Quarterlife Postures Towards Work During the Great Resignation

Economic writers often explain the Great Resignation by resorting to binary accounts of workers' rational or irresponsible choices in response to the 2021-2023 labor market. Academic researchers offer more nuanced accounts of the Great Resignation but often by focusing on specific jobs and particular workplaces. This article builds on both these accounts by showing how workers deal with the affective pressures of the early 2020s by changing their relationship not just to their jobs but to work itself. Analysis of interview data from 47 rising professionals shows them adopting four postures toward work itself: meliorist, therapeutic, thespian, and deconversionist. Discussion of these dynamic adaptations to work concludes with practical counsels for managers and workers in strange economic moments.