James Livingston
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469630656
- eISBN:
- 9781469630670
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469630656.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
For centuries we’ve believed that work was where you learned discipline, initiative, honesty, self-reliance--in a word, character. A job was also, and not incidentally, the source of your income: if ...
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For centuries we’ve believed that work was where you learned discipline, initiative, honesty, self-reliance--in a word, character. A job was also, and not incidentally, the source of your income: if you didn’t work, you didn’t eat, or else you were stealing from someone. If only you worked hard, you could earn your way and maybe even make something of yourself.
In recent decades, through everyday experience, these beliefs have proven spectacularly false. In this book, James Livingston explains how and why Americans still cling to work as a solution rather than a problem--why it is that both liberals and conservatives announce that “full employment” is their goal when job creation is no longer a feasible solution for any problem, moral or economic. The result is a witty, stirring denunciation of the ways we think about why we labor, exhorting us to imagine a new way of finding meaning, character, and sustenance beyond our workaday world--and showing us that we can afford to leave that world behind.Less
For centuries we’ve believed that work was where you learned discipline, initiative, honesty, self-reliance--in a word, character. A job was also, and not incidentally, the source of your income: if you didn’t work, you didn’t eat, or else you were stealing from someone. If only you worked hard, you could earn your way and maybe even make something of yourself.
In recent decades, through everyday experience, these beliefs have proven spectacularly false. In this book, James Livingston explains how and why Americans still cling to work as a solution rather than a problem--why it is that both liberals and conservatives announce that “full employment” is their goal when job creation is no longer a feasible solution for any problem, moral or economic. The result is a witty, stirring denunciation of the ways we think about why we labor, exhorting us to imagine a new way of finding meaning, character, and sustenance beyond our workaday world--and showing us that we can afford to leave that world behind.
Benjamin René Jordan
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469627656
- eISBN:
- 9781469627670
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469627656.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
Contrary to works arguing that both Boy Scouting and mainstream American manhood emphasized primitive virility and martial aggression in the early twentieth century, this book demonstrates that the ...
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Contrary to works arguing that both Boy Scouting and mainstream American manhood emphasized primitive virility and martial aggression in the early twentieth century, this book demonstrates that the Boy Scouts of America widely promulgated a popular new construct of “modern manhood.” It combined nineteenth century men's virtues such as self-control and a diligent work ethic with the scientific efficiency, expert management, and hierarchical loyalty that boys in their adolescence and men needed to adapt to a rapidly urbanizing and industrializing society. Scout leaders utilized a scientific, constructive engagement with nature and natural resource conservation to teach members such values, and to partner with reformers and businessmen to advance a modern vision of “practical citizenship” and nonpartisan service leadership. The book analyzes a wealth of Scout texts and images, policy and membership debates, and local practices as well as surveys and memoirs of boys and leaders reflecting on their experiences in the 1910s and 1920s. By insisting that modern manhood and practical citizenship represented universal values while actively incorporating European immigrant Catholics, Jews, and labor unionists, BSA administrators helped redraw the bounds of mainstream American manhood and leading citizenship to include light-skinned, working class urban dwellers and corporate-industrial employees while marginalizing traditional rural farmers of all ethnicities.Less
Contrary to works arguing that both Boy Scouting and mainstream American manhood emphasized primitive virility and martial aggression in the early twentieth century, this book demonstrates that the Boy Scouts of America widely promulgated a popular new construct of “modern manhood.” It combined nineteenth century men's virtues such as self-control and a diligent work ethic with the scientific efficiency, expert management, and hierarchical loyalty that boys in their adolescence and men needed to adapt to a rapidly urbanizing and industrializing society. Scout leaders utilized a scientific, constructive engagement with nature and natural resource conservation to teach members such values, and to partner with reformers and businessmen to advance a modern vision of “practical citizenship” and nonpartisan service leadership. The book analyzes a wealth of Scout texts and images, policy and membership debates, and local practices as well as surveys and memoirs of boys and leaders reflecting on their experiences in the 1910s and 1920s. By insisting that modern manhood and practical citizenship represented universal values while actively incorporating European immigrant Catholics, Jews, and labor unionists, BSA administrators helped redraw the bounds of mainstream American manhood and leading citizenship to include light-skinned, working class urban dwellers and corporate-industrial employees while marginalizing traditional rural farmers of all ethnicities.
