EP 491: Meet Your Tiny Capitalists

Many of us (most?) have an inner voice that loves to remind us that "If there's time to lean, there's time to clean" or that "Coffee is for closers." We nag ourselves about being more productive, working more efficiently, or hustling for more money. Even if we value rest, care, and comfort, that voice can be hard to ignore.

Well, meet your Tiny Capitalist. Or rather, Tiny Capitalists: the Tiny Puritan, Tiny Manager, and Tiny Entrepreneur. Understanding the role they play helps us make better decisions about how we navigate the systems we exist in.

Footnotes:

• Read the essay version of this episode
• "Is There a Tiny Puritan Living In Your Head? Tell Him to Get Lost." by Joy Marie Clarkson
• The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber
• The New Spirit of Capitalism by Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello
• "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards
• Clips from The Office, Severance, Office Space, Parks and Recreation

• (00:00) - Why Your Inner Critic Sounds Like a Bad Boss
• (17:24) - Credits

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What is What Works?

Work is central to the human experience. It helps us shape our identities, care for those we love, and contribute to our communities. Work can be a source of power and a catalyst for change. Unfortunately, that's not how most of us experience work—even those who work for themselves. Our labor and creative spirit are used to enrich others and maintain the status quo. It's time for an intervention. What Works is a show about rethinking work, business, and leadership for the 21st-century economy. Host Tara McMullin covers money, management, culture, media, philosophy, and more to figure out what's working (and what's not) today. Tara offers a distinctly interdisciplinary approach to deep-dive analysis of how we work and how work shapes us.