Antiwork
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About
Antiwork, also known as Anti-Work, is a social movement against toxic work culture and jobs or bosses that violate a worker's personal space and free time. The antiwork movement is largely centered around the /r/antiwork subreddit, which began in 2013. The movement is associated with the social trend of workers voluntarily quitting their jobs known as "The Great Resignation," and with the "Laying Flat" movement among millennials and Gen Z in China.
History
Antiwork
On August 14th, 2013, Redditor AbolishWork (Doreen Ford) created /r/antiwork,[1] a subreddit dedicated to calling out all out poor working conditions or questionable actions from management that usually result in workers quitting their jobs. Subreddit subscribers have posted stories of quitting their jobs and shared screenshots of their conversations with their management, with many such posts going viral on Reddit.
The subreddit remained largely niche until December 2018, when it had below 10,000 subscribers. The subreddit grew to 100,000 subscribers by March 2020, and with the COVID-19 pandemic being a contributing factor, to over 500,000 subscribers by October 2021. Following a series of viral posts and coverage by media, the subreddit grew to over 1.2 million subscribers as of November 22nd, 2021.[2]
Laying Flat
Laying Flat, or Tangping (躺平), is a social movement among young people in China who refuse to work in a competitive environment, or altogether, in an attempt to escape the crush of life and work in a fast-paced society.
The movement was jumpstarted in April 2021 as a post titled "Lying Flat Is Justice" (a reference to Flat Is Justice meme) went viral on Chinese social network Baidu,[3] and discussions about "lying flat" became viral among Chinese users in May that year.
The Great Resignation
The Great Resignation, also known as the Big Quit, is the ongoing trend of employees voluntarily quitting jobs, particularly in the United States. The trend was largely connected with the COVID-19 pandemic as employees, particularly millennials and zoomers, were able to rethink their work conditions, work-life balance and goals.[4]
The term "Great Resignation" was likely coined by Anthony Klotz, a professor of management at Mays Business School of Texas A&M University,[5] who predicted the event to happen in May 2021.
In the United States, the resignation rate saw a massive surge in April 2021, with 4 million Americans quitting their jobs that month. The trend was reported on by the media, including articles by BBC,[6] Harvard Business Review[7] and The Atlantic.[8]
Highlights
The /r/antiwork subreddit attracted major attention outside of Reddit in mid-October 2021 when a number of posts went viral on Reddit and were circulated online in the following days. For example, on October 14th, 2021, Redditor[9] hestolemysmile made a post that received over 268,000 upvotes in one month (shown below, left). On October 16th, 2021, Redditor[10] tylerro2 made a post that gained over 164,000 upvotes in the same period (shown below, center). A post by Redditor[11] frenzzzzykid, made on October 24th, gained over 127,000 upvotes in the same period (shown below, right).
In October and November 2021, multiple news outlets posted articles about the subreddit, including articles by Rolling Stone,[12] VICE[13] and Slate.[14]
Fox News /r/Antiwork Moderator Interview
On January 25th, 2022, the longest-tenured moderator of /r/Antiwork, u/AbolishWork or Doreen Ford, was interviewed live on Fox News during the show Watters World hosted by Jesse Watters. In the segment, Watters introduced him and the subreddit as having amassed roughly 1.6 million members over the past four months. Watters then continued to ask Ford questions about what "not working" means to him and captioned the whole segment "The War Against Working." The interview was uploaded to YouTube on the 25th by the channel Beshel News Service, where it earned roughly 1.9 million views over the course of two days (shown below).
Also on January 25th, the clip was shared to /r/Cringetopia[15] by Redditor cal_oe. The Reddit post (shown below) received roughly 59,400 upvotes over the course of two days.
Backlash Against /r/Antiwork Moderators
The /r/Antiwork moderators received a considerable amount of backlash following the interview. Multiple Redditors within the subreddit posted long-form text posts about why they believed the interview was terrible. For instance, Redditor[21] mischievous_unicorn made a post titled, "Mods – we deserve an explanation," earning over 11,000 upvotes in less than a day (shown below, top). Redditor[22] Inevitable-Currents made a similar post titled, "'Sorry' doesn’t cut it – mods are not leaders of this sub," receiving roughly 69,600 upvotes in less than a day (shown below, bottom).
