🌱 Supercharging Wealth Inequality & Burnout Culture
Part I: Work, Wealth, and Productivity in 2024
Welcome Back! 👋🏼
The United States' work ethic has gotten dangerously unhealthy after the pandemic due to rising prices and wealth inequality. We can reshape how we view our work for social change to build healthier practices of productivity. Read on for more...
In Case You Missed It: 🌱 Hope for AI | Climate & Regulation
What You Can Expect
📟 Worker Burnout
💤 Where's the American Dream?
📝 Breaking Free From Productivity
🌱 News with a Social Change Lens
🎬 Octavia Butler & Our Elders
It's no secret that the United States is a workaholic nation. Nearly half (46%) of workers who have the privilege of vacation time do not take their time off. Not to mention how working people are fairing. In our two-tiered economy, most people are now working multiple jobs to keep the bills paid. Taking on multiple jobs has risen since 2010 and now hovers near 8% of the U.S. economy.
The racial and gendered implications are profound. According to the Census, "Women hold multiple jobs at a higher rate than men and the rate has increased in the last 20 years." The types of careers that are requiring multiple jobs won't surprise you, but they aren't places I want exhausted, overworked people. Care work continues to be undervalued with healthcare being the #1 industry people need multiple jobs followed by food services and accommodations.
Our Two-Tiered System
I get it. The wealth disparity in our country means there's less money out there for the rest of us. In fact, the U.S. just hit a big milestone this week! Congratulations to the billionaires who now hoard $6 trillion dollars. That's 12 zeros behind that six. It's a million of a million. It's 6x more than what is currently in circulation in the U.S. Or if we look at it in time, a billion seconds lands you in 1987, but a trillion seconds and you'd be around 30,000 B.C. It's impossible to fully comprehend $6 trillion dollars. I just know that's way too much for only 800 people to have.
Naturally, when only a few people have that much money concentrated, they can use it to hold power. Billionaires have used their influence in every sector of our world. Political power being the most obvious, but their influence stretches to the most minute of our decisions. When a small group of people have that much power, they tend to want to keep it.
How do the do that? By making sure the rest of us can't win at their games!
Where's the American Dream?
Since the pandemic shut down most industries, the billionaires with strangleholds of these industries were not happy about how the pandemic was reshaping work. The quiet quitting trend and those pesky Gen Z kids demanding a different way were in the way of record profits and winning.
The conventional argument by capitalists is that wealth rose for everyone in the pandemic. While this might be true, our dollars don't stretch the way they did. Billionaires have gutted government regulation so they have the power to set prices and wages. This led to rampant inflation and a refusal to pay employees their worth. Plus we now know the "return to office" mandates were really meant to make people quit. It's much easier to run a workplace when there are less people advocating for workers rights! So how has that theory faired for real people?
Let's zoom in on Chicago, where the Democratic National Convention will be held, to see how this reality actually impacts families. “The Color of Wealth in Chicago” illustrates just how different people live simply because their opportunities are dependent on their skin color. When we look at reported wealth for families in the city, we see Black families don't even have any wealth. When you exclude for the wealth of white Hispanics, you also see a huge drop in wealth from foreign-born Mexican families.
- $210,000 – white families
- $0 - Black families
- $40,500 – U.S-born Mexican families
- $6,000 – foreign-born Mexican families
This is all happening in a landscape where billionaires have successfully gutted public programs and economic security. The minimum wage is still $7.25/hour and hasn't budged in 15 years when it was last changed in 2009. The housing market is in crisis and no amount of avocado toast is goign to help Millennials afford the American Dream.
We live in a world where the haves take months-long luxury yacht vacations, while regular people need to work that much harder to keep our society running.
Are You Exhausted? Breaking From Productivity
All of this wealth disparity is agonizing when you think about it. Naturally, periods of wealth disparities also means anyone trying to change the system for good is exhausted, overworked, and underpaid.
I hit a patch of burnout this summer after a hard push to get multiple client projects out and maintain everything else! It was my Elizabeth Taylor Cleopatra moment. I simply pushed myself to work at a level that's not sustainable for my body. While it's always frustrating to get sick, it's an important message that my body was sending me. Slow down, girl!
This moment demanded that I reflect on my own ways of working and how our society perception of care work exacerbates it for so many. In many ways, social change work is care work. Whether you are on the tech side or working within communities, this work can feel daunting and never-ending. This month, I want to share some ways we can shift our own perceptions of work, what that could do for our workplaces, and how we can work to systematize a better way of working for everyone. More on that next week!
Enjoying our newsletter? Subscribe to get our resources and support in your inbox weekly. I created Roots of Change Media to help busy activists and communicators practice intentional activism through a decolonized lens.
Using Culture to Attract Audiences
Who knew the 1950's were back in style?! The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation is Fast Company's 2024 Innovation by Design Awards and for good reason. I've always had a soft spot for Frank Lloyd Wright after a transformative architecture class so it was really cool to see their Director of Licensing, Sally Russell, discuss how they reinvigorated the brand. Here's what stood out to me:
- They leveraged dozens of partnerships (New Balance) with clear ties and trust from their target audience (Gen Z)
- They recognized the cultural zeitgeist of the moment and responded authentically for their brand to meet the culture. They didn't try to jam their brand into a moment.
- Identified a variety of partners to fill the niche for each audience segment. Reaching diverse audiences requires multiple approaches.
- “Wright’s ideas aren’t fixed in a moment in time. They’re applicable to meet the moment,” says Graff. “We encourage [designers] to be bolder, take on more risk.”
Last Week's Flowering Deep-Dive
Sam Chavez
- 📚 Out of the Conspiracy Rabbit Hole? - New research shows people can change their minds about conspiracy theories. A study of 498 Australians and New Zealanders finds “no evidence that individual beliefs in conspiracy theories increased on average over time.”
- 🤓 The Root 🌱 - Most people believe in at least one conspiracy theory (mine is aliens 👽). Shaming people is not the way out, but reconnection and human interaction can help.
- 🎬 “Say It To My Face, Donald” - Kamala Harris is having fun on the campaign trail and bringing along millions. Experts on fascism say that comedy can help shine a light on the absurdities of their policies to dispel the overwhelm and fear.
- 🤓 The Root 🌱 - The strategy is smart because it’s bringing a big tent in with joy, dispelling despair, and highlighting the minority opinion as out of touch. One note of caution when messaging to avoid ableist language. The focus is more on how their policies and actions are weird.
- 📚 Become a Wildlife Advocate - I’m a huge animal lover so you know I loved this article with helpful tips on being a good neighbor to animal friends whether we are in a city or not. Get tips on safely migrating insects from your home 🕷️ , alternatives to toxic products, and more.
- 🤓 The Root 🌱 - We can learn a lot from our neighbors. Try to slow down and listen to the lessons they have to share.
- 🎬 You're Not Going to Agree - I loved this important reminder about social justice movements from @justsadeee
- 🤓 The Root 🌱 - Organizing isn’t easy because humans are humans, but that’s what makes a movement.
And that's a wrap on the free version of this week’s newsletter! We hope you found this helpful in your work to cultivate lasting social change. Forward this to a friend and help democratize communications!
If you have any topics you want covered or have any questions, please reach out and let me know.
In Solidarity,
Sam Chavez
Roots of Change Founder
🌱 Seedling Member Zone
This year's SCOTUS decisions have only shown how prophetic Octavia Butler's work is. Find our latest videos on our 🎬 Quick Bites page.
This post is for paying subscribers only
SubscribeAlready have an account? Log in
