One thing that’s changed since the seventies is Thatcherism (or neoliberalism or plutocracy or whatever name you want to give it; be suspicious that something so distinct and rampant is so resistant to being named). In a single generation, we’ve absorbed the message that working hard for someone is the source of all moral worth, and yet ascribing value to your own labor is evil socialism.
It’s toxic for everyone, but if you’re doing creative work you’re fucked two ways, because not only are you expected to beg for your job daily, you also can’t do anything less than the best work you’re capable of, even if you’re being paid little or nothing to do it.
Of course, there’s also the other kind of working for free, where your friends and family think that because you enjoy doing something for yourself, you’ll enjoy doing it for them. That’ll always happen; you just have to explain to people how it works.
