25. Work and Society
29. Human Nature of Work
29a) Work and Human Dignity
Work is closely linked with human dignity. As a human activity that involves the use of the higher faculties, work is for man a title of dignity. Before original sin, man received from God the task of ruling over the whole of creation, thus cooperating in the work of creation and being associated with the divine work.
All labor, as an indispensable means to the mastery of the earth, by which God wills to be glorified, has an inalienable dignity and at the same time an intimate connection with the development of the human person; nor does this noble dignity and prerogative of labor suffer any diminution from the burden of fatigue, which, in consequence of original sin, must be endured in obedient submission to the will of God.1
Our Lord used several parables and examples—the talents, the minas, the barren fig tree—to stress man’s obligation to make good use of the talents and qualities with which he has been endowed. He will have to account for their yield at the end of his life on earth. The worker has to use his intelligence, proposing initiatives, organizing, and planning the execution of his work. At the same time, he strengthens his will and practices many human virtues: industriousness, order, constancy, responsibility, and concern for others.
A complete range of virtues is called into play when we set about our work with the purpose of sanctifying it: fortitude, to persevere in our work despite the difficulties that naturally arise and to ensure that we never let ourselves be overwhelmed by anxiety; temperance, in order to spend ourselves unsparingly and to overcome our love of comfort and our selfishness; justice, so as to fulfill our duties towards God, society, our family, and our fellow workers; prudence, to know in each case what course to take, and then to set about it without hesitation … And all this, I emphasize, is for the sake of Love, with a keen and immediate sense of responsibility for the results of our work and its apostolic impact.2
It is thus consistent with the dignity of work that the worker know the purpose of his efforts. Restoring this ethical requirement, declared Pope John Paul II, is a primordial task in our world. “Never has man been so rich in things, means, and techniques, and never so poor in indications about their purpose. To restore to man awareness of the ends for which he lives and works, is the task to which we are called in this end of the century, which concludes the second millennium of the Christian era.”3 Besides, work should be carried out in such conditions that the workers would not suffer physical or moral harm. The special circumstances of women and minors must be respected as well.4
The ultimate reason for the dignity of work is to be found in God, whose presence must fill all professional activities.
Make sure that God is among you.… If, on the contrary, God were to be considered as a stranger, or perhaps as an intruder and even as an enemy, there would be disorder in your work. Then work would not ennoble, but rather degrade. Work performed for God and with God is a human activity that becomes divine; it is prayer.5
Work is part of the divine plan for man. What gives dignity to work is not human valuation, which divides jobs into different categories; it is rather its ethical value and, on a higher plane, its cooperation in the redemptive mission of Christ. Both perspectives imply, of course, the primacy of love and contemplation as fitting motivations for man, who exercises in his work his best energies.
The farmer who ploughs his field while constantly raising his heart to God, just as much as the carpenter, the blacksmith, the office worker, the academic—all Christians in fact—have to be an example for their colleagues at work. And this without conceit.… Therefore, everyone, in his job, in whatever place he has in society, must feel obliged to make his work God’s work, sowing everywhere the peace and joy of the Lord.6
The dignity of every kind of work flows from man’s dignity:
It is time for us Christians to shout from the rooftops that work is a gift from God and that it makes no sense to classify men differently, according to their occupation, as if some jobs were nobler than others. Work, all work, bears witness to the dignity of man, to his dominion over creation. It is an opportunity to develop one’s personality. It is a bond of union with others, the way to support one’s family, a means of aiding in the improvement of the society in which we live and in the progress of all humanity.7
29b) Work Perfects Man
Work is an expression and a means that is wanted by God for the spiritual perfection of man. The Christian concept of work is opposed to the tenets of dialectical materialism, which considers work a means for the dialectical mediation with nature. Such mediation would give occasion for both terms--man and nature—to influence each other and become interchangeable, denying the individual intimacy of each human being. According to the doctrine of the Church, work transforms nature, but does not end in nature; it is oriented to the perfection of the person who works. “Human activity proceeds from man: it is also ordered to him. When he works, not only does he transform matter and society, but he fulfils himself.”8
Even though work fulfills an organic social function, it is not an obligation that is imposed by society; it is a natural activity, organized around goals that are consciously assumed by the person. “Human work, whether exercised independently or in subordination to another, proceeds from the human person, who as it were impresses his seal on the things of nature and reduces them to his will.”9
This “proceeding from the person”—with emphasis on “person”—allows us to understand how work is the means of elevation that God wanted for man. As the supreme creature of the visible universe, man humanizes the other creatures with his work, extending the divine work of creation and redemption. “Work must be the means in order that the whole of creation may be subjected to the dignity of the human being, a child of God.”10
This truth opens unexpected horizons for man. Through work, man becomes a co-redeemer; the hardships of work, its dimension as a punishment imposed by God, can become a participation in the redemptive Cross of Christ:
They [the faithful] are thus called to share in Christ’s own divine life; and since they are united in mind and spirit with the divine Redeemer even when they are engaged in the affairs of the world, their work becomes a continuation of His work, penetrated with redemptive power. “He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit” (Jn. 15:5). Thus is man’s work exalted and ennobled—so highly exalted that it leads to his own personal perfection of soul, and helps to extend to others the fruits of Redemption, all over the world.11
For work to occupy its proper place in the divine economy of salvation, priority must be given to prayer and contemplation. This priority does not imply separation, as if prayer and work were two parallel areas of human life. On the contrary, it is dialogue with God that gives meaning to work. Work then becomes the motive and occasion of this dialogue, and the matter to be offered to God.
