Gregg opens the article by setting up an example given in the show Six Feet Under, where a character finds herself in tough situation after breaking up with her boyfriend. Once a creative art student, she dropped out of college and found herself in the position of a temp in an office job. The author takes this and relates it to aspects of American life, such as office work, the shrinking middle class, and the increase in interest of white-collar work. More and more people are working in office, doing jobs that are less meaningful but they are trick into connecting with, and such instances are made fun of in the U.K. and U.S. version of The Office.
Other ideals are referenced in this article, such as a move to the “knowledge economy,” as Gregg calls it, and certain websites where the main currency is humor or human sympathy, and relates this to human change.
There were interesting Marxist tones to Gregg’s article, such as talks of “class wars” between those with the high-paying desk jobs and those with lower-paying manual labor jobs. This was a main point as Gregg mentioned the economy is moving away from blue-collar, manual work. Also, Gregg’s point of workers needing to feel emotional attachment to their work and avoid alienation echoed largely of Marx in its focused on worker’s health and freedom.
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