DOMINIK, Martin. Bewitched by the work ethic: Opening the political and social imagination. In Young Philosophy 2024, XIX. annual international conference. 2024.
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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 DOMINIK, Martin.
Edition Young Philosophy 2024, XIX. annual international conference, 2024.
Other information
Original language English
Type of outcome Presentations at conferences
Field of Study 60301 Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology
Country of publisher Slovakia
Confidentiality degree is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW URL
Organization unit Faculty of Arts
Keywords in English Work, freedom, democracy, post-work
Tags International impact, Reviewed
Changed by Changed by: Mgr. et Mgr. Martin Dominik, učo 392925. Changed: 15/6/2024 18:24.
Abstract
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 MUName: Filozofie pro odolnou společnost
Investor: Masaryk University, Philosophy for resilient society
PrintDisplayed: 5/9/2024 23:31