What We’re Listening To: Humanists@Work

Humanists@Work has been at the forefront of conversations about work—what it can look like for humanists outside the academy, what its future might be as the world transforms, and how it can be understood within larger frameworks of social and political organization. We also love a good playlist to stimulate the senses while we delve into these ideas. From our April 2019 Humanists@Work Colloquium, the following tracks helped us get the wheels turning.

Maybe it’s a little on the nose, but we had to include Dolly Parton’s 1980 classic “9 to 5” on a work-themed playlist. Like Beck, we’re not afraid to mix a little bizness with leather, so we had to play “Mixed Bizness” for our colloquium guests. Luke Temple’s “Hard Working Man” has a slightly gritty 1980s feel to its synth-driven refrain, despite being released in 2013. Two Bob Marley tracks top off this collection. The verses of “Work” count down the days to the weekend, and the repetitive reggae rhythm traces the ebbs and flows of the traditional working day. And no playlist of this nature would be complete without “Rat Race,” Marley’s 1978 call to reject the crushing demands of exploitative capitalist models of work.