James A. Chamberlain
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501714863
- eISBN:
- 9781501714887
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501714863.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
This chapter sets up the argument of the book by disentangling three prominent themes on the meaning and value of work: the work ethic, independence, and citizenship. Existing analyses of these ...
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This chapter sets up the argument of the book by disentangling three prominent themes on the meaning and value of work: the work ethic, independence, and citizenship. Existing analyses of these narratives do not supply an exhaustive account of the political dimensions and normative force of paid work in contemporary society. In particular, they fail to show how work structures our social order as a whole. Chapter two takes up this argument further. Chapter one also discusses denaturalization and critique as the method and goal of the book, before setting out four primary ways in which the ideology and practices of work constrain freedom. It concludes with an overview of the remaining chapters.Less
This chapter sets up the argument of the book by disentangling three prominent themes on the meaning and value of work: the work ethic, independence, and citizenship. Existing analyses of these narratives do not supply an exhaustive account of the political dimensions and normative force of paid work in contemporary society. In particular, they fail to show how work structures our social order as a whole. Chapter two takes up this argument further. Chapter one also discusses denaturalization and critique as the method and goal of the book, before setting out four primary ways in which the ideology and practices of work constrain freedom. It concludes with an overview of the remaining chapters.
Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks and Eric Luis Uhlmann
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199985463
- eISBN:
- 9780199385607
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199985463.003.0006
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
America is an outlier nation in terms of its (a) impersonal approach to work, (b) valorization of work as an end-unto-itself, and (c) ethic of individual merit, all of which reflect the imprint left ...
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America is an outlier nation in terms of its (a) impersonal approach to work, (b) valorization of work as an end-unto-itself, and (c) ethic of individual merit, all of which reflect the imprint left by the founding Protestant communities. The American approach to workplace professionalism is organized around an interwoven and mutually reinforcing set of cultural politely impersonal workplace interactions. Also, in sharp contrast to many societies in which work serves a utilitarian function (e.g., earning money to support one’s family), American culture valorizes working beyond material reasons. Finally, America is an outlier in its commitment to individualism and faith in meritocracy, which reflects itself in both moral judgments and human resource policies. These highly distinctive orientations toward work hold important implications for the functioning of cross-cultural groups.Less
America is an outlier nation in terms of its (a) impersonal approach to work, (b) valorization of work as an end-unto-itself, and (c) ethic of individual merit, all of which reflect the imprint left by the founding Protestant communities. The American approach to workplace professionalism is organized around an interwoven and mutually reinforcing set of cultural politely impersonal workplace interactions. Also, in sharp contrast to many societies in which work serves a utilitarian function (e.g., earning money to support one’s family), American culture valorizes working beyond material reasons. Finally, America is an outlier in its commitment to individualism and faith in meritocracy, which reflects itself in both moral judgments and human resource policies. These highly distinctive orientations toward work hold important implications for the functioning of cross-cultural groups.
Benjamin René Jordan
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469627656
- eISBN:
- 9781469627670
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469627656.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
Chapter 2 argues that American officials and their Scout Handbook significantly modified the original British program and its Scout Laws and Scout Oath. American leaders replaced British Scouting’s ...
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Chapter 2 argues that American officials and their Scout Handbook significantly modified the original British program and its Scout Laws and Scout Oath. American leaders replaced British Scouting’s nineteenth century emphasis on self-made manhood and militarism with a modern character development system for adolescent boys that emphasized urban-industrial values such as scientific efficiency and cooperative loyalty to expert managers. American Boy Scout programming maintained some continuity with Victorian manhood’s productive work ethic, modesty, and self-discipline with its Laws on being thrifty and cheerful as well as its merit-based rank and badge tests and advancement program. Scout Laws on being courteous and helpful taught boy members to lead society through serving the community, while Laws on being clean and brave attempted to quarantine Boy Scouts from any demoralizing influences in a rapidly modernizing society.Less
Chapter 2 argues that American officials and their Scout Handbook significantly modified the original British program and its Scout Laws and Scout Oath. American leaders replaced British Scouting’s nineteenth century emphasis on self-made manhood and militarism with a modern character development system for adolescent boys that emphasized urban-industrial values such as scientific efficiency and cooperative loyalty to expert managers. American Boy Scout programming maintained some continuity with Victorian manhood’s productive work ethic, modesty, and self-discipline with its Laws on being thrifty and cheerful as well as its merit-based rank and badge tests and advancement program. Scout Laws on being courteous and helpful taught boy members to lead society through serving the community, while Laws on being clean and brave attempted to quarantine Boy Scouts from any demoralizing influences in a rapidly modernizing society.
