Podcast Summary: New Books Network

Episode Overview

Episode: Ilana Gershon, "The Pandemic Workplace: How We Learned to Be Citizens in the Office"
Air Date: February 25, 2026
Host: Tom Disena (joined by co-producer Julie Smith)
Guest: Ilana Gershon, Herbert S. Autry Chair of Anthropology, Rice University

This episode features an in-depth conversation with anthropologist Ilana Gershon about her book, “The Pandemic Workplace: How We Learned to Be Citizens in the Office.” Drawing from over 220 interviews, Gershon explores how the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed the American workplace, revealing it as a laboratory for democratic engagement, negotiation of authority, and the collective struggles of individuals navigating risk, decision-making, and the meaning of citizenship at work.

Main Themes & Purpose

• Transformation of the Workplace during COVID-19: The pandemic forced a reevaluation of work structures, relationships, and authority.
• Workplaces as Sites of Democratic Practice: People negotiated power, responsibility, and the common good in new and visible ways.
• Work Contracts and Authority: The pandemic exposed the complexities of employment contracts and shifted how individuals viewed employer-employee relationships.
• Analogies between Private Government and the Office: Gershon operationalizes Elizabeth Anderson's notion of private government, showing how workplaces serve as models of governance and citizenship training.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Gershon’s Motivation and Research Evolution

• Initial Research Focus: Gershon originally planned to study “boring” topics like employment contracts and noncompete clauses.
  • Example: Noncompete clauses for bike shop or sandwich shop workers—"I found a noncompete contract in a Jimmy John's sandwich maker job" (02:58–03:19).
• Pivot During the Pandemic: Attempting to interview people about contracts felt out of touch; pandemic realities brought sharper focus on decision-making and authority at work.
  • “...all of a sudden people were channeling Locke and Hobbes and Rousseau and talking about the Social Contract...” (07:39–08:17).

American Workplaces as Training Grounds for Citizenship

• Historical Perspective: Earlier in the 20th century, involvement in civic groups was seen as training for democracy. Gershon argues the workplace now fills that role.
• Tension of Authority: Americans are conflicted about telling others what to do; the pandemic heightened reliance on formal authority (bosses, laws, state mandates).
  • “...people sometimes desperately wanted to tell another person what to do, but they felt that this was too problematic...so they wanted a boss, or they wanted state regulation...to point to...” (14:55–16:26).

The Nexus of Contracts vs. Community of Practice

• Contracts: Legal relationships (e.g., employer-employee) insufficiently capture the interactive, evolving nature of workplaces.
• Community of Practice: Drawing from Lave & Wenger’s “Situated Learning”—workplaces are communities where newcomers and old-timers continually negotiate practices and norms.
  • “...every community is a combination of newcomers and old timers...people have very shifting understandings of how to solve problems together...” (11:20–12:19).

Navigating Risk and Collective Action

• Authority Structures: Especially in crisis (e.g., COVID), people want decisions handed down from above to absolve themselves from contentious roles.
• Complexity in Schools: Schools exemplify conflicting authority (school boards, principals, parents, unions), making collective action and decision-making especially fraught.
  • “...so many different ways in which democracy and autocratic decision making were getting structured and kind of lumped together to jostle with each other...” (24:22–25:09).

The Challenges of Collective Action

• Limited Stories of Solidarity: Gershon notes a surprising lack of collective workplace action; quitting was the dominant response to workplace dissatisfaction.
  • “Their first moment...was, ‘well, I can always quit.’ Quitting was the first political strategy—not, ‘oh, I can talk to my coworkers.’...” (37:02–38:45).

Distinctions in Authority and the Right to Exit

• Quitting as Agency: The freedom to leave replaces attempts at reform or solidarity.
• Analogy to Marriage and Private Government: The “right to exit” resonates with Anderson and Hirschman’s political theory, but economic realities constrain actual freedom.

