33. Why We Have to Stop Expecting Work to Love Us Back -- with Sarah Jaffe

Sarah Jaffe on capitalism’s “labor of love,” grief, and why you can’t meditate your way out of a rigged systemWhat if the heaviness you feel at work isn’t a personal failing — but capitalism doing what capitalism does? Labor journalist and author Sarah Jaffe (Work Won’t Love You Back and From the Ashes) joins Ellen for a wide-ranging, deeply grounding conversation about why so many of us feel exhausted, disillusioned, and even heartbroken by our jobs. Together, they explore how “do what you love” culture, hustle narratives, and nonprofit martyrdom have trained us to expect meaning, identity, and emotional fulfillment from work — and how devastating it can be when those promises inevitably fall apart.Sarah breaks down why burnout is not an individual resilience problem but a structural feature of capitalism, especially in nonprofit, public-sector, care, and mission-driven work. Ellen and Sarah dig into how love-based narratives are used to justify low pay, chronic overwork, and understaffing; why crises like the 2008 financial collapse and COVID made these systems suddenly visible; and how gender, race, and class shape who is expected to sacrifice the most. If you’re a leader who feels trapped by money, healthcare, responsibility to your team, or a lack of alternatives, this episode names that reality without judgment — and without pretending there’s a simple solution.This conversation also offers a different way forward. Instead of self-care checklists or meditation apps that ask you to adapt to a broken system, Sarah and Ellen talk about grieving what we thought work would be, reclaiming agency inside imperfect conditions, and thinking collectively rather than individually. You’ll hear practical ideas like power-mapping your workplace, building community instead of self-blame, and understanding why “it’s not your fault” is both emotionally freeing and politically important.Show NotesFind Sarah on her website and Twitter.Books by Sarah Jaffe: • Work Won’t Love You Back • From the Ashes: The Remaking of the WorldListen to Sarah narrate both books on Audible.Resources mentioned during the episode: Mia Tokumitsu’s book Do What You LoveKathi Weeks’ book The Problem With WorkKarl Marx’s book Das Capital (where he compares capitalism to a Gothic monster as discussed) Molly Crapapple’s websiteJoshua Clover’s many booksRuth Wilson Gilmore’s works (she coined “capitalism saves capitalism from capitalism”)Your nonprofit boss Instagram (by Nicole Olive, follow her, she’s amazing)Melinda Cooper’s booksSamhita Mukhopadhyay’s The Myth of Making it: a Workplace ReckoningTags: burnout, work culture, labor, capitalism, workplace systems, productivity myths, hustle culture, emotional labor, grief at work, exploitation, management, leadership, toxic workplaces, women at work, gender and labor, class and work, workplace power, work and identity, modern work, organizing, collective care, boundaries at work, work isn’t broken—it’s working