Loving one’s job: A matter of choice or subjection?

Abstract

The idea that it is through discourse that subjective adherence to the capitalist order is renewed motivated our interest in analysing the modern-day terms applied to this adherence, as manifested in the discourse that stresses the importance of ‘loving one’s job’. In order to better understand this discourse, we chose to analyse its presence within a specific business medium, using the Fairclough three-dimensional model as analytical tool. Using Foucauldian and Deleuzian perspectives in our analysis, we argue that the ‘love of one’s job’ discourse, subtle and seductive in nature and often almost invisible, has numerous effects on labour, such as discipline and control. This discourse can constitute a modality of neo- normative control, in that it appeals to the sentiments of the workers in order to increase their dedication to work.