I’ve heard a similar logic used to explain why nurses wages are so low in Finland:
“It’s not a job, it’s a calling!”
You can’t pay rent with that warm feeling you get from following your calling…
oh yeah this happens a lot with scientists all over the world. We aren’t paid nearly enough (sometimes not at all) because science is “a calling” or something we “love to do”. And we do! We love it! But we should get paid to do research – even when we have scholarships, we no worker’s rights whatsoever. No vacations, no paid leave, no health insurance. We are considered “students” even if we are taking no classes at all and are in fact teaching, tutoring and researching.
People will say “they don’t do it for the money, they do it for passion” to justify underpaying people in one breath and then say “we can’t just give people enough to live, no one would work!” with the next and not see the contradiction
