History of Work Ethic

Ancient Rome was split into two classes: the aristocrats, known as the patricians, and the lower class, known as the plebeians. They lived harmoniously alongside each other for a while, but after Rome began to rise from it’s ashes the plebeians became resentful and decided to take action. To fully understand the degree of their anger some light needs to be shined on their situation, and how the patricians treated them.

The prospect of labor to earn money is a blessing for many people in the world. In the essay, “Work Is a Blessing” by Russel Honoré, the author makes a point that this prospect is vital for survival. Honoré starts his essay with a story from his past: “We grew cotton, sugar cane, corn, hogs, chickens and had a large garden, but it didn't bring in much cash. So when I was 12, I got a part-time job on a dairy farm down the road, helping to milk cows” (79). Readers can immediately infer that even if Honoré hated the job, it allowed him to help his family.

This is more representative of the European’s view of work than of Marlow’s. The Europeans believe that work is something for slaves and people who aren’t as privileged as they are.

We currently live in a market society that is completely different from past societies. In market society, the society is a system of self-regulating market as a whole (Polanyi 43). People are needed to act and think in particular ways for the market society to function (Polanyi 68). For instance, people in market society believe that economic relations are more needed than interpersonal relations (Polanyi 44). Polanyi calls the emergence of market society “the great transformation”. My thesis is the change to market society is a fundamental transformation due to market society being characterized by self-regulation, fictitious commodities and an emphasis on individuals, which are considerably different from past societies. A number of the differences that take place under the workplace in the system of market society will also be shown. Furthermore, the thoughts that people have about the world in market society will be explained by pointing out the association between the “spirit of capitalism” and the “protestant work ethic”. Lastly, the reasons why these ideological conditions are essential to the emergence of market society will be provided.

Wealth causes people to ask the question “How much is too much?” Aristotle believed a person could have too much wealth. He believes it is more important to buy leisure time than inanimate objects. Too much wealth leads a person away from happiness according to Aristotle. Honor is something some people have great amounts of, while others have very little. It is good to be honored and respected in life. Some people, such as political leaders and even actors and actresses are honored more than others. Being overly honored can also cause people to be unhappy since most honored people have people who despise and resent them. Aristotle came to the conclusion that it is far better to be honorable than honored. This brings up the final quality of happiness, EXCELLENCE. This quality is key for human’s pursuit of happiness. Aristotle believes in personal happiness and when defining virtue itself, he used the word “excellence.”

It is evident that there are many subjects and controversies that one could choose to discuss, but the conversation of who actually put forth more work than the other is pretty significant. Many people believe that it was the Robber Barons that did all of the work in the businesses that made them what they were, but this essay is here for your sake to hopefully help those who believe this that not only was is the laborer that did all the work, but they created the very essence of what business and working conditioner should look like. The business laborers of the 19th century were put through hell to try to please the man that controlled the entire company; there were many unfair working conditions that workers faced, and many children whose school education was put

Between 1860 and the 1910 the United States population tripled. Because of this, industry was in high demand for skilled and unskilled workers, and the abundance of immigrants helped keep it supplied. This helped the empowerment of bosses of the leading industries the Unites States. Working in a 17th century factory did not have ideal working conditions, on average, a 12 hour work day was not uncommon, as well as child labor. Often time’s, factory owners neglected worker rights and safety in factories leading to accidents, such as chopped off fingers, and other injuries without compensation. If a worker was seriously injured or refused to work they were gladly replaced with another.

The certain morality of the lawful pursuit of wealth gives businessmen both a clear conscience and the ability to employ motivated workers who themselves constantly labor for the glory of God. The businessmen’s conscience is further cleared by the thought that the unequal distribution of goods is part of God’s plan – it is God’s secret choice to bestow grace as he wishes. The workers “calling”, in contrast, is to labor regardless of the wage, striving to glorify God and secure status as the elect. The ascetic lifestyle of a poor worker is also glorified, as the worker lives as the apostles once did. The attitudes of both the businessmen and the worker in the modern economic relationship naturally flow from ascetic Protestantism.

In Daniel Rodgers' The Work Ethic in Industrial America 1850-1920, he follows the shift in meaning associated with the northern middle class American work ethic, from the primarily agrarian pre-Civil War era to post-WWI. One of the topics

In their studies of human behaviour a group of psychologists looked at how Weber’s theories outlined in the Protestant Work Ethic apply to the beliefs of conservative Americans. They discovered that many of the values were intertwined with and followed onto similar beliefs; their experiment found that “hard work yields desirable outcomes and anti-leisure predicted belief in a just world; the dimensions of centrality of work and anti-leisure attitudes predicted social dominance; and the dimensions of morality/ethics, self-reliance, anti-leisure predicted right-wing authoritarianism.” (Christopher et al. 2008) These results are interesting and undoubtedly explain how the values of Protestantism have formed political and economic values in conservative circles. Some of the ideas that arise from this line of thinking are that socio-economic status is due to one’s own merits; that if you work hard enough God will bless you with spiritual and financial success; and, leading on from this, that welfare is not only a crutch for the lazy and incompetent but it actually circumvents god’s will. This type of thinking ignores systematic disadvatages faced by minorities and the poor by saying there is an even playing field in which anyone can succeed if they try hard enough. The values of Protestant Christianity are clearly highly useful for supporting and scaffolding

Throughout history, the value and expectations of women have constantly changed. The Roman empire, which began during the first century B.C.E., possessed a patriarchal framework of society that created many expectations for the women of Rome by men. Roman men dictated the expectations of women’s behavior. During the course of the Roman empire, the behavior of women was catered towards the interests of men due to the intense expectations that were pressed upon women by men.

Aristotle lists honor, pleasure, and wealth as the things believed to make humans happy. He believed that because honor could be easily taken away it was superficial and that pleasure, although enjoyable, was merely an “animal like quality”. Wealth was described as a vehicle to achieve greater status. The moderation of the three vices could be achieved but would not, in-itself produce or guarantee eudaimonia. Instead, Aristotle was of the opinion that wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice, would better lead person to happiness.

This is a case study on A New Work Ethic written by James Sheehy a human resources manager. According to the Business Dictionary (2011) ethic is define as the basic concepts and fundamental principles of right human conduct. It includes study of universal values such as the essential equality of all men and women, human or natural rights, obedience to the law of land, concern for health and safety and, increasingly, also for the natural environment.

Epictetus emphasized that people should not worry over what they cannot control; they should concentrate on their behaviors they can control and change. Focusing on the negatives is not helpful. Spending time yearning for what someone else has is pointless. There are people born into wealth and others are born into poverty and this cannot be controlled. Epictetus recognized that whatever occupation someone chose was their decision; but they should do proudly and competently whatever they choose (283). For example, if a person wants to start their own business, Epictetus tells

Work takes on greater importance in a society where people believe that they can master the material world and shape their own destinies, and less where they believe that they can not. An Ancient Greek philosopher said that the only stability in the world was within one's mind or soul, where ideas were secure from the unending changes that took place in the material world. In Ancient Greece, philosophers believed that a person's thoughts and ideas were more important than that person's work and that work in the material world lacked permanence. For the ancient Greeks, the status of particular occupations depended on the degree of freedom a person had, the perceived moral integrity of the occupation, and the amount of mental and physical work it required. Today we tend to feel that working in an office is better than working in a coal mine, regardless of which worker makes more money. Our language suggests that it is a privilege to work sitting down.