John McCormick
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199556212
- eISBN:
- 9780191721830
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199556212.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union, International Relations and Politics
This chapter focuses on European society, arguing that the European Social Model—while interesting as a reference point for analysis—is too driven by economic factors to shed as much light on ...
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This chapter focuses on European society, arguing that the European Social Model—while interesting as a reference point for analysis—is too driven by economic factors to shed as much light on European social norms as it might. The chapter instead focuses on four sets of issues that more directly bring out the social facets of Europeanism: the causes and consequences of Europe's declining population numbers, the changing definition of the European family (fewer marriages, fewer children, more children born outside marriage, and smaller households), the changing European work ethic with its emphasis on greater leisure and more enjoyment of the rewards of labour, and the nature of approaches to criminal justice. The chapter argues that Europeanism favours quality over quantity, and that Europeans are less focused on accumulation and consumption than on pursuing post‐modern objectives.Less
This chapter focuses on European society, arguing that the European Social Model—while interesting as a reference point for analysis—is too driven by economic factors to shed as much light on European social norms as it might. The chapter instead focuses on four sets of issues that more directly bring out the social facets of Europeanism: the causes and consequences of Europe's declining population numbers, the changing definition of the European family (fewer marriages, fewer children, more children born outside marriage, and smaller households), the changing European work ethic with its emphasis on greater leisure and more enjoyment of the rewards of labour, and the nature of approaches to criminal justice. The chapter argues that Europeanism favours quality over quantity, and that Europeans are less focused on accumulation and consumption than on pursuing post‐modern objectives.
Nancy P. Kropf
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394641
- eISBN:
- 9780199863365
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394641.003.0002
- Subject:
- Social Work, Communities and Organizations
This chapter introduces the values, ethics, and practices that comprise social work, and examines the profession's rich history of working to improve the lives of individuals and to create a more ...
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This chapter introduces the values, ethics, and practices that comprise social work, and examines the profession's rich history of working to improve the lives of individuals and to create a more just society. It includes a historical summary of some of the major events that have shaped the profession, and then explores ethics and values as the foundation of social work practice. The chapter also examines the proliferation of various social work contexts and roles, and some of the major concepts such as empowerment and resilience that are keys to contemporary social work. Finally the chapter turns to the future of social work and some of the issues that will shape the profession in coming years. It offers a way to appreciate how social work and restorative justice practices share some common ground, while maintaining unique practice positions.Less
This chapter introduces the values, ethics, and practices that comprise social work, and examines the profession's rich history of working to improve the lives of individuals and to create a more just society. It includes a historical summary of some of the major events that have shaped the profession, and then explores ethics and values as the foundation of social work practice. The chapter also examines the proliferation of various social work contexts and roles, and some of the major concepts such as empowerment and resilience that are keys to contemporary social work. Finally the chapter turns to the future of social work and some of the issues that will shape the profession in coming years. It offers a way to appreciate how social work and restorative justice practices share some common ground, while maintaining unique practice positions.
Eric Luis Uhlmann, T. Andrew Poehlman, and John A. Bargh
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195320916
- eISBN:
- 9780199869541
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320916.003.002
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
The judgments and actions of contemporary Americans reflect the implicit influence of America’s Puritan-Protestant heritage. Americans valorize individual merit, a residue of the Protestant emphasis ...
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The judgments and actions of contemporary Americans reflect the implicit influence of America’s Puritan-Protestant heritage. Americans valorize individual merit, a residue of the Protestant emphasis on a personal relationship with God and earthly rewards and punishments. The United States has remained deeply religious and traditional in the face of enormous prosperity, at least in part attributable to the founding influence of the Puritan-Protestants. Americans, but not members of comparison cultures, implicitly link work and divine salvation and display other judgmental biases consistent with implicit Puritanism. As predicted by theories of implicit social cognition, which hold that the influence of traditional cultural values is strongest at an implicit level, less religious and non-Protestant Americans are just as likely to display such effects as devout American Protestants.Less
The judgments and actions of contemporary Americans reflect the implicit influence of America’s Puritan-Protestant heritage. Americans valorize individual merit, a residue of the Protestant emphasis on a personal relationship with God and earthly rewards and punishments. The United States has remained deeply religious and traditional in the face of enormous prosperity, at least in part attributable to the founding influence of the Puritan-Protestants. Americans, but not members of comparison cultures, implicitly link work and divine salvation and display other judgmental biases consistent with implicit Puritanism. As predicted by theories of implicit social cognition, which hold that the influence of traditional cultural values is strongest at an implicit level, less religious and non-Protestant Americans are just as likely to display such effects as devout American Protestants.
