most people only have limited amount of leisure time.
• lousy: very bad
  employers keep workers in lousy jobs by granting them some leisure time.
• strive: to try very hard to do something
  we should strive to be employed in such a way that we dont realize what we are doing is work.
• downpayment: an amount of money that you pay at the time that you buy something, but which is only a part of the total cost of that thing.
  it is indeed time to abandon the notion of work as a downpayment on life. 
• sap: to make someone weaker or take away strength or an important quality from someone.
  the ones that continue to stereotype work as intrinsically sapping, demeaning and corrosive.
• corrosive: a corrosive substance causes damage by chemical reaction.
  the corrosive influence of racism