James Livingston
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469630656
- eISBN:
- 9781469630670
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469630656.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
This chapter describes the intellectual history of full employment. It shows how the left of today has inherited its preoccupation with labor from Hegel. It shows how Americans continue to cling to ...
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This chapter describes the intellectual history of full employment. It shows how the left of today has inherited its preoccupation with labor from Hegel. It shows how Americans continue to cling to the Protestant Work Ethic.Less
This chapter describes the intellectual history of full employment. It shows how the left of today has inherited its preoccupation with labor from Hegel. It shows how Americans continue to cling to the Protestant Work Ethic.
Marian Barnes
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781847428233
- eISBN:
- 9781447307686
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847428233.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
In this chapter, Tronto and Fisher's inclusion of ‘the environment’ within the web of care is considered. It has potentially very broad implications, encompassing our relationships with the micro ...
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In this chapter, Tronto and Fisher's inclusion of ‘the environment’ within the web of care is considered. It has potentially very broad implications, encompassing our relationships with the micro environments in which we live, and the global level and the relationship of humanity to the planet on which we live. In addressing the relevance of care ethics to the relationships people have with the environments in which they live and work three different contexts are considered: a) Older people's relationships with the places in which they live – both their ‘own homes’ and the ‘homes’ to which they may move if they can no longer care for their own home. b) The design and maintenance of public spaces, whether these provide evidence of public bodies caring for their citizens and whether those using such spaces can care for others within them. c) The way in which work is organised and its impact on people's experience of being cared for and being able to care for others. – The argument is based in an understanding of space as relational.Less
In this chapter, Tronto and Fisher's inclusion of ‘the environment’ within the web of care is considered. It has potentially very broad implications, encompassing our relationships with the micro environments in which we live, and the global level and the relationship of humanity to the planet on which we live. In addressing the relevance of care ethics to the relationships people have with the environments in which they live and work three different contexts are considered: a) Older people's relationships with the places in which they live – both their ‘own homes’ and the ‘homes’ to which they may move if they can no longer care for their own home. b) The design and maintenance of public spaces, whether these provide evidence of public bodies caring for their citizens and whether those using such spaces can care for others within them. c) The way in which work is organised and its impact on people's experience of being cared for and being able to care for others. – The argument is based in an understanding of space as relational.
Vincenzo Ruggiero
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781447300014
- eISBN:
- 9781447307587
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447300014.003.0009
- Subject:
- Social Work, Crime and Justice
Vincenzo Ruggiero questions the centrality of Wacquant's account of the symbolic functions of punishment and argues that what is feared about the poor is less their criminal capacity than their ...
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Vincenzo Ruggiero questions the centrality of Wacquant's account of the symbolic functions of punishment and argues that what is feared about the poor is less their criminal capacity than their indolence. The claim is that it is not primarily a question of the criminality of the poor that leads to their criminalisation but their implicit challenge – just by being there – to the work ethic and exposure of the failure of capitalism to produce secure employment for all. Ruggiero refers to traditions of urban social theory - Walter Benjamin, and Henri Lefebvre on the design of the city to render invisible the ‘socially useless’. He also considers the role of disorder and resistance in the structuring of the cityLess
Vincenzo Ruggiero questions the centrality of Wacquant's account of the symbolic functions of punishment and argues that what is feared about the poor is less their criminal capacity than their indolence. The claim is that it is not primarily a question of the criminality of the poor that leads to their criminalisation but their implicit challenge – just by being there – to the work ethic and exposure of the failure of capitalism to produce secure employment for all. Ruggiero refers to traditions of urban social theory - Walter Benjamin, and Henri Lefebvre on the design of the city to render invisible the ‘socially useless’. He also considers the role of disorder and resistance in the structuring of the city