William V. Spanos
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823268153
- eISBN:
- 9780823272464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823268153.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter constitutes a genealogy of the American nation-state and its vocation. It traces the origins of the American capitalist nation-state to the Puritan notion of “the calling”: the call from ...
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This chapter constitutes a genealogy of the American nation-state and its vocation. It traces the origins of the American capitalist nation-state to the Puritan notion of “the calling”: the call from a Higher Cause that, in giving an identity to the called, renders him/her Its obedient servant, or, in Louis Althusser's language, an interpellated—subjected—subject.Less
This chapter constitutes a genealogy of the American nation-state and its vocation. It traces the origins of the American capitalist nation-state to the Puritan notion of “the calling”: the call from a Higher Cause that, in giving an identity to the called, renders him/her Its obedient servant, or, in Louis Althusser's language, an interpellated—subjected—subject.
Juliet John
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199257928
- eISBN:
- 9780191594854
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199257928.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Chapter 5 acts as a fulcrum for the book, examining Dickens's attitudes to culture and the machine, looking forward to the importance of machines to Dickens's afterlives, and back to the real and ...
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Chapter 5 acts as a fulcrum for the book, examining Dickens's attitudes to culture and the machine, looking forward to the importance of machines to Dickens's afterlives, and back to the real and symbolic importance of machines in his own day. At the heart of the ambivalence about Dickens in literary criticism from his own day to ours is an association between Dickens's fictional work and the machine, informed by the opposition between the machine and the idea of culture influential in Victorian and subsequent cultural theory. This chapter argues that Dickens occupies a threshold position in cultural history, his aesthetics and philosophies informed by both a mechanical and an organicist conception of art that is more obvious outside the loud and therefore limiting oppositions of Hard Times. Walter Benjamin's classic essay, ‘The Work of Art in The Age of its Technical Reproducibility’ was revolutionary for its ability to think positively about the effects of ‘technical reproducibility’ or ‘mechanical reproduction’ on art, in ways that both illuminate and echo Dickens's working assumptions. The constructive use of mechanism is often linked in Dickens's writings to the work ethic, and figures largely in his depiction of cultural industry, particularly in David Copperfield. This chapter argues that in Dickens's writing and in his vision of writing, a ‘mechanical notion of interiority’, in which the mechanical constitutes not the opposite of feeling but a form of affect, is a recurring preoccupation.Less
Chapter 5 acts as a fulcrum for the book, examining Dickens's attitudes to culture and the machine, looking forward to the importance of machines to Dickens's afterlives, and back to the real and symbolic importance of machines in his own day. At the heart of the ambivalence about Dickens in literary criticism from his own day to ours is an association between Dickens's fictional work and the machine, informed by the opposition between the machine and the idea of culture influential in Victorian and subsequent cultural theory. This chapter argues that Dickens occupies a threshold position in cultural history, his aesthetics and philosophies informed by both a mechanical and an organicist conception of art that is more obvious outside the loud and therefore limiting oppositions of Hard Times. Walter Benjamin's classic essay, ‘The Work of Art in The Age of its Technical Reproducibility’ was revolutionary for its ability to think positively about the effects of ‘technical reproducibility’ or ‘mechanical reproduction’ on art, in ways that both illuminate and echo Dickens's working assumptions. The constructive use of mechanism is often linked in Dickens's writings to the work ethic, and figures largely in his depiction of cultural industry, particularly in David Copperfield. This chapter argues that in Dickens's writing and in his vision of writing, a ‘mechanical notion of interiority’, in which the mechanical constitutes not the opposite of feeling but a form of affect, is a recurring preoccupation.
Harold James
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153407
- eISBN:
- 9781400841868
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153407.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter sketches a portrait of Alfred Krupp. It describes how Alfred Krupp perfectly fits the mold of the heroic entrepreneur. Profoundly skeptical of joint-stock companies, banks, and ...