Analogies between School Shooter Drills and COVID Protocols

• Teachers compared the existential risks posed by COVID to those of school shootings; both shifted the narrative of responsibility and sacrifice.
  • “In active shooter training, they were told how to sacrifice themselves for the children…In COVID, they were suddenly potentially the vectors; all of a sudden this shifted the ways in which they were supposed to be understanding risk…” (21:14–22:53).

The Allure of Small Business Ownership

• Alternative to Corporate Private Government: Small business/family business seen as an escape from corporate authority—though this is often more fantasy than reality.
  • “The fantasy is that the way out is to become the dealer down the road. Whether or not that's actually possible is a different story.” (42:30–42:49).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Changing Research Direction:
  “I always try to become a member of the Society for the Study of Boring Things...and then the pandemic happened...and then I realized, oh, I have a book on my hands.” (01:49–05:46)
• On American Attitudes Toward Authority:
  “How incredibly loaded it is in the United States to tell another person what to do. Now we tell each other what to do all the time, right. But it's still a very loaded act…” (14:55)
• On Committees & 'Fake' Workplace Democracy:
  “...people felt that the kinds of democracy they were experiencing in the workplace felt like fake democracy...the committee functioned as a black box…” (27:29–29:11)
• On Why Collective Action is Scarce:
  “Quitting was the first political strategy...not, ‘oh, I can talk to my coworkers...’” (37:02–38:45)
• On Small Business as a Political Fantasy:
  “...the fantasy is to be able to strike off on your own and, and, and tell other people what to do instead of being told what to do.” (41:36–42:30)

Important Timestamps & Segment Highlights

• [01:44–05:46] — Gershon’s research background and shift in focus due to pandemic
• [06:19–08:17] — Read-aloud of book passage: pandemic dilemmas, neoliberalism, and social contract thinking
• [08:36–10:57] — How the workplace became a substitute for civic engagement and a site for learning citizenship
• [11:07–14:39] — Discussion of workplaces as contracts vs. communities of practice; practical examples
• [14:55–17:56] — Authority, telling others what to do, and the loadedness of directive relationships in American culture
• [18:17–20:37] — Social and work contracts; negotiation in retail and institutional settings
• [21:14–23:42] — Teachers’ analogies between COVID protocols and school shooter training
• [24:22–25:49] — The complications of school decision-making: the role of multiple authorities and unions
• [27:29–29:11] — Workplace democracy as “fake democracy”; how workplace processes can feel opaque and frustrating
• [30:47–33:17] — Discussion of Elizabeth Anderson’s “private government” and how the pandemic highlighted differences in governance experience across workplace types
• [36:41–39:25] — The exit strategy: why quitting predominates over collective action
• [41:36–43:06] — Why small business ownership serves as an appealing but problematic alternative to corporate control

Flow and Style

The conversation is informal, highly analytical, and occasionally wry, as Gershon brings anthropological theory into close dialogue with the everyday struggles and revelations of pandemic-era workers. The host and co-host’s questions nudge out both theoretical insights and relatable stories, maintaining accessibility for a public audience.

Takeaways for Listeners

• The pandemic workplace became a key arena for Americans to negotiate ideas of authority, democracy, and the common good—often in ways that echoed and challenged national politics.
• Workplaces are not simply webs of legal contracts but dynamic, situational communities where power, responsibility, and belonging are continually re-negotiated.
• Americans’ discomfort with giving orders and preference for formal structures of authority (bosses, states, etc.) shaped responses to unprecedented crises.
• The dominant strategy for work dissatisfaction is exit (quitting), which can undercut chances for collective change or solidarity.
• Aspirations to escape by becoming small business owners reflect deeper desires for autonomy and control, even if rarely realized.

Closing

Ilana Gershon’s “The Pandemic Workplace” provides not only a chronicle of workplace change during COVID-19 but also a lens for understanding how democratic skills, attitudes toward authority, and visions of the common good are being reshaped at work. The discussion offers both practical anecdotes and theoretical depth for those grappling with the evolving landscape of work and citizenship.