Is The Work Ethic Worn Out?

[VetLegion]

Is Himanen Finnish for He-Man? Anyway, I didn't know Pekka was a theorist of work ethic

[Spiffor]

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Gary
The world owes no one a living, so one should to do some work to pay for ones keep. But beyond that, there's no moral benefit in knocking yourself out. Use the rest of your time to do what you want. Of course, if you like working yourself into the ground ...

Wow, now that's a real blast from the past.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
People complain and get downright foul if I don't work 24/7.

Are these people going after the Darwin Award?

A tired doctor could be downright lethal!

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Dis
I don't want to get into the religious aspect of it, I know nothing of religion.

The motto now days is "dont' work too hard". And people always brag about how little work they do at work.

Yet... Americans are working more hours than ever (in the modern age since overtime rules were put into place). Vacation time is at it's lowest ever.

Even I have yet to take a vacation. Though I don't get any paid vacation or holidays. And I have no intention on taking vacation because of it. I lose out on too much money.

But I fail to see how hard work has anything to do with being a good christian or whatever.

You really ought to get another job or sort out your working conditions Dis. It may seem alright now, but two years down the line, it is going to really bug you...

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Spiffor

According to Pekka Himanen, yes they were. The religion depicted work as a curse instead of a blessing, and there was no religious/ideological incentive to do more than the daily toil.

Besides, wealth was typically frowned upon in catholic countries (to the point that such dirty jobs as usury were left to the Jews and forbidden to Christians), so the accumulation of capital was not a priority either.

I'm not a Calvinist, yet I don't recall ever being told that work is a curse. Maybe this Pekka Himanen doesn't know what he's talking about. AFAIK the ideology of modern capitalism arose simultaneously in Calvinist Netherlands and non-Calvinist England.

[Spiffor]

I was talking about catholics.

The frequent idea is that protestantism as a whole promoted strong work ethics, unlike catholicism. Weber gave a particular attention to Calvinists, but his reference book is still titled the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

There's a reason he wasn't only talking about the Calvinistic ethics.

[axi]

Catholicism (as well as Orthodox Christianity, btw) is a much more conservative doctrine than the Protestant ones. Yet it is most suited to the more traditional/agricultural societies of Southern Europe, where hard work was not an economic need. Farmers did specific hard work during certain periods of time and then sat idling for a big part of the year. Their dividend depended on mother nature and on the prices they got. This means that more work was not always better, neither for the serf, nor for the landowner.

On the other hand, these people were frequently submitted to severe shortages, even famines, whereas during the better days all the surplus was witheld by the landowners. So the serfs should have to be mentally trained to live ascetically and endure, not to demand much. This is why the tradition of lent is observed. If these societies were bred with the protestant work ethic, every famine would bring huge uprisings (not that there weren't any). The farmers might even demand to be duly compensated for their work, regardless of the output of the land, which would be disastrous for the landowning gentry.