American Work Values: Their Origin and DevelopmentSUNY Press, 1997 M01 1 - 368 pages American Work Values: Their Origin and Development examines the broad shifts in American work values from their European origins to the present. It analyzes shifts from work as salvation to work as opportunity and alienation, and concludes with a more recent focus on self-fulfilling employment in a context of industrial downsizing. Beginning with the Lutheran-Calvinist support of work for the glory of God, the book's focus shifts to the change in work values that occurred from early industrialization in America to the end of the Great Depression, a period characterized by both opportunity and alienation. The modern trends that followed led to the empowerment of employees even as that empowerment tested the values of such participation in a climate of rampant downsizing. The book also deals with the debates related to work and welfare that simmered during these transformations. Whether it involved policy-makers in sixteenth-century Europe or wonks in the Washington of 1996, controversy over public assistance to the deserving and undeserving poor remained a raging controversy that spilled over into the debate on affirmative action. |
Contents
Luther Opens the Door | 31 |
The Demographic and Economic Impact on Work Values | 41 |
Calvin and the Calling | 53 |
The Puritan Influence | 69 |
Work and Welfare the TudorStuart | 95 |
Work as Alienation and Opportunity | 109 |
Work Values in Colonial America | 111 |
Work Values in Modern American | 141 |