Work Pray Code

A rich ethnography of Silicon Valley's elite. . . . Compelling stories. . . . While Work Pray Code centers on the corporate mindfulness initiatives for elite tech workers, Chen also takes moments to explore the impacts of these programs on larger issues. ---J.A. English-Lueck, Science Work Pray Code presents an extraordinarily fine-grained map of the traffic between religion and profit-seeking among Silicon Valley's elite. ---Fred Turner, Los Angeles Review of Books Fascinating. . . . Work Pray Code is at its best when Chen contextualizes the findings of her research within broader historical and sociological concepts, such as corporate maternalism, the constant productivity push, and reduced civic engagement. . . . her findings should interest (and perhaps alarm) anyone who cares about the health and growth of the American church. ---Dorcas Cheng-Tozun, Christianity Today A must-read for anyone interested in the rise of mindfulness in corporate culture, and anyone concerned with how Silicon Valley culture might be shaping and distorting modern ideas of the workplace and community-writ-large. ---Ravi Chandra, Psychology Today Chen reminds us that work is a fickle god, one that loves us only conditionally. She calls us back to genuine worship, to communities that care about us beyond what we can produce. ---Jonathan Tran, Christian Century Deeply researched ethnography. . . . [Chen's] analysis is at its most powerful in the sections where she lets us hear from the people who manage and deploy spirituality in the workplace. ---Anna Gibson, The Arts Fuse