Hybrid Assignment 2
Taylor’s argument states that the fate of creative people in the new economy exists in two incommensurable realms of value; the purely economic activity and the elevated forms of value we associate with art and culture. The first realm deals with the idea that work is done for money, and she refers to this group as the “professionals”. Benkler and Shirky argue that only those who despise their work deserve to be paid for their efforts. The second group deals with those who work for the love of it, or the “amateurs”. Professionals and amateurs are sometimes separated by skill, but always separated by motivation, because the essence of amateurism is intrinsic motivation. As a result, amateurs are willing to work and produce content simply for the love of it, and may even lose money in order to feed their desire to create, while professionals are motivated by the economic gain that comes from working.
Taylor highlights something that affects our society currently; the idea that work must be enjoyable and that you must love what you do for a living. The problem however, is that we tend to believe that the labor of those who appear to love what they do does not by definition qualify as labor. Taylor states “what sounds like idealism reveals itself to be the opposite because it is deeply cynical to deny professionals any emotional investment in their work.”
The challenge faced by teachers, activists and artists is that there is a commonly held belief that we should work for love and not money, and this helps justify corporations’ unwillingness to compensate in jobs that are believed to serve the public. The idea of the “starving artist” is sensationalized by new media thinkers, almost as though they believe this is a rite of passage for those in the arts and culture. Taylor states that for these new media thinkers, “the ideal worker is an individual who is versatile and rootless, inventive and adaptable; who self-motivates and works long hours, one who loves work so much, he or she would do it no matter what and so expects little compensation or commitment in return.” As a result of this thinking, people in these jobs settle for little compensation because they believe it is better to love what they do, and they disregard the fact that you can love what you do and be compensated handsomely for it as well.
