The Meaning and Value of Work Chapter Five

1. The Meaning and Value of WorkChapter Five Jerry Estenson

2. Some question to start our thinking about work Is work simply a means to an end? Is work itself possibly an end rather than a means? What responsibilities does an employer have in this discussion?

3. For what it is worth There is a calculus related to freedom, work and debt Low debt = greater degrees of freedom

4. The Protestant work ethic Genesis, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Benjamin Franklin Work and the acquisition of wealth focus human attention away from mischief toward conducting a worthwhile life

5. The Meaning of Work How we think about work shapes our understanding of work. (Attitude counts big time) Work defined: Perseverance, discipline, toil, serious, concentration. (add to the list) Is work only an exchange for wages?

6. Different views Job � a role one steps into Career � a path for development Calling � Who you are is determined fully by what you do. Not morally inseperable

7. Value of Work

8. Instrumental value of work Attain income Psychic good � personal satisfaction, self-worth, happiness, achievement Social good � We are social beings (Aristotle and need: social status, honor, respect, companionship, and camaraderie Importance to community

9. Douglas McGregor Survival Security Acceptance by others Association with others Friendship Self-Esteem Status Respect Outlet for creativity Self-development

10. Do people have a moral and legal right to a job?

11. Views of Work Conventional - Classic Work does violence to the human spirit (Stud Terkel) Greek�s work should be avoided so that people pursue a life contemplation, art, politics, and culture Human�s are intellectual being but work is physical Work is glorified reducing human vitality

12. Conventional - Hedonistic Work is the price we pay to get the things that make life enjoyable Work allows us to get what we want Work is a means to our individually defined ends

13. Human Fulfillment Telos (Human Potential) Teleological ethics � Life is to be spent developing and fulfilling our potential What is lost if we do not work Perseverance Diligence Concentration

14. When people do not work Lazy Careless Apathetic Destruction of community Valliant�s study (willingness and capacity to work childhood is a strong predictor of good mental health as an adult) Big question revolves around the worker shaping work and work shaping worker

15. Nature of work Karl Marx Alienation Results when work prevents the full development of human potential by separating worker from final product, from the creative process, and from connection with each other Not Cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I am) Laboro ergo sum (I work therefore I am)

16. Liberal Model Relationship between work and the workers ability to make free and autonomous choices about work Bowie (If people are compelled to work the greater the employers responsibility to ensure that workplaces are humane as possible) Primary goods required in the workplace to provide rights related to: Autonomy Rationality Physical and mental health

17. In Sum Employer obligation to: Allow for participation Provide due process Provide Healthy and safe working conditions Fair wages Fair benefits Training and education Privacy Highly routinized work is OK if people choose the work free of external constraints