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This chapter sketches a portrait of Alfred Krupp. It describes how Alfred Krupp perfectly fits the mold of the heroic entrepreneur. Profoundly skeptical of joint-stock companies, banks, and capitalism in general, but also of big-scale science and modern research methods, he was a genius at extending to its utmost limits the possibilities of the craft entrepreneur. He developed an extraordinarily successful business model that allowed the principles of the small workshop to be extended on a gigantic and global scale. Moreover, the chapter credits him with a social philosophy which eventually created a community of Kruppianer, workers bound to the enterprise and the community by pride in the product of their labor.Less
This chapter sketches a portrait of Alfred Krupp. It describes how Alfred Krupp perfectly fits the mold of the heroic entrepreneur. Profoundly skeptical of joint-stock companies, banks, and capitalism in general, but also of big-scale science and modern research methods, he was a genius at extending to its utmost limits the possibilities of the craft entrepreneur. He developed an extraordinarily successful business model that allowed the principles of the small workshop to be extended on a gigantic and global scale. Moreover, the chapter credits him with a social philosophy which eventually created a community of Kruppianer, workers bound to the enterprise and the community by pride in the product of their labor.
Mariel Rose
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813034034
- eISBN:
- 9780813038261
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034034.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter addresses the migration of corporations into western North Carolina. It traces the transformation of the notion of a “mountain work ethic” in the Appalachian region surrounding ...
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This chapter addresses the migration of corporations into western North Carolina. It traces the transformation of the notion of a “mountain work ethic” in the Appalachian region surrounding Asheville, North Carolina. As foreign migration increased, native residents applied the notion of a work ethic to specific racial and ethnic groups.Less
This chapter addresses the migration of corporations into western North Carolina. It traces the transformation of the notion of a “mountain work ethic” in the Appalachian region surrounding Asheville, North Carolina. As foreign migration increased, native residents applied the notion of a work ethic to specific racial and ethnic groups.
MELISSA WALKER
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813124094
- eISBN:
- 9780813134789
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813124094.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter examines the experiences of rural people in the American South as they relate to the rural transformation and discusses their community of shared memory. It analyses the stories of ...
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This chapter examines the experiences of rural people in the American South as they relate to the rural transformation and discusses their community of shared memory. It analyses the stories of African American sharecropper Susie Weathersbee and white landowner Arthur Little from North Carolina. The findings suggest that rural southerners believed that particular elements of their lives made them different from those who did not live on the land, and their sense of shared identity remained remarkably consistent across generational and geographic lines. The result also indicate that they linked productivity with virtue and cooperation and a commitment to self-sufficiency, mutual aid, and a strong work ethic were central characteristics of their community of memory.Less
This chapter examines the experiences of rural people in the American South as they relate to the rural transformation and discusses their community of shared memory. It analyses the stories of African American sharecropper Susie Weathersbee and white landowner Arthur Little from North Carolina. The findings suggest that rural southerners believed that particular elements of their lives made them different from those who did not live on the land, and their sense of shared identity remained remarkably consistent across generational and geographic lines. The result also indicate that they linked productivity with virtue and cooperation and a commitment to self-sufficiency, mutual aid, and a strong work ethic were central characteristics of their community of memory.
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.
Ilaria Serra
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823226788
- eISBN:
- 9780823235032
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823226788.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
The writers of the autobiographies in this last chapter have achieved success as doctors, professors, or business people, so they belong to a different social class than ...
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The writers of the autobiographies in this last chapter have achieved success as doctors, professors, or business people, so they belong to a different social class than the rest of the immigrant autobiographers. All share the work ethic that defined earlier groups of Italian immigrants, but because of intelligence, luck, perseverance, or an indescribable mix of those and other qualities, they have gone on to varying degrees of what we would consider to be success—social, educational, and economic. They view the United States as a land of opportunity, but their standards and their achievements were on a different level from those of the average workers. The autobiographers in this chapter are the ones who are most aware of the tensions between the Italian self and the American society that will become the main topic for many Italian/American writers of second generation.Less
The writers of the autobiographies in this last chapter have achieved success as doctors, professors, or business people, so they belong to a different social class than the rest of the immigrant autobiographers. All share the work ethic that defined earlier groups of Italian immigrants, but because of intelligence, luck, perseverance, or an indescribable mix of those and other qualities, they have gone on to varying degrees of what we would consider to be success—social, educational, and economic. They view the United States as a land of opportunity, but their standards and their achievements were on a different level from those of the average workers. The autobiographers in this chapter are the ones who are most aware of the tensions between the Italian self and the American society that will become the main topic for many Italian/American writers of second generation.
Peter Demerath
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226142395
- eISBN:
- 9780226142425
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226142425.001.0001
- Subject:
- Education, Secondary Education
Middle- and upper-middle-class students continue to outpace those from less privileged backgrounds. Most attempts to redress this inequality focus on the issue of access to financial resources, but ...