There is no other way for man to find himself and confirm who he is except by seeking God in prayer. By seeking God, by meeting Him in prayer, man is bound to find himself, since he is like God. He cannot find himself except in his Prototype. He cannot confirm his “dominion” over the earth by work except by praying at the same time.12
Work, as St. Josemaría Escrivá reminded us, cannot be dissociated from the plan of God for each person:
Be convinced that our professional vocation is an essential and inseparable part of our condition as Christians. Our Lord wants you to be holy in the place where you are, in the job you have chosen for whatever reason. To me, every job that is not opposed to the divine law is good and noble, and capable of being raised to the supernatural plane, that is, inserted into the constant flow of Love which defines the life of a child of God.13
Moreover, work is not only the external occasion of prayer; workers should find in the very matter of their work a means of raising their souls to God. John Paul II explained this idea in an address to a group of miners, who were digging a tunnel, together with farmers and shepherds from the neighborhood:
Yet, to both of you—here is an element in common—it is always nature that appears in its reality as God’s creature. Working on the earth, outside or inside, you have always before you a work that can, and certainly does, offer you a whole series of reasons to reflect, to meditate, to worship.14
This teaching, which is now common doctrine of the Church, had earlier been stressed and preached by St. Josemaría Escrivá. Here is one of the many passages he wrote about the union between prayer and work:
We see the hand of God, not only in the wonders of nature, but also in our experience of work and effort. Work thus becomes prayer and thanksgiving, because we know we are placed on earth by God, that we are loved by him and made heirs to his promises. We have been rightly told, “In eating, in drinking, in all that you do, do everything for God’s glory” (1 Cor 10:31).15
29c) Self-Support and Advancement
Work is a natural means for self-support and social improvement. The intrinsic dignity of work, as an expression of the higher powers of man, should not obscure the fact that it is a means. It is ordained to other purposes, also human, but more important than work itself. We have just seen it in the case of prayer and contemplation. We will consider it now as man’s instrument for supporting his own life, and for contributing to the improvement of the external conditions of life in the society to which he belongs and in his own family.16
It should be noted that the goods that man needs to support himself and to lead an honorable life are not immediately available. He must produce them. And if his produce is not for his personal consumption, or if he is engaged in a service or intellectual work, not directly producing subsistence goods, he is entitled to an equitable salary.
The key problem of social ethics in this case is that of just remuneration for work done. In the context of the present there is no more important way for securing a just relationship between the worker and the employer than that constituted by remuneration for work.17
Such salary should sufficiently cover the material and spiritual needs of the family:
Remuneration for work should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level to correspond to the role and the productivity of each, the relevant economic factors in his employment, and the common good.18
Through work, man also receives and increases the cultural heritage of the national and universal society to which he belongs, identifying himself with the cause of the common good. While working for the common good, the worker also benefits himself, since workers “should have the opportunity to develop their talents and their personalities in the very exercise of their work.”19 Thus, they are able to improve their skills and occupy positions of greater importance and responsibility.
30. The Personal and Necessary Character of Work
Paradoxically, work is at the same time free—insofar as it is personal—and necessary. Denying one’s freedom in his work would be tantamount to dehumanizing him. Dehumanization occurs when work lacks a motivation, a reason worthy of man. But work is also necessary, since man must work, whether he likes it or not; he must support himself and his family, he must develop and improve his capabilities, and he must fulfill the divine command. This distinguishes work from leisurely activities, which do not need to be ordained to other activities in order to be meaningful.
Hence, a man’s labor necessarily bears two notes or characters. First of all, it is personal, inasmuch as the force that acts is bound up with the personality and is the exclusive property of him who acts, and, further, was given to him for his advantage. Secondly, man’s labor is necessary; for without the result of labor a man cannot live, and self-preservation is a law of nature, which it is wrong to disobey.20
Justice requires that the two aspects—freedom and necessity—be properly balanced. Furthermore, necessity should not force a person to accept a job that, for whatever reason, will be degrading for his personality. “If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accepts harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice.”21
Access to employment and to professions must be open to all without unjust discrimination: men and women, healthy and disabled, natives and immigrants. For its part society should, according to circumstances, help citizens find work and employment.22
On the other hand, freedom in work should not mean the absence of discipline of the will and subordination to social and ethical norms. These make work a serious activity, rather than a game with certain rules.
It is obvious that, as in the case of ownership, so in the case of work, especially of work hired out to others, there is a social aspect also to be considered in addition to the personal or individual aspect. For man’s productive effort cannot yield its fruits unless a truly social and organic body exists, unless a social and juridical order watches over the exercise of work, unless the various occupations, being interdependent, cooperate with and mutually complete one another, and—what is still more important—unless mind, material things, and work combine and form as it were a single whole.23
Work thus combines several sets of apparently contradictory properties: freedom and necessity, social and personal character, intrinsic dignity and instrumental nature (work being ordained to other activities), immanent perfection of the agent and the transformation of external matter, application to an existing matter (or cultural reality) and creative improvement—impressing new forms on the existing matter. These different dimensions of the same reality of work must be properly balanced. One way to destroy the equilibrium is to take work in just one dimension as the last end of man. This would mean losing sight of its true meaning, which cannot be reduced to the mere performance of a task. Another way to destroy the balance is to try to dodge the element of imposition and toil, which, as a result of original sin, accompanies the performance of work.
31. Social Function of Work
31a) A Source of Unity
Work is a bond that unifies people when they pool their efforts in a spirit of solidarity, each from his own position, for the achievement of the common good. Each person has a specific role in his workplace, which is part of a network of mutual exchanges and services. This reciprocity of services contributes to the edification of the common good of all citizens. Work becomes then a unifying force among all members of society:
This unifying force is present not only in the production of goods or the rendering of services—in which the employers and employees of an identical industry or profession collaborate jointly—but also in the achievement of the common good, in which all industries and professions together must cooperate amicably, each to the best of its ability. And this unity will be the stronger and more effective, the more faithfully individuals and the industries and professions themselves strive to do their work and excel in it.24
Therefore, through the diversity of each worker’s contribution, “all parties co-operate actively and loyally in the common enterprise.”25
31b) A Service to Society
Work supplies the goods and services needed by society. Through work, people gain access to goods that are not directly available from nature. This implies going beyond one’s needs—in line with what was said earlier—and becoming both an agent and a beneficiary of the good of one’s society. It is therefore an ethical obligation for workers to cooperate sincerely “in the common enterprise, not so much for what they can get out of it for themselves, but as discharging a duty and rendering a service to their fellow men.”26
31c) Creation and Distribution of Wealth
Work is a means for the creation of wealth and for its equitable distribution. The quantitative increase of wealth alone will not serve the common interest; it is also necessary to improve and equalize its distribution, in proportion to the effort and responsibility of each contributor. The equitable distribution of wealth is not a stable situation to be reached once and for all, but rather a continuous task of correction and adjustment. The active exercise of work, moreover, gives a person the right to own the goods he needs for a decent life.
