Rhetorics and Tactics of Antiwork: Writing the Great Resignation

Situating our discussion in historical and contemporary rhetorics, we show that while antiwork theory imagines a world where workers labor freely as they choose, antiwork praxis confronts the world as it really exists—often with workplace communication as the site of its struggle. This open access book, Rhetorics and Tactics of Antiwork offers and critically examines rhetorics of antiwork within technical and professional communication contexts. Due to pervasive economic precarity, today’s student often exits the classroom only to enter a market that disempowers them at the negotiation table, in disputes with customers and management, and in countless other rhetorical situations. Writing for researchers and educators, we argue that professional writing instruction must focus not only on writing for the job search and as a productive skill in the workplace, but as a powerful tool to navigate bleak labor landscapes and resist exploitative practices. Situating our discussion in historical and contemporary rhetorics, we show that while antiwork theory imagines a world where workers labor freely as they choose, antiwork praxis confronts the world as it really exists—often with workplace communication as the site of its struggle. Rhetorics and Tactics of Antiwork investigates under-explored genres of professional communication and unpacks how antiwork’s peer-to-peer sharing practices enable workers, including students, to use those genres as workplace action.