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Middle- and upper-middle-class students continue to outpace those from less privileged backgrounds. Most attempts to redress this inequality focus on the issue of access to financial resources, but as this book makes clear, the problem goes beyond mere economics. The book examines a typical suburban American high school to explain how some students get ahead. The book's author undertook four years of research at a Midwestern high school to examine the mercilessly competitive culture that drives students to advance. The book reveals the many ways the community's ideology of achievement plays out: students hone their work ethics and employ various strategies to succeed, from negotiating with teachers to cheating; parents relentlessly push their children while manipulating school policies to help them get ahead; and administrators aid high performers in myriad ways, even naming over forty students “valedictorians.” Yet, as the book shows, this unswerving commitment to individual advancement takes its toll, leading to student stress and fatigue, incivility and vandalism, and the alienation of the less successful.Less
Middle- and upper-middle-class students continue to outpace those from less privileged backgrounds. Most attempts to redress this inequality focus on the issue of access to financial resources, but as this book makes clear, the problem goes beyond mere economics. The book examines a typical suburban American high school to explain how some students get ahead. The book's author undertook four years of research at a Midwestern high school to examine the mercilessly competitive culture that drives students to advance. The book reveals the many ways the community's ideology of achievement plays out: students hone their work ethics and employ various strategies to succeed, from negotiating with teachers to cheating; parents relentlessly push their children while manipulating school policies to help them get ahead; and administrators aid high performers in myriad ways, even naming over forty students “valedictorians.” Yet, as the book shows, this unswerving commitment to individual advancement takes its toll, leading to student stress and fatigue, incivility and vandalism, and the alienation of the less successful.
Max Engammare and Calvin Tams
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199751846
- eISBN:
- 9780199914562
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199751846.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Calvin's notorious passion for work, which led to the traditional association between Calvinism and industriousness, is in many ways a reflection of the humanist topos that was widely used by ...
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Calvin's notorious passion for work, which led to the traditional association between Calvinism and industriousness, is in many ways a reflection of the humanist topos that was widely used by Calvin's contemporaries. At the same time, however, there is no doubt that Calvin saw industriousness as a moral virtue and that his appetite for work was way above average.Less
Calvin's notorious passion for work, which led to the traditional association between Calvinism and industriousness, is in many ways a reflection of the humanist topos that was widely used by Calvin's contemporaries. At the same time, however, there is no doubt that Calvin saw industriousness as a moral virtue and that his appetite for work was way above average.
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:
- 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.
Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198846192
- eISBN:
- 9780191881350
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198846192.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Labour has been associated historically with a cluster of values, including individual security, self-development and freedom, social standing and recognition, and meaning. Insofar as these values ...
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Labour has been associated historically with a cluster of values, including individual security, self-development and freedom, social standing and recognition, and meaning. Insofar as these values are also relevant to animals, this suggests that we should seek to include animals into the world of labour. We should recognize that animals, as well as humans, are workers, and deserve access to the security, self-development, status, community, and purpose wrapped up in the role of being a worker. The reality, however, is that work life fails to deliver many of these goods, much of the time, for many people. Moreover, given technological development, there is no necessity for everyone to be a producer, and indeed the cultural expectation that everyone should be ‘productive’ is culturally pernicious and environmentally unsustainable. As a result, we see increasing discussion of a ‘post-work’ society. This chapter explores how animals fit into the emerging debate about the post-work society. It argues that animals can in fact be major beneficiaries of, and indeed exemplars of, this shift, engaging in socially beneficial activities that do not fit standard models of wage labour and economic production. Instead of bringing animals into our current work society, this chapter explores the possibility that animals could exemplify the ethics of a post-work world—one in which the values traditionally tied to ‘productive’ work are instead realized through new conceptions of community—being, doing, and taking care together.Less
Labour has been associated historically with a cluster of values, including individual security, self-development and freedom, social standing and recognition, and meaning. Insofar as these values are also relevant to animals, this suggests that we should seek to include animals into the world of labour. We should recognize that animals, as well as humans, are workers, and deserve access to the security, self-development, status, community, and purpose wrapped up in the role of being a worker. The reality, however, is that work life fails to deliver many of these goods, much of the time, for many people. Moreover, given technological development, there is no necessity for everyone to be a producer, and indeed the cultural expectation that everyone should be ‘productive’ is culturally pernicious and environmentally unsustainable. As a result, we see increasing discussion of a ‘post-work’ society. This chapter explores how animals fit into the emerging debate about the post-work society. It argues that animals can in fact be major beneficiaries of, and indeed exemplars of, this shift, engaging in socially beneficial activities that do not fit standard models of wage labour and economic production. Instead of bringing animals into our current work society, this chapter explores the possibility that animals could exemplify the ethics of a post-work world—one in which the values traditionally tied to ‘productive’ work are instead realized through new conceptions of community—being, doing, and taking care together.
