Instead of attaching labels such as lazy or feckless, we should consider all the unseen barriers that prohibit activity, says author Devon Price.
You have laundry piled up. There’s an essay that needs to be written, or an assignment that ought to be completed. Your bathroom/bedroom/kitchen is a mess. The to-do list is ever-growing. You’re being lazy. Or perhaps, to put it more kindly, you’re not, because laziness is a myth. That’s the position advocated by social psychologist Devon Price, an activist, and professor at Loyola University of Chicago’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
In a world which values productivity (sometimes over our own mental wellbeing), Price believes we should have more understanding and compassion toward’s one another’s inactivity. That means instead of attaching labels such as lazy or feckless, we should consider all the unseen barriers that prohibit activity. Maybe we’re not being lazy, but are just exhausted from domestic duties, burnt-out or jaded by work under capitalism. Perhaps we don’t feel we have all the tools to succeed. Or maybe the procrastination is coming from fear of failure or desire to do something really well because we care so much about it. It could also be that we want to reserve our energy for something we find more meaningful than the task at hand.
And the thing about tasks that need doing – they feel bigger the longer you leave it, further entrenching us in the cycle of procrastination. We can even be harsh towards ourselves for not getting it done. But it’s not us being lazy – because laziness does not exist, says Price.
“If a person can’t get out of bed, something is making them exhausted,” writes Price in a now-viral essay. “If a student isn’t writing papers, there’s some aspect of the assignment that they can’t do without help. If an employee misses deadlines constantly, something is making organisation and deadline-meeting difficult. Even if a person is actively choosing to self-sabotage, there’s a reason for it – some fear they’re working through, some need not being met, a lack of self-esteem being expressed.”
We do people a disservice when we don’t consider their material conditions, he says.
“People do not choose to fail or disappoint. No one wants to feel incapable, apathetic, or ineffective. If you look at a person’s action (or inaction) and see only laziness, you are missing key details. There is always an explanation. There are always barriers. Just because you can’t see them, or don’t view them as legitimate, doesn’t mean they’re not there. Look harder. “
Price’s work has travelled over the internet and recently onto the subreddit Anti-work – a page boasting more than 2.1 million followers, one of the biggest groups on the platform. Operating under the banner of “unemployment for all, not just the rich”, the Anti-work subreddit has started a new book club, focusing on material that supports anti-capitalist sentiment which offers compassion to workers and individuals.
Price’s piece found a lot of support among the group – and some contention – though there was unanimous agreement that more compassion should be offered towards one another.
Stylist spoke to Price about why stances such as his and others – such as The Mythology of Work and On The Phenomenon Of Bullshit Jobs, also on the syllabus for the Reddit group – are becoming increasingly popular.
“I think the rise of anti-work and related movements has a lot of clear causes,” he explains. “The most obvious being that millions died as part of an international mass death event (the Covid-19 pandemic) with very little in the way of systemic protections, particularly very few protections put in place by their employers.”
Think of essential workers forced to work with little protective equipment, those left with little to no pay, or precarious workers finding themselves unemployed.
He adds: “I know and love many service industry workers, educators, and front-line healthcare staff, and among all of them I see nothing but profound rage and jadedness, because for years their lives have been treated as completely disposable.”
Crucially, though, the economy and profiteering was prioritised over people’s health and wellbeing (think how many were asked to come into work, even if their profession allows home-working). All that without any changes to pay or hours, despite the pandemic wreaking havoc on our bodies.
“Our economic system was already deeply exploitative before the pandemic, with the average worker logging far more hours for far less pay and fewer benefits than generations prior, but when your boss is demanding that you come in and face a throng of possibly infectious customers just so he can continue profiting off of, say, coffee and ice cream sales, it does a lot to dampen your motivation to work.
“It’s pretty hard to care about working or believing in the mythology that hard work pays off when you are asked on a daily basis to risk your health and happiness for work.”
Price reminds us that action isn’t superior to inaction and that sometimes it’s OK to do nothing. If you feel you’re chronically lazy, it might be time to reassess the barriers stopping you. If it’s perpetual exhaustion, are there things you can do to improve your condition? Can you speak to your bosses, a union or your loved ones for support? It might not be possible for one person to change their entire circumstance, but are there ways you can mitigate the difficulties of work?
You might be spreading yourself too thin resulting in the inability to do anything else – can you lessen your load? You could always lean into the voice in your brain that says “no” too. As long as you’re not harming yourself or your relationship with others in the long run, “no” can go a long way.
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