The Invention of Work in Modernity: Hegel, Marx, and Weber

Abstract

In the modern era, a wide range of human activities has been redefined as work. This essay traces a genealogy of the modern conception of work, from early Protestant ethic of work as worship of God, through secularization of this ethic and the emergence of the idea of progress, to the later model of work as personal duty and source of stability. Analyzing Hegel, Marx, and Weber's interpretations of the growing centrality of work in the modern epoch, as well as later reflections on these interpretations by Kojève, Arendt, and Foucault, the paper argues that in modernity work is no longer a mere instrument of power and tool for repressing human life, but a mode of power of its own accord: a privileged means of shaping life by cultivating and regulating its productive potential. Modern society is reorganized according to the principles of productivity, efficiency, and economic welfare of population as a whole that recalibrate individual existence and posit virtually all activities as a form of work.

Rethinking Remote Work, Automated Technologies, Meaningful Work and the Future of Work: Making a Case for Relationality

“…In Karl Marx’s work, some elements of the conventional notion of work involve transforming the natural world, leading to the materialisation and actualisation of human needs (Marx, 1867 [2004]). In this sense, work became an important aspect of human existence (Engels, 1876 [1950]); therefore, work has become “a social value and organising principles of modern ‘material life’” (Just, 2014 :446).…”

Productive Bodies, Docile Women and Violence

“…Early roots of this focus on productivity as a moral value can be found in Weber's exploration of the 'Protestant work ethic' (Weber 2001(Weber [1930), the idea that just as priests and caring professionals are deemed to have a vocation (or "calling" from God) for their work, 'the lowly workman' also has a noble vocation which he can fulfil through dedication to his work. Just (2017) emphasises how "against the medieval view of work as unavoidable necessity, and hence something not to be praised in itself, Protestants introduced work as a virtue and waste of time as a deadly sin" (Just 2017, 2). He goes on to stress that this idea of "work as God's calling, a commandment to work for the divine glory with an ever-increasing success" (Just 2017, 3) has far-reaching social and psychological consequences for modernity.…”

“…Just (2017) emphasises how "against the medieval view of work as unavoidable necessity, and hence something not to be praised in itself, Protestants introduced work as a virtue and waste of time as a deadly sin" (Just 2017, 2). He goes on to stress that this idea of "work as God's calling, a commandment to work for the divine glory with an ever-increasing success" (Just 2017, 3) has far-reaching social and psychological consequences for modernity. As Barrington Moore highlights, in the nineteenth century working regularly and scrupulously was still the keystone of a lifestyle that was deemed moral, and thus good, because it was rational and methodical (Moore 1998, 39).…”

A Biopolitics of Immaterial Labor

“…Foucault and Agamben agree: by the time of biopower all human doing has turned into praxis (concrete productive activity) anchored in work (the taking care of biological life), with people becoming producers who master their surroundings by working and who create themselves through work. The important point is not only how, but also that people in the modern era have been made into workers and work into an unquestioned value (Just, forthcoming).…”