In February 2019 Derek Thompson wrote in The Atlantic: “What is workism? It is the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production, but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose …”
He cited a Pew survey in which 95 percent of American teenagers said having “a job or career they enjoy” would be extremely or very important to them as adults. That ranked above helping people in need and above marriage. “But everybody worships something. And workism is among the most potent of the new religions competing for congregants.”