Careerism

Careerism is the conviction, often not consciously acknowledged, that one's own worth, and that of others, is primarily or significantly rooted in occupational achievement and success. Our society is a meritocracy in which status and worth are considered to be earned rather than ascribed according to the class of our birth family. As society becomes increasingly technical, complex and specialized, achievement in school and work take on elevated importance. There are many problems with this development. First of all, our society is increasingly polarized between "winners" and "losers" with a huge gap between them. The "winners" are those who obtain technical expertise and become valuable in the marketplace: lawyers, architects, doctors and professors. "Losers" fail at this and fall into low-paying, low-status jobs. Typically, "losers" bond with their own kind and create unions (frequently, non-marital) that are financially insecure and vulnerable to the disrupting and chaotic dynamics of poverty and all the fruits of the sexual revolution (co-habitation, mothers without husbands, divorce, etc.) "Winners" also marry their own kind and enjoy two good salaries as well as the benefits of the more disciplined sexuality of traditional marital stability. This trend is aggravated by the depletion of the bank of low-skill, high paying, manufacturing-based, union jobs that enriched our working class in the post-WWII decades. Secondly, the emerging gap is intensifying the crisis of masculinity as young women are increasingly outperforming young men and the latter are prone to insecurity, indecision, immaturity, discouragement, moral impotence and an incapacity for genuine spousal, vocational and paternal commitment. This crisis in virility or paternity is, in my view, the defining calamity of our age. Thirdly, young women, as they excel in the marketplace of success, imbibe an ethos that is "macho" in the worst sense and become alienated from the inherent worth of their own femininity. Their maternal instincts are resilient and irrepressible so that the "crisis of femininity" is nowhere near the gravity of the "crisis of masculinity." But our young women are over-achieving and over-stressed and deprived of the support, rest and peace that they deserve and need. Nervous, restless and anxious, they are unable to provide our families and communities with the fruits of feminine restfulness: peace, joy, and the well-being of beauty. Fourth, the anxiety about performance in the workplace, now shared by men and women, depletes the instincts and energies germane to procreation as children, especially more than one or two, are perceived as threats to career advancement, rather than blessings. And so, the contraceptive or sterile ethos, monotonous and toxic, comes to dominate. Fifth, career success, in contrast to the fruitfulness of the marital or religious vocation, is seen as a self-achievement rather than a partnership with God in which we are responsive and receptive rather than autonomous and initiatory. Insidiously and subtly, then, professional advancement can corrode one's trust and reliance upon God. Sixth, obsessional focus upon one's individual professional advancement can inadvertently distract from relational bonds: marriage, family, Church and community. And so, we see some of our most successful people, often seen as "role models," leaving in the wake of their triumphant procession the wreckage of broken marriages, families and friendships. Seventh, those of us who, for whatever reason, cannot perform at all in the marketplace, become devalued, are marginalized and become invisible like people in boarding homes. Eighth, all of us, winners and losers, lose a sense of our own fundamental worth as children of God, regardless of rank and rating in the marketplace. Careerism, largely unrecognized, is a fundamental spiritual sickness of our society. Lord, in your mercy, deliver us from careerism!