--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Work done off the paid job is looked down…" description: "\"“Work done off the paid job is looked down upon if not ignored. autonomous activity threatens the employment level, generates deviance, and detracts​ f..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3db/ivan-illich-3546_autonomy_work-done-off-the-paid-job-is-looked-dow_2057518.png" --- # Work done off the paid job is looked down upon if not… ![“Work done off the paid job is looked down upon if not ignored. autonomous activity threatens the employment level, generates deviance, and detracts​ from the GNP...Work no longer means the creation of a value perceived by the worker but mainly a job, which is a social relationship. Unemployment…” quote by Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3db/ivan-illich-3546_autonomy_work-done-off-the-paid-job-is-looked-dow_2057518.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3db/ivan-illich-3546_autonomy_work-done-off-the-paid-job-is-looked-dow_2057518.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3db/ivan-illich-3546_autonomy_work-done-off-the-paid-job-is-looked-dow_2057518.png) > ““Work done off the paid job is looked down upon if not ignored. autonomous activity threatens the employment level, generates deviance, and detracts​ from the GNP...Work no longer means the creation of a value perceived by the worker but mainly a job, which is a social relationship. Unemployment means sad idleness, rather than the freedom to do things that are useful for oneself or for one's neighbour. An active woman who runs a house and brings up children and takes in those of others is distinguished from a woman who 'works,' no matter how useless or damaging the product of this work might be.”” [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Work is valued only when paid; unpaid or domestic labor is devalued, shaping social status and economic measures. **In simple terms:** Paid work is prized, unpaid work ignored. Key Takeaway Recognize and value all forms of productive labor. Themes labor economics gender society value Mood critical reflective Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - policy design - community organizing - family budgeting - advocacy - education programs Key Concepts social theory economic critique feminist perspective Questions to Reflect On - How can societies better recognize unpaid contributions? - What policies could reframe work value? A Different Perspective The definition of work varies across cultures and may not align with economic metrics. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Autonomy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autonomy/) [Childrearing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childrearing-31219/) [Employment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/employment/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Gdp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gdp/) [Gnp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gnp-73045/) [Idleness Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idleness-freedom-3908353/) [Perceived Worker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perceived-worker-3908352/) [Relationship Unemployment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relationship-unemployment-3908351/) [Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society/) [Unemployment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unemployment/) [Unemployment Means](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unemployment-means-3269779/) [Usefulness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/usefulness/) [Value](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/value/) [Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work/) [Work done](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work-done/) ## Related quotes > [Leadership comes by the example you set through your work. 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It's IMPOSSIBLE !!!!!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kjforce/raising-perfect-children-is-not-hard-it-s-impossible/) [kjforce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kjforce/) > [I know what unemployment means because I was unemployed for one-and-a-half years, and I know the drama that the worker and unemployed worker faces.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luiz-inacio-lula-da-silva/i-know-what-unemployment-means-because-i-was-unemployed-for-one-and-a/) [Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luiz-inacio-lula-da-silva/) ## More by Ivan Illich > [“Universal education through schooling is not feasible. 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'schooled' to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/the-pupil-is-schooled-to-confuse-teaching-with-learning-grade/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [To deschool means to abolish the power of one person to oblige another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/to-deschool-means-to-abolish-the-power-of-one-person-to-oblige-another/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [Societies in which most people depend for most of their goods and services on the personal whim, kindness, or skill of another are called…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/societies-in-which-most-people-depend-for-most-of-their-goods-and/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [“P3- modernised poverty combines the lack of power over circumstances with a loss of personal potency”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/p3-modernised-poverty-combines-the-lack-of-power-over-circumstances/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [“Today, one must either be isolated and cut off, or a carefully guarded, affluent drop-out, to allow one's children to play in an environment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/today-one-must-either-be-isolated-and-cut-off-or-a-carefully-guarded/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [The household became the place where the consumption of wages takes place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/the-household-became-the-place-where-the-consumption-of-wages-takes/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [Man must choose whether to be rich in things or in the freedom to use them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/man-must-choose-whether-to-be-rich-in-things-or-in-the-freedom-to-use/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [“Welfare bureaucracies claim a professional, political, and financial monopoly over the social imagination, setting standards of what is valuable and what is feasible. 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