Counterproductive: Time Management in the Knowledge Economy
Melissa Gregg
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
As online distractions increasingly colonize our time, why has productivity become such a vital demonstration of personal and professional competence? When corporate profits are soaring but worker salaries remain stagnant, how does technology exacerbate the demand for ever greater productivity? In Counterproductive Melissa Gregg explores how productivity emerged as a way of thinking about job performance at the turn of the last century and why it remains prominent in the different work worlds of today. Examining historical and archival material alongside popular self-help genres--from housekeeping manuals to bootstrapping business gurus, and the growing interest in productivity and mindfulness software--Gregg shows how a focus on productivity isolates workers from one another and erases their collective efforts to define work limits. Questioning our faith in productivity as the ultimate measure of success, Gregg's novel analysis conveys the futility, pointlessness, and danger of seeking time management as a salve for the always-on workplace.
Product Details
Price
$28.69
Publisher
Duke University Press
Publish Date
November 23, 2018
Pages
216
Dimensions
6.0 X 9.0 X 0.6 inches | 0.65 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781478000907
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About the Author
Melissa Gregg is Principal Engineer and Research Director, Client Computing Group, Intel; coeditor of The Affect Theory Reader, also published by Duke University Press; and author of Work's Intimacy.
Reviews
"Reading [Counterproductive] caused me to have the biggest writing-related epiphany I've ever had."--Theresa MacPhail"Chronicle of Higher Education" (07/30/2019)
"Gregg . . . places the genre [of self-help] in a rich social and historical context."-- (05/03/2019)
"Counterproductive trains its lens on the productivity self-help genre itself, posing the question 'How does this insatiable industry for productivity continue trading on essentially unchanging insights?' Gregg . . . sees the glut of such books as a symptom of deeper problems with the organization of modern work. . . . Best for: Self-help burnouts."-- (05/28/2019)
"A smart, fascinating analysis of the theory, practice, and anthropotechnics within the knowledge economy, a business sector whose productivity can be defined by its intellectual capital as opposed to its production."--Julia Scatliff O'Grady"Journal of Cultural Economy" (07/01/2019)
"Gregg has written a book that will change the way people look at the notion of time management. . . . Essential. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, faculty, and professionals."-- (06/01/2019)
"Gregg's analysis provides productive insights in the ways that productivity has framed the work narrative, at times in less than beneficial ways. This book is appropriate for the general public, sociologists, business professionals, freelance workers, and librarians, concerned with the understanding the unhealthy impact that the focus on time management and productivity may have on the workplace and their own lives."-- (01/01/2019)
"Gregg . . . places the genre [of self-help] in a rich social and historical context."-- (05/03/2019)
"Counterproductive trains its lens on the productivity self-help genre itself, posing the question 'How does this insatiable industry for productivity continue trading on essentially unchanging insights?' Gregg . . . sees the glut of such books as a symptom of deeper problems with the organization of modern work. . . . Best for: Self-help burnouts."-- (05/28/2019)
"A smart, fascinating analysis of the theory, practice, and anthropotechnics within the knowledge economy, a business sector whose productivity can be defined by its intellectual capital as opposed to its production."--Julia Scatliff O'Grady"Journal of Cultural Economy" (07/01/2019)
"Gregg has written a book that will change the way people look at the notion of time management. . . . Essential. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, faculty, and professionals."-- (06/01/2019)
"Gregg's analysis provides productive insights in the ways that productivity has framed the work narrative, at times in less than beneficial ways. This book is appropriate for the general public, sociologists, business professionals, freelance workers, and librarians, concerned with the understanding the unhealthy impact that the focus on time management and productivity may have on the workplace and their own lives."-- (01/01/2019)