Overall, most of the backlash early on was about Doreen Ford not representing the subreddit properly, coming off as cringy and being accused of "power tripping" for taking the interview.
A screenshot of u/AbolishWork stating his reasoning for the video was posted to /r/WorkReform[16] on January 26th, 2022, by Redditor DarkestKink. He said that he had "previous media experience" and that Fox News specifically asked for him. The Reddit post (shown below) received roughly 2,500 upvotes in less than 24 hours.
u/AbolishWork / Doreen Ford Rape Allegations
As the Fox News interview started to circulate on Reddit for being deemed "cringy," Redditors started to surface sexual assault allegations levied against Doreen Ford. This happened most notably after Redditor NoSatisfaction4251 posted to /r/WorkReform[17] on January 26th, 2022, receiving over 18,000 upvotes in less than a day. The post made a joke about being "autistic too" but that u/NoSatisfaction4251 would still have showered and dressed nice, unlike Ford.
A couple of hours later, u/NoSatisfaction4251 posted a comment, linking to a different post on Reddit's /r/awfuleverything,[18] also posted on the 26th by Redditor Busy-Lifeguard-9558. The post was titled, "r/antiwork mod who recently did a fox interview seems to have a dark past.. RAPING PEOPLE," and it received 2,100 upvotes before being removed by the moderators.
The evidence that u/Busy-Lifeguard-9558 posted was reuploaded to /r/awfuleverything[19] by Redditor cal_oe, consisting of a picture of multiple Facebook screenshots where Doreen Ford allegedly addressed and confessed to multiple rape allegations (shown below, click to expand).
/r/Antiwork Goes Private
Also on January 26th, 2022, the mods of /r/Antiwork made the subreddit private after a massive ban spree and multiple posts calling them out received thousands of upvotes. A screenshot of them being privated was posted to /r/WorkReform[20] by Redditor xXDragoneelXx8 (shown below).
The subreddit was un-privated on January 27th, followed by a long-form written statement to the subreddit from the moderators. It was posted to /r/Antiwork[23] by the moderator Kimezukae and was restricted from being upvoted or downvoted (opening paragraph of the statement shown below).
Search Interest
External References
[1] Reddit – /r/antiwork
[2] Reddit – /r/antiwork
[3] Brookings – The ‘lying flat’ movement standing in the way of China’s innovation drive
[4] Wikipedia – Great Resignation
[5] The Washington Post – Transcript: The Great Resignation with Molly M. Anderson, Anthony C. Klotz, PhD & Elaine Welteroth
[6] BBC – The Great Resignation: How employers drove workers to quit
[7] Harvard Business Review – Who Is Driving the Great Resignation?
[8] The Atlantic – The Great Resignation Is Accelerating
[9] Reddit – Quit my job last night, it was nice to be home to make the kids breakfast and take them to school today! Off to hunt for a new opportunity, wish me luck :)
[10] Reddit – Who’s the boss now?
[11] Reddit – Never told a boss off like this. And it felt amazing.
[12] Rolling Stone – Do These Viral Stories About Shitty Bosses Signal an Anti-Work Revolution?
[13] VICE – This subreddit will make you want to quit your job
[14] Slate – The Real Point of Reddit’s Antiwork Sub
[15] Reddit – /r/Cringetopia
[16] Reddit – /r/WorkReform/
[17] Reddit – /r/WorkReform/
[18] Reddit – /r/awfuleverything
[19] Reddit – /r/awfuleverything
[20] Reddit – /r/WorkReform/
[21] Reddit – /r/antiwork/
[22] Reddit – /r/antiwork/
[23] Reddit – /r/antiwork
Top Comments
superjumpman
Nov 15, 2021 at 05:01AM EST
Mr. Sneed
Jan 27, 2022 at 01:21PM EST