k 2024

Bewitched by the work ethic: Opening the political and social imagination

DOMINIK, Martin

Basic information

Original name

Bewitched by the work ethic: Opening the political and social imagination

Name in Czech

Zakleti morálkou práce: Otevření politické a sociální imaginace

Authors

Edition

Young Philosophy 2024, XIX. annual international conference, 2024

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Prezentace na konferencích

Field of Study

60301 Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology

Country of publisher

Slovakia

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

Organization unit

Faculty of Arts

Keywords in English

Work, freedom, democracy, post-work

Tags

International impact, Reviewed
Změněno: 15/6/2024 18:24, Mgr. et Mgr. Martin Dominik

Abstract

V originále

The contemporary political and social imagination is fundamentally constrained by the paradigm of a (capitalist) work ethic that maintains and legitimises the status quo. It perpetuates the undemocratic and unfree wage labour.

In the workplace there is a hierarchy of power and authority; there are rulers and ruled. The employer can even be described as a private government. However, there is a fundamental lack of democratic participation of 'citizens' in this 'government'. As for the (formal) freedom to enter the labour market, I argue that it is constrained by the need to work to live in dignity. In the work itself, one is often reduced to a resource. In pure form of work, the worker exists as a thing. Today, this trend continues, and humans are becoming objects of algorithmic AI behaviour management. People cannot choose what, when and how they do things. Work is an activity at the command of another. The restriction of freedom by the employer also goes beyond the labour relationship and extends into the private life of the employee.

The problem of democracy could be solved by reorganising labour relations. While this is desirable, it is not sufficient to secure freedom. We should therefore limit work as much as possible, open our imagination and seriously consider the possibility of a post-work society.


Links

MUNI/A/1412/2023, interní kód MU
Name: Filozofie pro odolnou společnost
Investor: Masaryk University, Philosophy for resilient society