welcome to
work ideology:
Work ideology is an interactive website about sustainable work. Across the website, you are invited to interact with and explore other people’s beliefs, but also to share and think deeply about your own beliefs. Throughout this website you will find three things.
In work, you will find a place to explore and reflect on what workers want out of work in terms of fulfillment, compensation, and work-life balance. Under advice, you will be able to both receive (and share!) advice drawn from current and prospective workers. Lastly, the resources page offers a curated list of resources, from mental health resources to legal guidance.
Embedded throughout Work Ideology are places where you can speak your mind and voice your own opinions on the subject matter. Feel free to answer and explore as many of the questions you want: this is a space for you.
an invitation
This is a community-based project, and everyone who comes to the website is invited to actively participate and contribute to this ongoing research project. Throughout the website you will be able to anonymously submit your opinion on a range of topics. From describing the things you work for, to sharing your advice for job seekers, Work Ideology values your experiences and input. Through sharing your individual experiences, you are contributing to a conversation that’s bigger than just one person.
You are enthusiastically invited to participate in whatever way you feel comfortable! Whether you’re learning something new, reflecting on your own beliefs, or sharing your experience, thank you for contributing to this ongoing conversation.
explore the parts
You can explore work ideology however you want! But it’s recommended to follow this order:
homepage – about the project – work – advice – resources
There are also navigation buttons at the bottom of each page to lead you through the website.
1
work
Work is about fulfillment, purpose, and you. It explores what workers want out of work, whether that be purpose, structure, or compensation. This section also asks questions of us as a collective, in regards to the beliefs we hold as a society about work and productivity. Alongside reading the experiences of others, you are also invited to share what you think work should be and what role it should play in your own life.
2
advice
Advice gathers wisdom and insights from many different workers related to work and the job search. While you might have people you can ask for help or advice, I hope that this section opens up a whole new network to you of people whose experiences and insights may differ from those around you. Questions in this section range from identifying and addressing problems with the workplace to advice on finding and changing jobs. Feel free to engage with the different prompts in order to add your own advice to this growing repository.
3
resources
Resources by me, for you. Here, I’ve put together a list of resources I think workers and job seekers would find helpful. From legal resources designed to help workers better understand their rights regarding work and compensation, to mental health resources to help you develop a healthy relationship with work, I hope you can find something new or interesting here.
how to interact with the website
Throughout the website, there are response polls. There are questions on almost every page, designed to help you reflect on your own experiences and to share them with others. Please feel free to answer as many of them as you would like!
To add your responses, simply click the checkbox, type some content, and answer the security question.
Note: The security question is always 1 + 1 = . The answer is always 2. Not 02, or 2.0, or 2/1. Those won’t be right.
Then just click submit post, and it’ll be uploaded! It may be a bit of time before you see your answer in the carousel below.
Please contact me if there is anything wrong with the response polls.
about me
I’m Madison, a senior at the University of Texas at Austin pursuing degrees in Sociology and Philosophy, as well as a certificate in Digital Humanities. This project emerged in part out of my own fears about graduating and entering the workforce. Growing up is scary, and like many others my age, I felt that it was easier to not think critically about work or the role I wanted work to play in my life.
I’m graduating this semester (Spring 2022), and I wanted to change that for me, and for others. I wanted to create a space for an open, welcoming dialogue in order to develop a richly nuanced understanding of people’s relationship to work. I wanted a place where people could express themselves and share their experiences to help myself and others better understand what we want in our own lives. I wanted honest advice, real experiences, and critical analysis. So I created this website, both to explore work, but also to celebrate our lives outside of work.
This project was done under the sponsorship of the Mellon Engaged Scholar Initiative. The Mellon Engaged Scholar Initiative aims to aims to honor the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s visionary goals of enhancing and further expanding the relationships between public universities and communities in the United States. The ESI project aspires to amplify the educational resources available to undergraduate fellows beyond the parameters of their traditional research disciplines, in order to increase the benefits to the scholars and the communities in which they work and live. I am so grateful for the help of Dr. Jessica Egan and the support and happiness my ESI cohort has given me. This is one of the best things I have ever made.
If you have any questions about my work, you can contact me at: workideology@gmail.com