History of Employment in America

[Ernie]

Instead of factory work, a typical occupation people can get now is driving for DoorDash, Uber, etc or filling grocery carts up with InstaCart.

So you are saying that the impact on individual wellbeing is good?

I would argue that it was mostly bad. Probably a bit of both. But overall I think it is worse for individual wellbeing, mostly psychologically.

People are generally happy when they make something, and can see and understand and appreciate the value of what they have made. Having control and being involved in as many aspects of the things creation also helps. This gives a sense of accomplishment and purpose. Owning your own business, being self-employed, etc... this might take a LOT of work, and be really risky, but psychologically it can feel much more rewarding, because you feel a greater sense of fulfillment by having full control of what you are making or giving to the world.

Karl Marx talked about the alienation of labor. He was talking about the movement from self-owned agrarian work of peasants to the capitalist-owned factory labor of the new working class. This new form of work produced a much wealthier society and technically even benefitted the working class financially, but the psychological effects don't always match up to one's material reality.

Alienation from the product: Workers do not own or control the products they create. The items become alien objects that do not belong to the worker, even though the worker produced them.
Alienation from the labor process: The worker has little to no control over their work or the conditions under which it is performed. The labor is often repetitive, externally controlled, and a source of unhappiness rather than self-expression.
Alienation from one's species-essence: Marx believed that a core part of being human is creative, free, and conscious labor. Under capitalism, this capacity is suppressed, leading workers to feel a sense of powerlessness and unhappiness, and to feel estranged from their true human nature.
Alienation from other people: Capitalism fosters a competitive and individualistic environment among workers, rather than a communal and cooperative one. Social relations are reduced to the "cash nexus," where individuals see each other as potential competitors or means to an end.

I think the shift from productive economy to a service economy exacerbated these features, because service work does not create a tangible product. Instead, it creates a brief experience for a customer that is instantly consumed and repeated ad infinitum.

In short, the factory worker making bicycles has a better sense of purpose (because he's creating a product) than the ride operator at Six Flags (who is facilitating an experience).

Thank you. That is the sort of response I was looking for!

[JohnL]

Good topic Ernie.
In my neck of the woods in the 50s and 60s we saw some of the young adults go to college and then leave the area for professions such as law, medicine or business. These days vocational classes are becoming popular again because the young people are finding that an honest HVAC repairmen, well digging, auto repairmen, electricians and plumbers are making more than the college degreed plus they don't have a college loan to pay back.

[barnhart]

There are many lenses we could look through to examine the role and purpose of work through history. One could examine the rise and fall of the Shakers who grew steadily through periods of economic recession despite harsh practices like breaking apart families and forced celibacy.

One of their appeals was access to productive and creative labor. There was a freedom in their system to pursue creative and inventive ideas that pushed them to the forefront of nearly every industry they undertook from preserving food, plant breeding, craft and design, the circular saw, powered mortising machines, waterproofing fabric, no-wrinkle clothing, home interior organization etc...

The system started to fall apart with the rise of factory wage work. Rather than break apart the family, most of the desperate poor would rather keep some level of autonomy and endure soul crushing repetitive labor.

If farming were less capitalized, more reliable and offered better income, I suspect the creative independence and fulfilling productivity of it would be quite attractive.

[JohnH]

Can you say more about what you observe?

Instead of factory work, a typical occupation people can get now is driving for DoorDash, Uber, etc or filling grocery carts up with InstaCart.

So you are saying that the impact on individual wellbeing is good?

It’s an observation. I haven’t worked in either occupation so I can’t personally speak to it, but it seems the modern service economy leads to a cycle of poverty.

[JohnL]

No country or person can consume its way into prosperity.

This is so profoundly true! Prosperity means an excellent work ethic whether in ministry or in business. A work-centered mindset is so much better than a consumer-centered mindset.

[JohnH]

If farming were less capitalized, more reliable and offered better income, I suspect the creative independence and fulfilling productivity of it would be quite attractive.

The barrier for entry for produce farming is quite low, and it produces one of the most reliable incomes - however, it's quite hard work and there don't seem to be many people interested in doing it (myself included, other than a backyard garden for the kitchen).

[mike]

If farming were less capitalized, more reliable and offered better income, I suspect the creative independence and fulfilling productivity of it would be quite attractive.

The barrier for entry for produce farming is quite low, and it produces one of the most reliable incomes - however, it's quite hard work and there don't seem to be many people interested in doing it (myself included, other than a backyard garden for the kitchen).

This is true. That's why produce farming has grown significantly in recent decades in areas with big plain populations where a lot of family labor is available. A family can make a living on fewer acres than crop or dairy farming, although it typically is combined with other things such as raising flowers or small home manufacturing businesses. One that I am familiar with grows incredible amounts of produce on about 12 acres, bringing in semi trailer loads during melon and pumpkin seasons.

An Amish area where I buy produce also grows large amounts of tobacco, which is even better a cash crop than produce. It's enough of a financial incentive that when produce prices are in a slump, I worry too many of their farmers will be motivated to grow it rather than produce. Like produce it is also labor intensive, and they typically have enough kids around to help harvest and strip it. And it's basically money in the bank.

[ken_sylvania]

If farming were less capitalized, more reliable and offered better income, I suspect the creative independence and fulfilling productivity of it would be quite attractive.

Color me a skeptic on that. Farm work needs to be done when it needs to be done, and it kind of gets in the way of family vacations and sightseeing trips and weekend getaways.
When people can't even take advantage of the offer to pick green beans or peas or tomatoes to do up for their own use because they have other things going on, I think we can accurately conclude that it's not the capital investment needed or the reliability of income that is the prohibiting factor.

[JohnH]

12 acres is a big operation. A young family I know with 3 children runs about 1.5 acres and makes their entire living from that.

[Praxis+Theodicy]

There are many lenses we could look through to examine the role and purpose of work through history. One could examine the rise and fall of the Shakers who grew steadily through periods of economic recession despite harsh practices like breaking apart families and forced celibacy.

One of their appeals was access to productive and creative labor. There was a freedom in their system to pursue creative and inventive ideas that pushed them to the forefront of nearly every industry they undertook from preserving food, plant breeding, craft and design, the circular saw, powered mortising machines, waterproofing fabric, no-wrinkle clothing, home interior organization etc...

The system started to fall apart with the rise of factory wage work. Rather than break apart the family, most of the desperate poor would rather keep some level of autonomy and endure soul crushing repetitive labor.

This is a strange comparison to make. It's a strange choice to call the Shakers' celibacy "forced" (is that adjective used for other religious celibates like Monks of various religions?). But that aside, you seem to be implying that their economic labor was part-and-parcel with their religious practice of celibacy. If I recall correctly, the whole "ending marriage/family" thing happened later in the Shaker history, and was a religious conviction that was separate from their economic practices, which had already been in place. I also don't know if you can blame the "rise of factory work" for the falling apart of the Shaker way of life. Their celibacy probably facilitated the death of their movement more than anything else.

Also, until the mid-late 1800s, factory work did break up families, for all intents and purposes. It was more of a de facto breakup than legal/religious declaration, but the shift in family dynamics from agrarian to factory economics was HUGE.