What is the point of working? Is it purely to get a pay check at the end of the week? Is it something we enjoy doing? Is it something that makes a difference in the world? Is it a combination of some or all of these? I think the point of working is open for interpretation. In "Shop Class Soulcraft," there is a quote from Alexandre Kojève:
"The man who works recognizes his own product in the World that has actually been transformed by his work: he recognizes himself in it, he sees in it his own human reality, in it he discovers and reveals to others the objective reality of his humanity of the originally abstract and purely subjective idea he has of himself" (3).
We can relate this quote to the stories of Mike Lefevre and Lincoln James from Studs Terkel's Working. Lefevre is a laborer. He works long days, most day of the week, doing physical labor. Lefevre likes what he does because at the end of the day he can point to something and is able to say, "I made that." He says, "I'd like to make my imprint. My dodo bird. A mistake, mine. Let's say the whole building is nothing but red bricks. I'd like to have just the black one or the white one or the purple one" (xxxviii). Lefevre works to create something. He wants to be able to point something out to his kids to show them what he's done. He believes a purposeful mistake is good because it distinguishes what he has done personally, it shows him his work.
On the other hand, James works for more reasons than just being able to point to something. He says, "I like what I'm doing. I never been laid off in thirty-six years. I look forward to going to work. I'd be lost if I wasn't working" (112). Throughout his story, readers can obviously see he takes pride in his work but his purpose is so much more than just that. James works because it helps define who he is. Working gives him a purpose, a sense of direction. Without work, he doesn't know where he would be or what he would be doing.
I think there are many reasons to work and why people work is subject to the individual. Some things to think about: is work only meaningful when you can stand back and point out what you've done? Or is there fulfillment in knowing you've impacted someone's life? Or is it just as satisfying to do what you love for work, even if the financial element isn't as high as you'd like it to be? We've been talking about this throughout the entire course and I don't think there is an answer. It is completely subjective, in my opinion. What do you think?
Until next time...
Camille
In response to "The Return of Fair Pay?" article:
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that Aetna is raising the wages of it's lowest paid workers. This article discusses that it's not fair that people put in a full day of work and can barely live off of what they make from that. I think that is 100% true. A full day of work is a full day of work, regardless of what you're doing. Do I think some jobs should pay more than others? Absolutely. However, I do think it is important for everyone working full time to be able to live off their earnings. The article also discusses that companies "pay lavishly for talent on the high end" and that "they tend to treat frontline workers as disposable commodities." Bertolini is challenging this idea and I think that is wonderful.
Camille,
ReplyDeleteI think these are all interesting points. As an education major, I think helping people is very important in a job. But, that's subject to myself. In addition, I also get a kind of pathetic amount of satisfaction by having a task and completing it and just saying "hey, I did that" that could be anything. I could feel satisfied from alphabetizing some papers, as long as I completed a task.
Camille,
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that it is entirely rewarding to be able to look at something and know that you put in all of the hard work to accomplish. I also believe that's what keeps these men coming back to work every day, because they fall in love with accomplishing tasks and improving lives. For example, in my life, I've noticed every male regardless of age wants to accomplish a task and receive a feeling of success from it, exactly like these men. I know that these men are very closely related to me when I go to work for my father, and most likely represent the vast majority of men throughout America.
Camille,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your statement about or topic being subjective and that there really is no answer to the question. I could go on and on about what I think is right with the situation of work and money and reward, but in the long run everyone is going to have their opinion.
Art continues to be my foil! I enjoy every bit of this post EXCEPT the line about things being completely subjective. It's so tempting to say everything depends on the person, but that ain't true, is it? If you think of our class, we could safely say that most of us would be happier doing one kind of work over another (we'd be unlikely to sign up for the glue factory, for instance). Some things just have more value, no? The individual person isn't a nothing-burger in the decision, but the value of something isn't only based on our opinion. (And where do those opinions come from anyway?. . .)
ReplyDeleteAn old teacher of mine called this the Beatles-Kei$ha debate. While you can likely point me to someone who likes Kei$ha more than the Beatles, my teacher's point was that we need to be able to say, objectively, that the Beatles are better. If we throw our hands up and say everything's equal, aren't we ceding too much?
It's possible this is a genderist conundrum, so I'll change it to the Beatles-Maroon5 Conundrum and trademark it right here, right now.
Grade: 1/1
DW