A Brief History of Work

Historically speaking, the cultural

norm placing a positive moral value
on doing a good job is a relatively
recent development in our society.
 Working hard was not the norm for
Hebrew, classical, or medieval
cultures. It was not until the
Protestant Reformation that physical
labor became culturally acceptable
for all persons, even the wealthy.
 Traditional Judeo-Christian
beliefs state that sometime
after the dawn of creation, man
was placed in the Garden of
Eden "to work it and take care
of it." (Genesis 2:15)
The Greeks, like the Hebrews, regarded work as a
curse. The Greek word for work was ponos, taken
from the Latin poena, which meant sorrow.
 Philosophers such as Plato and
Aristotle made it clear that the
purpose for which the majority of
men labored was "in order that the
minority, the lite, might engage in
pure exercises of the mindart,
philosophy, and politics."
The Greeks believed that a person's
prudence, morality, and wisdom was
directly proportional to the amount
of leisure time that person had.
For the Romans, work was to be done
by slaves, and only two occupations
were suitable for a free man
agriculture and big business.
 With the Reformation, a period
of religious and political
upheaval in Western Europe
during the sixteenth century,
came a new perspective on work.
 Max Weber, the German economic
sociologist, coined the term the
"Protestant ethic." The key elements
were diligence, punctuality,
deferment of gratification, and
primacy of the work domain.
 From a Marxist view, what actually
occurred was the development of a
religious base of support for a new
industrial system which required
workers who would accept long hours
and poor working conditions.
 As time passed, attitudes and
beliefs which supported hard work
became secularized, and were woven
into the norms of Western culture,
as emphasized in the popular
writings of Benjamin Franklin.
 The early adventurers who first
found America were searching, not
for a place to work and build a new
land, but for a new Eden where
abundance and riches would allow
them to follow Aristotle's
instruction that leisure was the
only life fitting for a free man.
Visitors to the northern states
were perplexed by the lack of
dedication to a life of leisure.
 Work in pre-industrial America
was not incessant. The work of
agriculture was seasonal: hectic
during planting and harvesting but
more relaxed during the winter.
One of the central themes of the
work ethic was that an individual
could be the master of his own
fate through hard work.
As late as 1850 most American
manufacturing was still being
done in homes and workshops.
 In the early 1820's, Lowell,
Massachusetts witnessed the real
beginning of the industrial age in
America. By the end of the decade,
nineteen textile mills were in
operation in the city, and 5,000
workers were employed in the mills.
 In the factories, skill and
craftsmanship were replaced by
discipline and anonymity.
 The sense of control over one's
destiny was missing in the new
workplace, and the emptiness and
lack of intellectual stimulation in
work threatened the work ethic.
 By the end of World War II
behaviorists argued that workers
were adaptive. If the environment
failed to provide a challenge,
workers became lazy, but if
appropriate opportunities were
provided, workers would become
creative and motivated.
 Efforts were made to make people
feel important at work. Employee
awards were used by management to
enhance the job environment.
 In the late 1950's, factors such
as salary, company policies,
supervisory style, working
conditions, and relations with
fellow workers tended to impair
worker performance if inadequately
provided for, but did not
particularly improve worker
motivation when present.
 Just as the people of the mid-
nineteenth century encountered
tremendous cultural and social
change with the dawn of the
industrial age, the people of the
late twentieth century experienced
tremendous cultural and social
shifts with the advent of the
information age.
As high-discretion, information age
jobs provided opportunities for
greater self-expression by workers,
people began to find more self-
fulfillment in their work.
The knowledge workers, collectively,
are the new capitalists. Knowledge
has become the key resource, and the
only scarce one. This means that
knowledge workers collectively own
the means of production.
Knowledge workers need access to an
organizationa collective that
brings together an array of
knowledge workers and applies their
specialism to a common end-product.
Knowledge workers see themselves
as equal to those who retain
their services, as professionals
rather than employees. The
knowledge society is a society
of seniors and juniors rather
than bosses and subordinates.
The knowledge society is also the
first human society where upward
mobility is potentially unlimited.
Created on June 18, 2009 by Steven Stark
www.stevenstark.net

Text excerpted from Historical Context of the Work Ethic by

Roger B. Hill, Ph.D., 1996 and The Next Society: A Survey of
the Near Future, Peter Drucker, 2001.

Images were sourced at everystockphoto.com and

sharesomecandy.com and are used with attribution rights.