Globalizing Americana: Part 6

Americana and the Philosophy of Work

Between 9 am and 5 pm, Monday through Friday, neighborhoods throughout the United States vacate as a procession of workers begin their weekly commute. As simple as this may seem, the 40-hour work week drives America’s economy. It is through this exchange of labor for capital that Americana conditions a national workforce to the importance of labor.

American culture, then, is inextricably tied to labor. We are a culture of laborers and Americana habituates its citizens to the necessity of work. We are a culture of workers and therefore any attempt to understand Americana must be met by an equal attempt to understand how Americans work.

Generally stated, a philosophy of work is an attempt to locate the essential conditions wherein work is meaningful. In discussing how a culture goes to work and how their effort to work is meaningful, one must take note of the concept.

It is argued that either laborers work as a means of exchanging their labor for capital, or in certain instances they work for the sheer satisfaction of working. Note, I am here not taking into account forced or enslaved labor. In discussing Americana, the vast majority of the population has to work because of an acute sense of economic necessity, that is, they work because they have to. Generally speaking, only the very wealthy or those who have retired have the “luxury” of working for its sheer satisfaction. I emphasize “luxury” because such emphasis presupposes the value of leisure, something I will return to later in the discussion.

Now, if it is assumed that the population can be divided into those who work out of necessity and those who work for the sheer satisfaction of working, one may then begin a more in-depth analysis of work within Americana.

To assert that the vast majority of the American labor force works because of a necessity to work suggests that without employment many, if not all, of these laborers, would inevitably lose their possessions and their standards of living. In actuality, the loss of a possession — especially if that possession is a home, which for the vast majority of Americans will be their largest purchase — is typically devastating.

Article Author: Jason J. Campbell

My name is Dr. Jason J. Campbell. I am an educator and a blogger. I am currently an Assistant Professor of Conflict Resolution and Philosophy at Nova Southeastern University. I hope you enjoy my articles.

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