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.
Christine Jeske
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781501752506
- eISBN:
- 9781501752537
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501752506.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Employment Law
This chapter looks at employment from the perspective of employers. It talks about their attempts to improve the lives of workers, and their frustrations that workers don't seem to behave as they ...
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This chapter looks at employment from the perspective of employers. It talks about their attempts to improve the lives of workers, and their frustrations that workers don't seem to behave as they want. It says that many employers are concerned about the supposed immoral behavior of employees as employers wanted hard-workers with what they called a “good work ethic.” The chapter talks about the phrase “hard-worker,” how it is used to describe the ideal worker, and how causes the myriad other possible reasons for behaviors that seemed like laziness to be overlooked. It discusses how relying on the laziness myth has left employers without feasible explanations for their workers' behavior.Less
This chapter looks at employment from the perspective of employers. It talks about their attempts to improve the lives of workers, and their frustrations that workers don't seem to behave as they want. It says that many employers are concerned about the supposed immoral behavior of employees as employers wanted hard-workers with what they called a “good work ethic.” The chapter talks about the phrase “hard-worker,” how it is used to describe the ideal worker, and how causes the myriad other possible reasons for behaviors that seemed like laziness to be overlooked. It discusses how relying on the laziness myth has left employers without feasible explanations for their workers' behavior.
Michael B. Boston
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813034737
- eISBN:
- 9780813038193
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034737.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter focuses on influences that helped to mold and shape those core values within Washington which are root to his entrepreneurial philosophy including organized system for working, the ...
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This chapter focuses on influences that helped to mold and shape those core values within Washington which are root to his entrepreneurial philosophy including organized system for working, the philosophy of labor, and high moral standards. The chapter analyses Washington's exposure to various environmental factors to underscore his core values. On one level, looking at the initial introduction to the Protestant work ethic and his exposure to business expansion in the South, help to underscore his core values. On another level, practical business influences on Washington are analyzed, such as his observation and evaluation of local and national entrepreneurs and his exposure to accounting methods and procedures.Less
This chapter focuses on influences that helped to mold and shape those core values within Washington which are root to his entrepreneurial philosophy including organized system for working, the philosophy of labor, and high moral standards. The chapter analyses Washington's exposure to various environmental factors to underscore his core values. On one level, looking at the initial introduction to the Protestant work ethic and his exposure to business expansion in the South, help to underscore his core values. On another level, practical business influences on Washington are analyzed, such as his observation and evaluation of local and national entrepreneurs and his exposure to accounting methods and procedures.
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.
Greg Goldberg
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781479829989
- eISBN:
- 9781479898046
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479829989.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter examines academic concerns that the leisurely façade of life online masks the economic exploitation of users, on whose backs companies like Facebook have amassed tremendous wealth. The ...
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This chapter examines academic concerns that the leisurely façade of life online masks the economic exploitation of users, on whose backs companies like Facebook have amassed tremendous wealth. The chapter also considers the related critique of what it terms “leisure-at-work,” as when creative-class employees engage in various kinds of play while at the office and with the consent of their employers. The chapter draws from the antisocial thesis in queer theory to argue that concerns about the exploitation of playbor and leisure-at-work are motivated by an underlying discomfort with forms of leisure and pleasure understood as self-indulgent and irresponsible, in an effort to call readers back to the social.Less
This chapter examines academic concerns that the leisurely façade of life online masks the economic exploitation of users, on whose backs companies like Facebook have amassed tremendous wealth. The chapter also considers the related critique of what it terms “leisure-at-work,” as when creative-class employees engage in various kinds of play while at the office and with the consent of their employers. The chapter draws from the antisocial thesis in queer theory to argue that concerns about the exploitation of playbor and leisure-at-work are motivated by an underlying discomfort with forms of leisure and pleasure understood as self-indulgent and irresponsible, in an effort to call readers back to the social.