To each, therefore, must be given his own share of goods. Therefore, the distribution of created goods—which, as every discerning person knows, is laboring today under the gravest evils due to the huge disparity between the few exceedingly rich and the unnumbered property-less—must be effectively called back to and brought into conformity with the norms of the common good, that is, social justice.27
As we will see later, the social doctrine of the Church considers work the linchpin of the “social question.” It is, therefore, the yardstick with which the value of goods that are produced and accumulated is to be measured.
32. Labor Rights
32a) Foundation of the Right to Work
Work is a primary right and a primary duty. It is founded on nature itself, which imposes it for the support of the worker and his family. It is also natural for the worker to choose the job that best fits his abilities and where he can best develop his free initiative.
In the economic sphere, it is evident that a man has the inherent right not only to be given the opportunity to work, but also to be allowed the exercise of personal initiative in the work he does.28
Therefore, the exercise of work is in itself a right, since every person has the right to fulfill his duties. Rulers must facilitate the exercise of this right through a policy that favors the creation of jobs.
The State must not resign itself to having to tolerate chronic high unemployment. The creation of new jobs must constitute for it a priority as much economic as political.29
Nevertheless, the problem of unemployment is primarily a responsibility of the members of society. It is usually a result of the lack of solidarity, insofar as resources are wasted, sources of wealth are left unexploited, or people unnecessarily occupy several positions. Clearly, these attitudes go against the Christian concept of work.30
32b) Scope of Labor Rights
Besides the right to work, there are other rights that are related to the execution of work. Some refer to working conditions, like the rights to a healthy and safe workplace, and to being allowed to maintain one’s moral uprightness. Others derive from the work performed, like the rights to a sufficient salary, and to a well-deserved time for rest and family life—which should not be understood in a negative sense, as the time needed to recover one’s energies and return to work. There are also social security rights, like accident, retirement, and unemployment insurance.
The Church also recommends that channels be opened for the participation of workers in the management of the company where they work, so that they can consider it “their own.”
Experience suggests many ways in which the demands of justice can be satisfied. Not to mention other ways, it is especially desirable today that workers gradually come to share in the ownership of their company, by ways and in the manner that seems most suitable.31
32c) Strikes
Strikes and boycotts are extraordinary ways of claiming workers’ rights, since they obstruct functions that are necessary for social life. Neither can we admit that every labor demand is in principle lawful just because it is formulated in a legal way. For a strike to be licit, all possible channels for settling labor claims through negotiation must have been exhausted. Besides, its implementation should not go beyond what is needed to obtain the benefits sought. When strikes paralyze basic services, laws should protect the fundamental rights of the citizens who are affected.
While admitting that it is a legitimate means, we must at the same time emphasize that a strike remains, in a sense, an extreme means. It must not be abused; it must not be abused especially for political purposes. Furthermore it must never be forgotten that, when essential community services are in question, these must in every case be ensured, if necessary by means of appropriate legislation. Abuse of the strike weapon can lead to the paralysis of the whole socioeconomic life, and this is contrary to the requirements of the common good of society, which also corresponds to the properly understood nature of work itself.32
33. Domestic Work
The reaffirmation of the value of women’s role in the family, linked to maternity, should be manifested by considering housework as a paid job. Thus, mothers should be spared from having to seek employment outside the home by force of circumstances. The role of the mother in the family is irreplaceable. “It is, therefore, a real professional work, which deserves to be recognized as such by society; it calls, moreover, for courage, responsibility, ingenuity and holiness.”33
If all types of honest work enjoy the same dignity, domestic work should also receive the appreciation that it deserves, given the effort and dedication it requires and its clear social relevance:
Certainly, this work must be seen not as an implacable and inexorable imposition, a form of slavery, but as a free choice, responsible and willed, which completely fulfills woman in her personality and requirements. Domestic work, in fact, is an essential part in the smooth running of society and has an enormous influence upon the community. It calls for continual and complete dedication, and therefore is a daily ascetical exercise, which calls for patience, self-control, far-sightedness, creativity, spirit of adaptation, courage in unexpected occurrences.… This gives rise also to the dignity of your work as family collaborators; your commitment is not a humiliation, but a consecration!34
The Pope mentions some of the conditions of this work: its educational role, the competence and ingenuity that is employed in housework, the rationalization of household chores, and the understanding of family psychology.
34. The Dignity of Agricultural Work
Farming is especially conducive to fostering human values, because of its direct contact with and cultivation of nature. Of course, the necessary technical advances must be adopted. The dehumanization and depersonalization that is brought about by the “rigid automatism of the machine” seldom reach farm work. If this work were properly recognized and protected by laws, the rural exodus that is occurring in many parts of the world would stop.
Farm workers have the right to take part in the determination of their working conditions. They are also free to form associations to foster their legitimate interests. Since all people have the right to benefit from the fruits of the earth, there is a corresponding duty to make it yield fruit. Landlord absenteeism is a serious violation of both the right and the duty. The excessive concentration of landed property in the hands of a few owners introduces a new imbalance in capital-labor relations (which will be studied later).
