Workism

Workism is a term describing excessive devotion to work ethic, so much that it defines a person's purpose in life.

The term was coined by American journalist Derek Thompson, in a 2019 article for The Atlantic magazine.

[1][2][3] Workism may come across as cult-like because of the burden being put on workists to present themselves positively, the use of groupthink, having work dictate their relationships and thinking, and the pursuit of an idealised outcome that may be unrealistic.

[3] Workist attitudes may develop in the context of a historically Protestant work ethic, or independently as a heuristic bias redeeming hustle culture, in which people try to justify the immense sacrifices they have made to maintain and advance their careers, rather than the reason they started making those sacrifices.

[4] It is also claimed that workism has trickled down from the top, for whom this disposition makes more sense.