The Trouble with Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality

Probing the ominous side of career advice to "follow your passion," this data—driven study explains how the passion principle fails us and perpetuates inequality by class, gender, and race; and it suggests how we can reconfigure our relationships to paid work.

"Follow your passion" is a popular mantra for career decision—making in the United States. Passion—seeking seems like a promising path for avoiding the potential drudgery of a life of paid work, but this "passion principle"—seductive...