With conditions as they are within the individual countries, one foresees a land reform involving a reorganization of land holdings and the stable and direct assigning of productive areas to the agricultural workers, together with the elimination of forms and structures that are unproductive and damaging to the community.… Agrarian reform and rural development also demand that consideration be given to reforms aimed at reducing the gap between the prosperity of the rich and the anxiety and need of the poor.35
The encyclical Mater et Magistra gives some general criteria to restore agriculture to the leading position it deserves in the production process. These criteria include the development of public services in rural areas: transportation, housing, and vocational training by agricultural experts. Tax laws should take into account the slow rate of return and the natural risks of agricultural income. Soft loans and subsidies should be available to improve farming techniques. A suitable system of price support is also advisable. Social insurance—health and accident—and crop insurance are likewise needed. Finally, it is important to develop industries and services related to farm crops—food processing, distribution—as well as cooperatives, and associations.36
35. Primacy of Work over Capital
The two fundamental factors of the process of production are capital and labor. They must be valued equitably, in proportion to their respective contributions.
It is wholly false to ascribe to property alone or to labor alone whatever has been obtained through the combined effort of both, and it is wholly unjust for either, denying the efficacy of the other, to arrogate to itself whatever has been produced.37
For the distribution of the produce to be just, however, the previous distribution of capital must have been just as well.
The riches that economic-social developments constantly increase ought to be so distributed among individual persons and classes that the common advantage of all, which Leo XIII had praised, will be kept inviolate. By this law of justice, one class is forbidden to exclude the other from sharing in the benefits.38
A fundamental consideration of axiology [the study of intrinsic values] is that work takes precedence over capital because it proceeds immediately from the human person. The means of production—which in our times have expanded more and more thanks to technical progress—are obtained through human work. But capital is neither an end external to work, nor a value in itself. Its ethical justification lies in its being the fruit of work, while at the same time contributing to the creation of jobs. It is thus wrong to oppose work against capital. At bottom, this would be just a form of materialism, which ignores the subordination of matter to spirit. Capital can here be identified with matter, while work is clearly a spiritual reality, as the activity of a subject endowed with a spirit.
In view of this situation we must first of all recall a principle that has always been taught by the Church: the principle of the priority of labor over capital. This principle directly concerns the process of production; in this process labor is always a primary efficient cause, while capital, the whole collection of means of production, remains a mere instrument or instrumental cause.39
Both economic liberalism and dialectical materialism have, from their respective positions, fallen into this inversion of values. They overlook the personal reality of the subject of work, and want to make him dependent on the material conditions of economic activity. Economic liberalism errs by regarding work as just another commodity. Dialectical materialism explains work exclusively in terms of the evolution of technical and organizational forces, in whose historical framework it would be inscribed.
In dialectic materialism too man is not first and foremost the subject of work and the efficient cause of the production process, but continues to be understood and treated, in dependence on what is material, as a kind of “resultant” of the economic or production relations prevailing at a given period.40
We must reject the false opposition of human work against “capital”—that is, the supposed great conflict between “the world of capital” and “the world of labor”—as an ideological conflict leading to an inevitable “class struggle.” The solution is to be found in the principle of solidarity in work. This implies accepting the principle of the priority of man over the means of production, of the person who works over the demands of production or purely economic laws.
The human person is the primary and ultimate criterion for manpower and job planning. Solidarity in work should be the major consideration in all solutions that are proposed by technological progress—robotics, for example. It will open a new field to human ingenuity and industriousness. The necessary and appropriate changes to be introduced, both in theory and in practice, must always be a consequence of a solid conviction: the primacy of the person over objects, of human work over the means of production.41
Footnotes:
1. Pius XII, Christmas Address, 1942; cf. CCC, 307, 378.
2. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, 72.
3. John Paul II, Address to the National Federation of the Cavalieri del Lavoro, May 11, 1979.
4. Cf. John XXIII, Enc. Pacem in Terris, 19.
5. Pius XII, Address, Feb. 27, 1949.
6. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, 70.
7. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, 47; cf. CCC, 2426.
8. GS, 35.
9. Ibid., 67.
10. John Paul II, Address to Workers and their Families at Jalisco Stadium, Guadalajara, Mexico, Jan. 30, 1979, in Puebla: A Pilgrimage of Faith (Boston: St. Paul Editions, 1979), 157–158.
11. John XXIII, Enc. Mater et Magistra, 259; cf. CCC, 2427.
12. John Paul II, Homily for Silesian Workers at Jasna Gora, Poland, June 6, 1979, in Pilgrim to Poland: John Paul II, 185.
13. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, 60.
14. John Paul II, Address to Workers and Farmers Assembled at the Gran Sasso Tunnel, Aug. 30, 1980.
15. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, 48.
16. Cf. John Paul II, Enc. Laborem Exercens, 10.
17. Ibid., 19; cf. CCC, 2434.
18. GS, 67.
19. Ibid.
20. Leo XIII, Enc. Rerum Novarum, 32.
21. Ibid.
22. CCC, 2433; cf. 2436.
23. Pius XI, Enc. Quadragesimo Anno, 69.
24. Ibid., 84.
25. John XXIII, Enc. Mater et Magistra, 92.
26. Ibid.
27. Pius XI, Enc. Quadragesimo Anno, 58.
28. John XXIII, Enc. Pacem in Terris, 18; cf. CCC, 2429.
29. John Paul II, Address to Workers and Entrepreneurs at Nou Camp, Barcelona, Nov. 7, 1982.
30. Cf. Ibid.
31. John XXIII, Enc. Mater et Magistra, 77.
32. John Paul II, Enc. Laborem Exercens, 20; cf. CCC, 2435.
33. John Paul II, Address to the 5th International Congress of the Family, Nov. 8, 1980.
34. John Paul II, Address to the 10th Assembly of the Italian Professional Association of Family Collaborators, Apr. 29, 1979.
35. John Paul II, Address to the FAO World Conference on Agrarian Reform, July 14, 1979.
36. Cf. John XXIII, Enc. Mater et Magistra, 123–143.
37. Pius XI, Enc. Quadragesimo Anno, 53.
38. Ibid., 57.
39. John Paul II, Enc. Laborem Exercens, 12.
40. Ibid., 13.
41. Cf. Ibid., 11–15.
29a) Work and Human Dignity
Work is closely linked with human dignity. As a human activity that involves the use of the higher faculties, work is for man a title of dignity. Before original sin, man received from God the task of ruling over the whole of creation, thus cooperating in the work of creation and being associated with the divine work.
