History of Employment in America

[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.

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.

I raised the celibacy and separated families as barriers to show that people were still drawn in large numbers even when the cost was high. Economic stability and humane work was a large factor in that drawing power. The rise of industrialization provided another option that made the entry barriers to the Shakers seem too high. Their growth was driven by joiners who weighed the options.

[JohnH]

I raised the celibacy and separated families as barriers to show that people were still drawn in large numbers even when the cost was high. Economic stability and humane work was a large factor in that drawing power. The rise of industrialization provided another option that made the entry barriers to the Shakers seem too high. Their growth was driven by joiners who weighed the options.

I think it's a pretty flawed analysis to think people joined the Shakers for economic reasons. The Shakers lived in rather austere personal conditions, and held property in common. Wouldn't it be more accurate to say people joined them for spiritual reasons?

[Praxis+Theodicy]

I raised the celibacy and separated families as barriers to show that people were still drawn in large numbers even when the cost was high. Economic stability and humane work was a large factor in that drawing power. The rise of industrialization provided another option that made the entry barriers to the Shakers seem too high. Their growth was driven by joiners who weighed the options.

I am not intimately familiar with the history of the Shakers, but I know the celibacy thing was an addition to their way of life later on. Was their rate of "attraction" higher or lower after this?

I guess my impression (not necessarily accurate) was that their movement got more internalized and less about attracting people around the time that those big changes took place.