I know of Weber's “The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” as a seminal text…but I'm looking for more modern texts that specifically and critically analyse the idea of a “work ethic” as brainwashing tool of capitalist exploitation. To me it's one of the most insidious problems that keeps people from attaining class consciousness, I even see it in comments in this sub all the time…this idea that being a worker is inherently good and something to be proud of and encouraged, that to not work is immoral and lazy and freeloading, despite the fact that we have the means and technology to work radically fewer hours than we do, and that most of the work we actually do is specifically benefiting the capitalist class at our expense. So many workers have invested in the identity of being a “hard worker” and drank the capitalist koolaid without realising they're only participating in their own exploitation