All labor, as an indispensable means to the mastery of the earth, by which God wills to be glorified, has an inalienable dignity and at the same time an intimate connection with the development of the human person; nor does this noble dignity and prerogative of labor suffer any diminution from the burden of fatigue, which, in consequence of original sin, must be endured in obedient submission to the will of God.1
Our Lord used several parables and examples—the talents, the minas, the barren fig tree—to stress man’s obligation to make good use of the talents and qualities with which he has been endowed. He will have to account for their yield at the end of his life on earth. The worker has to use his intelligence, proposing initiatives, organizing, and planning the execution of his work. At the same time, he strengthens his will and practices many human virtues: industriousness, order, constancy, responsibility, and concern for others.
A complete range of virtues is called into play when we set about our work with the purpose of sanctifying it: fortitude, to persevere in our work despite the difficulties that naturally arise and to ensure that we never let ourselves be overwhelmed by anxiety; temperance, in order to spend ourselves unsparingly and to overcome our love of comfort and our selfishness; justice, so as to fulfill our duties towards God, society, our family, and our fellow workers; prudence, to know in each case what course to take, and then to set about it without hesitation … And all this, I emphasize, is for the sake of Love, with a keen and immediate sense of responsibility for the results of our work and its apostolic impact.2
It is thus consistent with the dignity of work that the worker know the purpose of his efforts. Restoring this ethical requirement, declared Pope John Paul II, is a primordial task in our world. “Never has man been so rich in things, means, and techniques, and never so poor in indications about their purpose. To restore to man awareness of the ends for which he lives and works, is the task to which we are called in this end of the century, which concludes the second millennium of the Christian era.”3 Besides, work should be carried out in such conditions that the workers would not suffer physical or moral harm. The special circumstances of women and minors must be respected as well.4
The ultimate reason for the dignity of work is to be found in God, whose presence must fill all professional activities.
Make sure that God is among you.… If, on the contrary, God were to be considered as a stranger, or perhaps as an intruder and even as an enemy, there would be disorder in your work. Then work would not ennoble, but rather degrade. Work performed for God and with God is a human activity that becomes divine; it is prayer.5
Work is part of the divine plan for man. What gives dignity to work is not human valuation, which divides jobs into different categories; it is rather its ethical value and, on a higher plane, its cooperation in the redemptive mission of Christ. Both perspectives imply, of course, the primacy of love and contemplation as fitting motivations for man, who exercises in his work his best energies.
The farmer who ploughs his field while constantly raising his heart to God, just as much as the carpenter, the blacksmith, the office worker, the academic—all Christians in fact—have to be an example for their colleagues at work. And this without conceit.… Therefore, everyone, in his job, in whatever place he has in society, must feel obliged to make his work God’s work, sowing everywhere the peace and joy of the Lord.6
The dignity of every kind of work flows from man’s dignity:
It is time for us Christians to shout from the rooftops that work is a gift from God and that it makes no sense to classify men differently, according to their occupation, as if some jobs were nobler than others. Work, all work, bears witness to the dignity of man, to his dominion over creation. It is an opportunity to develop one’s personality. It is a bond of union with others, the way to support one’s family, a means of aiding in the improvement of the society in which we live and in the progress of all humanity.7
29b) Work Perfects Man
Work is an expression and a means that is wanted by God for the spiritual perfection of man. The Christian concept of work is opposed to the tenets of dialectical materialism, which considers work a means for the dialectical mediation with nature. Such mediation would give occasion for both terms--man and nature—to influence each other and become interchangeable, denying the individual intimacy of each human being. According to the doctrine of the Church, work transforms nature, but does not end in nature; it is oriented to the perfection of the person who works. “Human activity proceeds from man: it is also ordered to him. When he works, not only does he transform matter and society, but he fulfils himself.”8
Even though work fulfills an organic social function, it is not an obligation that is imposed by society; it is a natural activity, organized around goals that are consciously assumed by the person. “Human work, whether exercised independently or in subordination to another, proceeds from the human person, who as it were impresses his seal on the things of nature and reduces them to his will.”9
This “proceeding from the person”—with emphasis on “person”—allows us to understand how work is the means of elevation that God wanted for man. As the supreme creature of the visible universe, man humanizes the other creatures with his work, extending the divine work of creation and redemption. “Work must be the means in order that the whole of creation may be subjected to the dignity of the human being, a child of God.”10
This truth opens unexpected horizons for man. Through work, man becomes a co-redeemer; the hardships of work, its dimension as a punishment imposed by God, can become a participation in the redemptive Cross of Christ:
They [the faithful] are thus called to share in Christ’s own divine life; and since they are united in mind and spirit with the divine Redeemer even when they are engaged in the affairs of the world, their work becomes a continuation of His work, penetrated with redemptive power. “He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit” (Jn. 15:5). Thus is man’s work exalted and ennobled—so highly exalted that it leads to his own personal perfection of soul, and helps to extend to others the fruits of Redemption, all over the world.11
For work to occupy its proper place in the divine economy of salvation, priority must be given to prayer and contemplation. This priority does not imply separation, as if prayer and work were two parallel areas of human life. On the contrary, it is dialogue with God that gives meaning to work. Work then becomes the motive and occasion of this dialogue, and the matter to be offered to God.
