Making work progressive

by | Dec 12, 2017 | Features, Politics | 11 comments

Liberalism has long had an ambivalent orientation toward work. The liberal sensibility recoils from judgment. This inclusive outlook cannot abide a division between industrious and idle citizens. As an alternative, liberals have preferred an ethic of social welfare.

The liberal focus on care represents a humane stand they can be proud of. But it has also been a persistent political problem. Americans of all races consider work to the be the foundation of their aspirations. Liberals, with their lukewarm enthusiasm toward work, seemed out of touch with this central commitment. And that disconnect signaled a broader untrustworthiness on the politics of virtue.

In the Trump era, liberals must embrace work as a social value. We cannot allow Republicans to sell the slur that work is for conservative whites only. We need, instead, to develop a progressive work ethic. Work could redefine liberalism as, like it was during the New Deal, an exponent of the American consensus.

How would it look? A progressive work ethic would emphasize labor as a positive aspiration. When it is well structured, work provides life with meaning and direction. It is how everyone, even the most marginalized, stakes their claim to self-respect. Work is how we improve society. By building a world of work that is respectful, safe and just, we can revitalize a sphere of human enrichment.

The progressive work ethic should drive Democratic Party policy. Democrats will continue to defend means-tested social programs. But new proposals should center on creating more jobs at better pay, like Rep. Ro Khanna’s $1 trillion Earned Income Tax Credit expansion and Prof. Joseph Stiglitz’ jobs-based corporate tax reform. We can frame progressive governance as an auxiliary to individual ambition and fulfillment.

American liberals have done best when they’ve made change seem like the logical conclusion of American principles. From Walmart workers to office-park professionals, Americans believe in work. Liberals must make that belief their own.

11 Comments

  1. James

    This entire premise reeks of the same sentiment that breeds notions like “Black people should just comply with police instructions” or “Why doesn’t she just leave that abusive husband?” or, in keeping with the season, “Are there no workhouses?”.

    The truth is that about 80% of the those receiving some form of assistance and are able to work are in work. It may not be high paying work, and it is rarely glamorous, but it is above all else honest work. It simply isn’t enough to keep the wolf form the door. The further truth is that the majority of beneficiaries of social welfare programs are white, rural, and self-described conservatives. And perhaps it is this disconnect that makes them so angry. Or maybe it’s simply projection.

  2. Frank Heitmann

    I am leaving what I think of as a “shotgun” response (vs. targeted), so please consider:

    Yesterday my social work student did not know what the AFL-CIO was.
    Answered “the American Football League?”

    I always tell my students, patients and anyone who will listen that we’ve embarked on a never before performed experiment, only begun circa 1950: having many people lived beyond age 45: and there is no real planning to account for this.

    In the interest of respecting the viewers intelligence, I am not going to list the multitude of correlations, but in regard to this topic, there is no plan to adjust “work” in conjunction with the competencies (and connected education and raw intelligence, especially those with less thereof) that are needed going forward.

    Many years I go I read a science fiction story in which the lot of the poor was to consume: they had mansions, had to eat 10 meals a day, wear out clothing and objects as quickly as possible, be served by a plethora of robot servants, and tumbled into bed exhausted from the effort. The protagonist envied his in-laws (he’d married ‘up’) who lived in a more humble house, with an unhurried life. [The author’s solution? The protagonist hit on the idea to have those robots use everything up.]

  3. Christopher Lizak

    Where have I heard this kind of thing before?

    Oh yes, now I remember: “Arbeit Macht Frei”

    The idea that human beings have intrinsic value – as opposed to being only valuable in as much as they are productive – is central to the Christian ethic and philosophy. Yet we surrender this moral high ground to the supposedly-Christian GOP ever chance we get.

  4. MyTurnNC

    Think how many good jobs could be created by diverting some of the surplus work force in to senior and child care. Work that produces healthy, well educated and well cared for children should be just as valuable or more valuable than producing gadgets. Caring for seniors who need it, creating a safe and secure environment for those too old or disabled to work is valuable as well. Society has many needs. Not everyone can care for seniors and/or children but many can. We just have to do some redefining of the value of work in areas of need.
    This is just one example of where surplus labor can find meaningful and socially valuable work.

  5. Tom

    Before putting this down as silly, it would be helpful to have several examples of liberal leaders ‘s statements of lack of “warmth” or enthusiasm for work. Perhaps that architect of social welfare policy the Duke of Lauenburg (Otto von Bismarck to some) was not keen on work and was is now revealed as a closet liberal I suppose.

  6. Randell Hersom

    Yes. As we reverse the effects of rampant influence peddling and reduce income equality it is very important to make sure that the reward system provides plenty of incentive for productive work. We also need the reward system to provide incentives for corporations that act in the public interest. Right now the largest mega-corporations are much further out of line than the average American family which contains children and elderly which are not expected to put food on the table, and other family members who are. It just doesn’t make sense to keep tightening the screws on the breadwinners to “make sure they work”. That is in effect economic warfare toward the end of economic slavery. This is by no means every corporation, but it is the goal of the Koch Brothers who are demanding that the Republicans pass this criminal enterprise of a “Tax Reform” package, and then pillage Social Security and Medicare afterward.

    • Norma Munn

      Especially like your description of the “Tax Reform” package. Nicely put and very accurate.

    • Randell Hersom

      Please edit to “reduce income inequality”. very much the whole point.

  7. Ellen Jefferies

    this post and the preceeding comment all seem to not understand that the woeld as it is becoming is not going to be ablee to provide “work” for everyone. This is a combination of increasing population which we sem unable to control, and technology taking over, which appears uncontrollable also.

    What are we going to do when thwre are 2 bodies for every job????

    • Norma Munn

      You are right. Thanks for the reminder. A poor education will mean even fewer options. On the other hand, I remember when computers were going to make so much of our daily work less. That is not the whole story as it turns out, but I am less sanguine about what AI will bring.

  8. Norma Munn

    I don’t know any progressive or liberal person, and have never known one, who subscribes to the theory of “work” as you describe it. What I do know is that poorly paid and physically hard work rarely provides the pride or self respect essential to all of us. The reason is not hard to figure out. The value of work is measured almost always by the size of the paycheck. If we all paid more for waiters, lawn care, store clerks, etc., we might actually feel genuine respect for those people. Doubtless they would have more self respect if they could support themselves and/or their families without needing food pantries, donations for Xmas from churches and caring people in their community, medical clinics instead of a personal doctor, or having their children sign up for free school lunches.

    Whether the solutions you outline are the best we can do is an open question. “More jobs at better pay” is pretty obviously an improvement, but it does not address the existing wage problems for current jobs. I also think that after several decades of a wide decline in public education standards, there are at least three or four generations of a large segment of our population who may not be able to move into “better” jobs. Not all, but enough to be an issue. AND, unless we address very early childhood intervention, their children will also most often be limited.

    I will take almost any serious effort toward the goals you describe, but given the current Congress and the states with GOP in control, I won’t hold my breath.

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