“Illusions of Freedom: A Critique of Ephemeral Workplace Cultures”
Inflection Journal,
vol. 4: Permanence (November 2017): 126-131.
Inflection Journal,
vol. 4: Permanence (November 2017): 126-131.
The advent of globalisation, digitisation and fluctuating economies have seen an unprecedented increase in highmobility working arrangements around the world. Counter to the static ladder-oriented professions of generations past, the ‘freelancing’ lifestyle has become an increasingly popular career path amongst entrepreneurial youth. Once an uneasy state of transition between jobs, freelancing connotes an aspirational freedom of working for oneself from virtually anywhere, thanks to the ubiquity of the Internet and its associated liberties.
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Yet something seems off-kilter about the bucolic ephemeral workplace. If we are becoming less spatially dependent for work, why are sprawling corporate headquarters on the rise? What is the relationship between precarious employment and the production of cosmetic indulgences and socioeconomic prejudices? As hot-desking and freelancing become synonymous with progress, we should begin to question the changing role of physical office environments – from permanent to provisional, tangible to immaterial – and its critical effects on agency and freedom in this contemporary age.
...
Yet something seems off-kilter about the bucolic ephemeral workplace. If we are becoming less spatially dependent for work, why are sprawling corporate headquarters on the rise? What is the relationship between precarious employment and the production of cosmetic indulgences and socioeconomic prejudices? As hot-desking and freelancing become synonymous with progress, we should begin to question the changing role of physical office environments – from permanent to provisional, tangible to immaterial – and its critical effects on agency and freedom in this contemporary age.