There is no other way for man to find himself and confirm who he is except by seeking God in prayer. By seeking God, by meeting Him in prayer, man is bound to find himself, since he is like God. He cannot find himself except in his Prototype. He cannot confirm his “dominion” over the earth by work except by praying at the same time.12
Work, as St. Josemaría Escrivá reminded us, cannot be dissociated from the plan of God for each person:
Be convinced that our professional vocation is an essential and inseparable part of our condition as Christians. Our Lord wants you to be holy in the place where you are, in the job you have chosen for whatever reason. To me, every job that is not opposed to the divine law is good and noble, and capable of being raised to the supernatural plane, that is, inserted into the constant flow of Love which defines the life of a child of God.13
Moreover, work is not only the external occasion of prayer; workers should find in the very matter of their work a means of raising their souls to God. John Paul II explained this idea in an address to a group of miners, who were digging a tunnel, together with farmers and shepherds from the neighborhood:
Yet, to both of you—here is an element in common—it is always nature that appears in its reality as God’s creature. Working on the earth, outside or inside, you have always before you a work that can, and certainly does, offer you a whole series of reasons to reflect, to meditate, to worship.14
This teaching, which is now common doctrine of the Church, had earlier been stressed and preached by St. Josemaría Escrivá. Here is one of the many passages he wrote about the union between prayer and work:
We see the hand of God, not only in the wonders of nature, but also in our experience of work and effort. Work thus becomes prayer and thanksgiving, because we know we are placed on earth by God, that we are loved by him and made heirs to his promises. We have been rightly told, “In eating, in drinking, in all that you do, do everything for God’s glory” (1 Cor 10:31).15
29c) Self-Support and Advancement
Work is a natural means for self-support and social improvement. The intrinsic dignity of work, as an expression of the higher powers of man, should not obscure the fact that it is a means. It is ordained to other purposes, also human, but more important than work itself. We have just seen it in the case of prayer and contemplation. We will consider it now as man’s instrument for supporting his own life, and for contributing to the improvement of the external conditions of life in the society to which he belongs and in his own family.16
It should be noted that the goods that man needs to support himself and to lead an honorable life are not immediately available. He must produce them. And if his produce is not for his personal consumption, or if he is engaged in a service or intellectual work, not directly producing subsistence goods, he is entitled to an equitable salary.
The key problem of social ethics in this case is that of just remuneration for work done. In the context of the present there is no more important way for securing a just relationship between the worker and the employer than that constituted by remuneration for work.17
Such salary should sufficiently cover the material and spiritual needs of the family:
Remuneration for work should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level to correspond to the role and the productivity of each, the relevant economic factors in his employment, and the common good.18
Through work, man also receives and increases the cultural heritage of the national and universal society to which he belongs, identifying himself with the cause of the common good. While working for the common good, the worker also benefits himself, since workers “should have the opportunity to develop their talents and their personalities in the very exercise of their work.”19 Thus, they are able to improve their skills and occupy positions of greater importance and responsibility.
30. The Personal and Necessary Character of Work
Paradoxically, work is at the same time free—insofar as it is personal—and necessary. Denying one’s freedom in his work would be tantamount to dehumanizing him. Dehumanization occurs when work lacks a motivation, a reason worthy of man. But work is also necessary, since man must work, whether he likes it or not; he must support himself and his family, he must develop and improve his capabilities, and he must fulfill the divine command. This distinguishes work from leisurely activities, which do not need to be ordained to other activities in order to be meaningful.
Hence, a man’s labor necessarily bears two notes or characters. First of all, it is personal, inasmuch as the force that acts is bound up with the personality and is the exclusive property of him who acts, and, further, was given to him for his advantage. Secondly, man’s labor is necessary; for without the result of labor a man cannot live, and self-preservation is a law of nature, which it is wrong to disobey.20
Justice requires that the two aspects—freedom and necessity—be properly balanced. Furthermore, necessity should not force a person to accept a job that, for whatever reason, will be degrading for his personality. “If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accepts harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice.”21
Access to employment and to professions must be open to all without unjust discrimination: men and women, healthy and disabled, natives and immigrants. For its part society should, according to circumstances, help citizens find work and employment.22
On the other hand, freedom in work should not mean the absence of discipline of the will and subordination to social and ethical norms. These make work a serious activity, rather than a game with certain rules.
It is obvious that, as in the case of ownership, so in the case of work, especially of work hired out to others, there is a social aspect also to be considered in addition to the personal or individual aspect. For man’s productive effort cannot yield its fruits unless a truly social and organic body exists, unless a social and juridical order watches over the exercise of work, unless the various occupations, being interdependent, cooperate with and mutually complete one another, and—what is still more important—unless mind, material things, and work combine and form as it were a single whole.23
Work thus combines several sets of apparently contradictory properties: freedom and necessity, social and personal character, intrinsic dignity and instrumental nature (work being ordained to other activities), immanent perfection of the agent and the transformation of external matter, application to an existing matter (or cultural reality) and creative improvement—impressing new forms on the existing matter. These different dimensions of the same reality of work must be properly balanced. One way to destroy the equilibrium is to take work in just one dimension as the last end of man. This would mean losing sight of its true meaning, which cannot be reduced to the mere performance of a task. Another way to destroy the balance is to try to dodge the element of imposition and toil, which, as a result of original sin, accompanies the performance of work.
31. Social Function of Work
31a) A Source of Unity
Work is a bond that unifies people when they pool their efforts in a spirit of solidarity, each from his own position, for the achievement of the common good. Each person has a specific role in his workplace, which is part of a network of mutual exchanges and services. This reciprocity of services contributes to the edification of the common good of all citizens. Work becomes then a unifying force among all members of society:
This unifying force is present not only in the production of goods or the rendering of services—in which the employers and employees of an identical industry or profession collaborate jointly—but also in the achievement of the common good, in which all industries and professions together must cooperate amicably, each to the best of its ability. And this unity will be the stronger and more effective, the more faithfully individuals and the industries and professions themselves strive to do their work and excel in it.24
Therefore, through the diversity of each worker’s contribution, “all parties co-operate actively and loyally in the common enterprise.”25
31b) A Service to Society
Work supplies the goods and services needed by society. Through work, people gain access to goods that are not directly available from nature. This implies going beyond one’s needs—in line with what was said earlier—and becoming both an agent and a beneficiary of the good of one’s society. It is therefore an ethical obligation for workers to cooperate sincerely “in the common enterprise, not so much for what they can get out of it for themselves, but as discharging a duty and rendering a service to their fellow men.”26
31c) Creation and Distribution of Wealth
Work is a means for the creation of wealth and for its equitable distribution. The quantitative increase of wealth alone will not serve the common interest; it is also necessary to improve and equalize its distribution, in proportion to the effort and responsibility of each contributor. The equitable distribution of wealth is not a stable situation to be reached once and for all, but rather a continuous task of correction and adjustment. The active exercise of work, moreover, gives a person the right to own the goods he needs for a decent life.
