Dear colleagues: [indulgence coveted for cross-posting]
The subject above is the title of the 2 March 2022 post on the Solving Task Saturation for Museum Workers blog. It became necessary because of feedback to a previous post that expressed "concern & discomfort" about my use of the term "willing slaves" to describe museum workers.
In response, I separate the "willing slave" terminology adopted from an academic source from the 16-19 century transatlantic slave trade. I then analyse how museum workers do become "willing slaves" by bringing the sociology of work including concepts such as "occupational devotion," "task saturation," "wage slavery," abusive management, & other appraisals to bear on the demonstrably deep-seated poor Quality of Working Lives in the museum industry that exploits museum practitioner love for the work.
First among solutions recommended for this ongoing human resources crisis is to stop the default and/or deliberately designed working conditions that are "driving a stress epidemic."
I also reiterate the crucial assertion in Elaine Heuman Gurian's Institutional Trauma: Major Change in Museums and its Effect on Staff :
Even if impaired work performance were not the outcome of unabated staff stress, I would proffer another, and perhaps better, reason to pay attention to staff needs. If our work in museums is evidence of our collective commitment to enhancing the quality of life for society, then we must be attentive to maintaining a high quality of life for our work community [emphasis added] (Gurian 1995: 20-21).
Thanks for thinking about this.
Respectfully yours
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Paul C.Thistle
Director/Curator (retired)
Stratford, Ontario
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