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never been known to date, and will make the Ford car the only one which forwardlooking people will be willing to drive. What is it you want, Mr. Ford? I know you have money enough; and you have more power than you have been able to use wisely of late years. What is there now in life for you that can equal consciousness of having helped in the building of industrial democracy , and shown mankind the way to industrial peace, plenty, and security? My earnest prayers go out to you with this letter. —Upton Sinclair —Upton Sinclair, journalist, muckraker, author, candidate for governor of California, and founder of End Poverty in California, wrote The Jungle, among many other works. The Work Ethic It Works Best for Those Who Work Least John Kenneth Galbraith june 1981 The last few months have been greatly enriched, in a manner of speaking, by a discussion of the work ethic. The American economy is to be reinvigorated; this requires that Americans everywhere recover their lost appetite for work. Some of the new burst of energy that we are to witness in the months ahead will come from a relaxation of rules on the environment, job safety, and by the Federal Trade Commission. But more is to come from people working harder, relaxing less at the public expense, getting paid in accordance with e¤ort, and retaining more of what they get. Altogether we are to see a revival of the great American work ethic. This is not a subject on which I am at all disposed to be cynical or even skeptical. I am thought to be a very hard worker—by some, excessively productive. Nothing is more pleasant than a penetrating examination of one’s own virtue. But it is no doubt fair to warn those who are now talking about a revival of the work ethic that they are involved with, perhaps, the trickiest concept in all social theory. There is, Wrst of all, the terrible class aspect of the work ethic. As an ethic, it is especially ethical for the poor and much less ethical for the rich. The very aºuent in the United States were for long called the leisure class. A thoughtful, diverse, or aggressively bizarre use of leisure by those who can a¤ord it is still a major mark of distinction and by far the most certain route into the columns of People magazine. The big beer companies possibly apart, no one similarly celebrates the leisure-time tendencies of the working class. If, choosing relaxation however intelligent or constructive or therapy however needful, they do not show up on a Monday for work, they are ethically insupportable. 210 part 10 standing up for labor For some twenty-Wve years I have been coming to Gstaad, a small village in Switzerland , to write and otherwise occupy myself. Gstaad is, very possibly, the geographical nadir of the work ethic; the opulent and idle come here from all over the world to commune on how best to enjoy doing nothing. One day this winter a friend of many years told me that he thought the buggering o¤ (his phrase) by the working classes was the greatest problem of our time. When I reminded him that he had done no work himself, at least since the early Truman Administration, he responded with indignation , “My father worked hard for every cent I’ve got.” Finally, a¤ecting any discussion of the work ethic is the terrible ambiguity of the word “work” itself. No other word in the language covers such diverse and irreconcilable circumstances. Work is the tedious routine of the assembly line and the far from enchanting toil of those who collect the trash and garbage. It is also the wonderfully self-rewarding occupation of the musician, painter, surgeon, lawyer, engineer, scientist , or business executive. Work is what members of Congress and the President of the United States spend millions of dollars to be allowed to do. It is ridiculous that one word should be used to cover such diverse conditions. I Wrst learned about work in Ontario while following a team across the Welds, removing the winter accumulation of animal nutrients from the barnyard, and helping restore the tile drains in the Welds below the house. This was work—and I deeply detested it. In contrast, teaching at Harvard, writing books, or serving as an ambassador are entertainments for which one might reasonably be required to pay, and some would...

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