To each, therefore, must be given his own share of goods. Therefore, the distribution of created goods—which, as every discerning person knows, is laboring today under the gravest evils due to the huge disparity between the few exceedingly rich and the unnumbered property-less—must be effectively called back to and brought into conformity with the norms of the common good, that is, social justice.27
As we will see later, the social doctrine of the Church considers work the linchpin of the “social question.” It is, therefore, the yardstick with which the value of goods that are produced and accumulated is to be measured.
32. Labor Rights
32a) Foundation of the Right to Work
Work is a primary right and a primary duty. It is founded on nature itself, which imposes it for the support of the worker and his family. It is also natural for the worker to choose the job that best fits his abilities and where he can best develop his free initiative.
In the economic sphere, it is evident that a man has the inherent right not only to be given the opportunity to work, but also to be allowed the exercise of personal initiative in the work he does.28
Therefore, the exercise of work is in itself a right, since every person has the right to fulfill his duties. Rulers must facilitate the exercise of this right through a policy that favors the creation of jobs.
The State must not resign itself to having to tolerate chronic high unemployment. The creation of new jobs must constitute for it a priority as much economic as political.29
Nevertheless, the problem of unemployment is primarily a responsibility of the members of society. It is usually a result of the lack of solidarity, insofar as resources are wasted, sources of wealth are left unexploited, or people unnecessarily occupy several positions. Clearly, these attitudes go against the Christian concept of work.30
32b) Scope of Labor Rights
Besides the right to work, there are other rights that are related to the execution of work. Some refer to working conditions, like the rights to a healthy and safe workplace, and to being allowed to maintain one’s moral uprightness. Others derive from the work performed, like the rights to a sufficient salary, and to a well-deserved time for rest and family life—which should not be understood in a negative sense, as the time needed to recover one’s energies and return to work. There are also social security rights, like accident, retirement, and unemployment insurance.
The Church also recommends that channels be opened for the participation of workers in the management of the company where they work, so that they can consider it “their own.”
Experience suggests many ways in which the demands of justice can be satisfied. Not to mention other ways, it is especially desirable today that workers gradually come to share in the ownership of their company, by ways and in the manner that seems most suitable.31
32c) Strikes
Strikes and boycotts are extraordinary ways of claiming workers’ rights, since they obstruct functions that are necessary for social life. Neither can we admit that every labor demand is in principle lawful just because it is formulated in a legal way. For a strike to be licit, all possible channels for settling labor claims through negotiation must have been exhausted. Besides, its implementation should not go beyond what is needed to obtain the benefits sought. When strikes paralyze basic services, laws should protect the fundamental rights of the citizens who are affected.
While admitting that it is a legitimate means, we must at the same time emphasize that a strike remains, in a sense, an extreme means. It must not be abused; it must not be abused especially for political purposes. Furthermore it must never be forgotten that, when essential community services are in question, these must in every case be ensured, if necessary by means of appropriate legislation. Abuse of the strike weapon can lead to the paralysis of the whole socioeconomic life, and this is contrary to the requirements of the common good of society, which also corresponds to the properly understood nature of work itself.32
33. Domestic Work
The reaffirmation of the value of women’s role in the family, linked to maternity, should be manifested by considering housework as a paid job. Thus, mothers should be spared from having to seek employment outside the home by force of circumstances. The role of the mother in the family is irreplaceable. “It is, therefore, a real professional work, which deserves to be recognized as such by society; it calls, moreover, for courage, responsibility, ingenuity and holiness.”33
If all types of honest work enjoy the same dignity, domestic work should also receive the appreciation that it deserves, given the effort and dedication it requires and its clear social relevance:
Certainly, this work must be seen not as an implacable and inexorable imposition, a form of slavery, but as a free choice, responsible and willed, which completely fulfills woman in her personality and requirements. Domestic work, in fact, is an essential part in the smooth running of society and has an enormous influence upon the community. It calls for continual and complete dedication, and therefore is a daily ascetical exercise, which calls for patience, self-control, far-sightedness, creativity, spirit of adaptation, courage in unexpected occurrences.… This gives rise also to the dignity of your work as family collaborators; your commitment is not a humiliation, but a consecration!34
The Pope mentions some of the conditions of this work: its educational role, the competence and ingenuity that is employed in housework, the rationalization of household chores, and the understanding of family psychology.
34. The Dignity of Agricultural Work
Farming is especially conducive to fostering human values, because of its direct contact with and cultivation of nature. Of course, the necessary technical advances must be adopted. The dehumanization and depersonalization that is brought about by the “rigid automatism of the machine” seldom reach farm work. If this work were properly recognized and protected by laws, the rural exodus that is occurring in many parts of the world would stop.
Farm workers have the right to take part in the determination of their working conditions. They are also free to form associations to foster their legitimate interests. Since all people have the right to benefit from the fruits of the earth, there is a corresponding duty to make it yield fruit. Landlord absenteeism is a serious violation of both the right and the duty. The excessive concentration of landed property in the hands of a few owners introduces a new imbalance in capital-labor relations (which will be studied later).
