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Article: Haunted house: the `work ethic' was bad enough, says Zygmunt Bauman. But its ghost is even worse.
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- April 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WHENEVER you hear talk about `ethics' you can be pretty sure that someone somewhere is dissatisfied with the way other people are behaving and would rather they behaved differently. This is especially true in the case of the notorious `work ethic'.
Since its emergence in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, the work ethic has served politicians, philosophers and preachers by removing the obstacles to the brave new world they envisaged.
The main obstacle was the basic human inclination to do no more than satisfy one's needs. Why work more than necessary? the individual might ask. For more money? There are so many other worthwhile things to do of ...