A Light on Shadow Work Shadow work was defined by Ivan Illich, as “all the unpaid labor – including, for example, housework – done in a wage-based economy” in 1981 in the book Shadow Work. Craig Lambert, author of Our Unpaid, Extra Shadow Work, used the example of a lawyer at a local grocery store checking out her own groceries to define shadow work. This is an example of shadow work because, the service of a cashier is still around, but can be bypassed to save time. Craig Lambert gives a unique insight into shadow work, he doesn’t condone it, or dismiss it. On the other hand he talks about the advantages and disadvantages of shadow work. This stance is unique in the fact that it allows him to talk about the majority of the subject in its entirety. Towards the middle of his article he talks about how certain shadow work jobs have been assigned as responsibilities under a different job. One way a person could think of this is a secretary, writing, mailing, and sending/delivering a letter, the secretary is doing multiple jobs that use to be separated out. In today’s times the job of secretary is could be cut out, and the work done by a higher up. …show more content…
People pump their own gas, have the ability to check out their own groceries, and become more self-reliant. Craig Lambert said that shadow work has one major disadvantage, people don’t work together and rely upon one another as often as they use to. He says that the precursor to shadow work, service was a connection that people use to have to one another. He also states that people will never have that form of connection again because of shadow work. This is a very strong statement to say, and relies heavily upon ethos, due to his description of shadow work. The major problem with this is he doesn’t use credibility or statistics to back up his