Work Pray Code

When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley

Work Pray Code
Carolyn Chen
RRP:
NZ$ 59.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 49.19
Hardback
h235 x 156mm - 272pg
8 Mar 2022 US
International import eta 7-19 days
9780691219080
Out Of Stock
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How tech giants are reshaping spirituality to serve their religion of peak productivity. Silicon Valley is known for its lavish perks, intense work culture, and spiritual gurus. Work Pray Code explores how tech companies are bringing religion into the workplace in ways that are replacing traditional places of worship, blurring the line between work and religion and transforming the very nature of spiritual experience in modern life. Over the past forty years, highly skilled workers have been devoting more time and energy to their jobs than ever before. They are also leaving churches, synagogues, and temples in droves - but they have not abandoned religion. Carolyn Chen spent more than five years in Silicon Valley, conducting a wealth of in-depth interviews and gaining unprecedented access to the best and brightest of the tech world. The result is a penetrating account of how work now satisfies workers' needs for belonging, identity, purpose, and transcendence that religion once met. Chen argues that tech firms are offering spiritual care such as Buddhist-inspired mindfulness practices to make their employees more productive, but that our religious traditions, communities, and public sphere are paying the price. We all want our jobs to be meaningful and fulfilling. Work Pray Code reveals what can happen when work becomes religion, and when the workplace becomes the institution that shapes our souls. ' Work Pray Code presents an extraordinarily fine-grained map of the traffic between religion and profit-seeking among Silicon Valley' s elite. ' - Fred Turner,Los Angeles Review of Books
"A rich ethnography of Silicon Valley' s elite. . . . Compelling stories. . . . While Work Pray Code centers on the corporate mindfulness initiatives for elite tech workers, Chen also takes moments to explore the impacts of these programs on larger issues. "---J. A. English-Lueck, Science "Work Pray Code presents an extraordinarily fine-grained map of the traffic between religion and profit-seeking among Silicon Valley' s elite. "---Fred Turner, Los Angeles Review of Books "Fascinating. . . . Work Pray Code is at its best when Chen contextualizes the findings of her research within broader historical and sociological concepts, such as corporate maternalism, the constant productivity push, and reduced civic engagement. . . . her findings should interest (and perhaps alarm) anyone who cares about the health and growth of the American church. "---Dorcas Cheng-Tozun, Christianity Today
Carolyn Chen, a sociologist, is associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of Getting Saved in America (Princeton) and the coeditor of Sustaining Faith Traditions. She lives in Kensington, California. Website carolynchen. org
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9780691219080
Published: 8 Mar 2022
Published In: United States
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Format: Hardback
Height: 235mm
Width: 156mm
Pages: 272

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