Even as the rewards of work decline and its demands on us increase, many people double-down on their commitment to wage slavery-working harder, doing overtime, and learning to hustle. To paraphrase Spinoza, why do people fight to be exploited as if it were liberation?

To find the answer, The Double Shift turns to the intersection of Marx and Spinoza and examines contemporary ideologies and the modern phenomena of work-motivational meetings at Apple Stores, the culture of Silicon Valley, as well as film and television, from Office Space to Better Call Saul-to argue for the transformation of our collective imagination and attachment to work.

Jason Read is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine. He is the author of The Politics of Transindividuality (Haymarket 2017) and The Production of Subjectivity: Marx and Philosophy (Brill 2022). He blogs about philosophy, politics, and culture at unemployednegativity.com.