With conditions as they are within the individual countries, one foresees a land reform involving a reorganization of land holdings and the stable and direct assigning of productive areas to the agricultural workers, together with the elimination of forms and structures that are unproductive and damaging to the community.… Agrarian reform and rural development also demand that consideration be given to reforms aimed at reducing the gap between the prosperity of the rich and the anxiety and need of the poor.35
The encyclical Mater et Magistra gives some general criteria to restore agriculture to the leading position it deserves in the production process. These criteria include the development of public services in rural areas: transportation, housing, and vocational training by agricultural experts. Tax laws should take into account the slow rate of return and the natural risks of agricultural income. Soft loans and subsidies should be available to improve farming techniques. A suitable system of price support is also advisable. Social insurance—health and accident—and crop insurance are likewise needed. Finally, it is important to develop industries and services related to farm crops—food processing, distribution—as well as cooperatives, and associations.36
35. Primacy of Work over Capital
The two fundamental factors of the process of production are capital and labor. They must be valued equitably, in proportion to their respective contributions.
It is wholly false to ascribe to property alone or to labor alone whatever has been obtained through the combined effort of both, and it is wholly unjust for either, denying the efficacy of the other, to arrogate to itself whatever has been produced.37
For the distribution of the produce to be just, however, the previous distribution of capital must have been just as well.
The riches that economic-social developments constantly increase ought to be so distributed among individual persons and classes that the common advantage of all, which Leo XIII had praised, will be kept inviolate. By this law of justice, one class is forbidden to exclude the other from sharing in the benefits.38
A fundamental consideration of axiology [the study of intrinsic values] is that work takes precedence over capital because it proceeds immediately from the human person. The means of production—which in our times have expanded more and more thanks to technical progress—are obtained through human work. But capital is neither an end external to work, nor a value in itself. Its ethical justification lies in its being the fruit of work, while at the same time contributing to the creation of jobs. It is thus wrong to oppose work against capital. At bottom, this would be just a form of materialism, which ignores the subordination of matter to spirit. Capital can here be identified with matter, while work is clearly a spiritual reality, as the activity of a subject endowed with a spirit.
In view of this situation we must first of all recall a principle that has always been taught by the Church: the principle of the priority of labor over capital. This principle directly concerns the process of production; in this process labor is always a primary efficient cause, while capital, the whole collection of means of production, remains a mere instrument or instrumental cause.39
Both economic liberalism and dialectical materialism have, from their respective positions, fallen into this inversion of values. They overlook the personal reality of the subject of work, and want to make him dependent on the material conditions of economic activity. Economic liberalism errs by regarding work as just another commodity. Dialectical materialism explains work exclusively in terms of the evolution of technical and organizational forces, in whose historical framework it would be inscribed.
In dialectic materialism too man is not first and foremost the subject of work and the efficient cause of the production process, but continues to be understood and treated, in dependence on what is material, as a kind of “resultant” of the economic or production relations prevailing at a given period.40
We must reject the false opposition of human work against “capital”—that is, the supposed great conflict between “the world of capital” and “the world of labor”—as an ideological conflict leading to an inevitable “class struggle.” The solution is to be found in the principle of solidarity in work. This implies accepting the principle of the priority of man over the means of production, of the person who works over the demands of production or purely economic laws.
The human person is the primary and ultimate criterion for manpower and job planning. Solidarity in work should be the major consideration in all solutions that are proposed by technological progress—robotics, for example. It will open a new field to human ingenuity and industriousness. The necessary and appropriate changes to be introduced, both in theory and in practice, must always be a consequence of a solid conviction: the primacy of the person over objects, of human work over the means of production.41
Footnotes:
1. Pius XII, Christmas Address, 1942; cf. CCC, 307, 378.
2. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, 72.
3. John Paul II, Address to the National Federation of the Cavalieri del Lavoro, May 11, 1979.
4. Cf. John XXIII, Enc. Pacem in Terris, 19.
5. Pius XII, Address, Feb. 27, 1949.
6. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, 70.
7. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, 47; cf. CCC, 2426.
8. GS, 35.
9. Ibid., 67.
10. John Paul II, Address to Workers and their Families at Jalisco Stadium, Guadalajara, Mexico, Jan. 30, 1979, in Puebla: A Pilgrimage of Faith (Boston: St. Paul Editions, 1979), 157–158.
11. John XXIII, Enc. Mater et Magistra, 259; cf. CCC, 2427.
12. John Paul II, Homily for Silesian Workers at Jasna Gora, Poland, June 6, 1979, in Pilgrim to Poland: John Paul II, 185.
13. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, 60.
14. John Paul II, Address to Workers and Farmers Assembled at the Gran Sasso Tunnel, Aug. 30, 1980.
15. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, 48.
16. Cf. John Paul II, Enc. Laborem Exercens, 10.
17. Ibid., 19; cf. CCC, 2434.
18. GS, 67.
19. Ibid.
20. Leo XIII, Enc. Rerum Novarum, 32.
21. Ibid.
22. CCC, 2433; cf. 2436.
23. Pius XI, Enc. Quadragesimo Anno, 69.
24. Ibid., 84.
25. John XXIII, Enc. Mater et Magistra, 92.
26. Ibid.
27. Pius XI, Enc. Quadragesimo Anno, 58.
28. John XXIII, Enc. Pacem in Terris, 18; cf. CCC, 2429.
29. John Paul II, Address to Workers and Entrepreneurs at Nou Camp, Barcelona, Nov. 7, 1982.
30. Cf. Ibid.
31. John XXIII, Enc. Mater et Magistra, 77.
32. John Paul II, Enc. Laborem Exercens, 20; cf. CCC, 2435.
33. John Paul II, Address to the 5th International Congress of the Family, Nov. 8, 1980.
34. John Paul II, Address to the 10th Assembly of the Italian Professional Association of Family Collaborators, Apr. 29, 1979.
35. John Paul II, Address to the FAO World Conference on Agrarian Reform, July 14, 1979.
36. Cf. John XXIII, Enc. Mater et Magistra, 123–143.
37. Pius XI, Enc. Quadragesimo Anno, 53.
38. Ibid., 57.
39. John Paul II, Enc. Laborem Exercens, 12.
40. Ibid., 13.
41. Cf. Ibid., 11–15.