The Anxiety Economy ,from《Economist》.docVIP

The Anxiety Economy: Why the Future of Work Will Be All About Stress MAY 7 2012, 12:59 PM ET 63 (But dont stress out. Its a good thing.) I want a wantologist. On Sunday, I learned that a wantologist -- what, you dont have one? -- is somebody paid to figure out what you want. Arlie Russell Hochschild, writing in the New York Times, quotes Katherine Ziegler, wantologist, helping a client to figure out what it is that she wants. The conversation went something like this: What do you want? A bigger house. How would you feel if you lived in a bigger house? Peaceful. What other things make you feel peaceful? Walks by the ocean. Do you ever take walks nearer where you live that remind you of the ocean? Certain ones, yes. What do you like about those walks? I hear the sound of water and feel surrounded by green. After realizing that the thing she wanted wasnt a bigger house so much as the thing a bigger house would afford -- peace of mind -- the client built a little room filled with green plants. This decision no doubt saved many tens of thousands of dollars in the process, depending on the price of the plants. The wantologist earned her salary. *** Two generations ago, there was no such thing as a wantologist, a dating company, a nameologist, a life coach, a party animator, or a paid graveside visitor, Hochschild informs us. Today, theyre everywhere. Is that bad? Hochschild claims it is. She predicts that were entering a dark age of emotional emptiness. We, an anxious people, work harder and harder to afford the salaries of people to make us less anxious, which ironically deprives us of family time, which makes us more anxious. Apparently, paying people for emotional and psychological needs is turning us into emotional psychos. Maybe shes right. I see it the other way. I think wantology sounds pretty great. I love party animators. I dont currently employ a life coach, but I like knowing I could, in the future. Rather than mark the beginning of something truly