Unit IB: Persons and Institutions

This week’s readings bring Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed directly into conversation with Catholic Social Teaching. Pope John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens (On Human Work), released on the ninetieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum in 1981, continues the concern for the dignity of work which had animated RN. As O’Brien and Shannon note in their introduction to Laborem Exercens, for the Catholic social tradition, work is first and foremost an expression of one’s human nature. As such, the conditions under which we work have a bearing not only on our ability to fulfill our basic human survival needs but our ability to flourish as rational, relational and spiritual beings. Our work is a basic or fundamental form of participation in God’s divine providence in at least three ways: as the vehicle through which we participate in “cultivating” and “transforming” nature to serve human flourishing; as a primary means for organizing communities to meet basic human needs and pursue individual and common aspirations; and as the way in which we support and maintain families and households. It is for this reason that John Paul II will argue forcefully in the encyclical that “human work is a key, probably the essential key, to the whole social question....” In other words, if we want to “make life more human,” we need to start with human work.

In Laborem Exercens, John Paul II will defend four principal (and traditional) rights of labor: suitable employment for capacity; just remuneration for work accomplished; humane organization of labor; and the right to form unions. He also argues for a “non-Marxist” interpretation of the relationship between labor and capital: the exploitation of labor (treating workers as means rather than ends of production) is a moral problem, not a result of an inevitable class struggle. As such, it is amenable to moral conversion; however, such conversion requires both workers and owners to recognize the ethical (specifically, the human) significance of work.

We will return later in the course to the implications of Laborem Exercens for an evaluation of economic systems. This week’s selections focus on the foundations for a spirituality of work. As you read the assigned selections, think about the following questions:

1. Why does John Paul II go to such lengths to distinguish between “work in the objective sense” and “work in the subjective sense”? What is the significance of these distinctions?
2. How does LE understand the meaning of “the dignity of work”?
3. The reliance on Genesis and the command to “subdue the earth” in LE could be read as advocating the exploitation of the earth by human beings. Is this a valid concern? Why or why not?
4. What are the elements of a spirituality of work?