Month: January 2017

The idea that hard work equals success seems to be a fact; however, as the Human Motor and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court have shown, this cause and effect has not always been in place. The Human Motor takes a deeper look at the word “idleness” and tracks the various connotations it has acquired over the years. During the aristocratic era idleness was, “Not only free from approbation, but venerated and esteemed” (27). The less labor or work a person had to do, the more esteemed they were. In many ways laziness was a representation of wealth and power. However, during the period of Enlightenment many came to resent the aristocrats “idleness” including the philosophers of the time claiming, “‘he who eats in idleness what he himself does not earn steal’” (Rousseau as cited by Human Motor, 28). Such tensions rode into the 18^th century at the beginning of the industrial age. Modern thinker, Max Weber called idleness a “mortal sin [and] ‘destroyer of grace’”(27). The main reason for the turn in perspective was industry. Karl Marx coined it, “the victory of industry over heroic laziness” (30). Hard work was glorified while idleness and laziness were demonized. This tension can also be seen in Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court when Hank is thrown 13 centuries in the past. He came into King Arthur’s court with the values of the 19^th century’s industrial revolution including a strong value for hard work, “I’m not a man to waste time now that my mind is made up and there’s work on hand” (19). Many of the people he interacted with at the beginning of the book he deemed, childish and naïve in one instance he called them “white Indians” (21). This superiority complex comes partly from his perception of the local people as lazy and not understanding how to utilize hard work and be productive.

Currently, Americans hold the same ideas as Hank and many philosophers in the Human motor; idleness is a sin. Growing up one is expected to get a job and be a “productive member of society”. I believe this philosophy has created the particular political climate we see ourselves in today. With many jobs being exported out of the country, taken over by machines, or “taken” by illegal immigrants America finds itself with an excess of workers. The notion that unemployment, or a lack of work, is a reflection of a person’s character comes out of the industrial age and people are feeling this shame. The uprising of many Americans voting for a man who’s main political stance is building a wall to keep jobs in the United States reflects the desperate times many Americans are going through. In many ways Trump could have been seen as their only hope to gain back their previously held status as a member of the work force and a productive member of society. I would like to mention the democratic party has a much more effective way of finding jobs for the unemployed, however, the sentiment of Trump’s campaign captured more of a reaction.

During our class discussion on Thursday, we began to relate our readings with the documentary that we watched in class. The common theme that we discovered involved the reciprocal relationship between work and leisure. In the documentary, The White Fair was the biggest display of work that the World had ever seen thus far. It took over 40,000 workmen to build the Fair grounds. Some people were working by choice in order to compete with other people (or countries). Before this time, people’s work was basic and need-based. But now, they were beginning to relate working with leisure. What the workers put in, the Fair got out. Their hard work created leisurely experiences for millions, including the workers who helped build the place. People could spend the 25 cents to go on the Farris Wheel and enjoy the spectacles. This was a time where people could see the “fruits of their labor”.

In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Hank Morgan experienced a world in which work and leisure operated in an unbalanced system. The peasants would be forced to work endless hours every day to not only provide from themselves, but for the Lords, King, and other people who were of a higher social standing. While this system was delightful for the Lords, Knights, and Kings, it was miserable for the peasants. They received little to no leisure time and when they did, it was nearly not enough to refuel their mental emotional and physical state to work at an efficient level. The relationship between work and leisure this time was not reciprocal, and therefore it was unbalanced.

This made me think about something I learned in one of my Sociology classes last semester. As globalization has developed, many companies have moved the production processes of their goods to countries or people that would be willing ot supply cheap labor. As a result, several forms of alienation have taken place in the workplace. A big form of alienation that occurs is alienation between a worker and the product that they make. A lot of the times, the workers providing the cheap labor do not make enough money to buy the product they are helping to make. Studies have shown that workers alienated from their products have a lower productivity level than those that are not. In terms of leisure and work this makes total sense. A worker might be willing to put forth more work, if it helped them accomplish their leisure. In the case of alienation, if workers were able to buy the products they made, they might be more efficient in the making of these products. Some people in the past have realized this connection and adjusted their workplace accordingly. For example, Henry Ford of Ford Motors changed the working standard of the time by manipulating the work and leisure relationship. He offered a very high hourly rate to his workers, which enhanced their productivity greatly for many reasons. Firstly, no other companies were offering an hourly wage that came close to being as high as Fords. His workers therefore would work hard because they did not want to lose the high paying job that would increase their standard of living. Additionally, the higher wage of the workers made it possible for them to buy their very own Ford car. Ford’s mission was to make a car that his own workers could afford. The manipulation of the production process through the assembly line cheapened the production costs allowing Ford to be able to pay his workers more, and sell the cars for cheaper. Because the workers could now afford the car, their work was directly relating to a large section of their leisure time. The average worker could own their very own automobile. Ford’s technique changed a paradigm at the time that people had to pay their workers as less as possible to ensure a good revenue.

While the forces of globalization have furthered alienation in the workforce, many companies, like Google, are beginning to change their workers experiences to enhance productivity. Work and leisure go hand in hand, and need to be working in a balanced system with each other to produce the best results.

Jamie DeWitt

Journal #2

After watching that film on The White City, I realized how crazy it is that in the 1800’s people were capable of building a city so marvelous and spectacular. This is because we are so technologically advanced today that we constantly think about anything that happened before the 1980’s as ancient and lacking marvel. People from all around the world came in peace to experience other cultures and learn about different ways of life. This is something that I do not think would ever be able to happen today because nations no longer get along as well as we used to. While the US likes to think of itself as a peace keeper, we have developed enemies. The closest thing we have to a world’s fair now is the Olympics, which even then is not even close to the extremeness of the World’s Fair in Chicago.  Another thing that surprised me is that the White City has never been a priority in any history class or curriculum. Why do our education institutions not teach us about the great success the White City had? It was so architecturally sound and gigantic that it shrinks any other building in comparison. In my opinion, the white city was one of the biggest architectural and cultural accomplishments the US has ever had, and the world has ever seen.

Another thing that we discussed this week is the idea of our bodies being a motor, or running like motors. In my political economy class we learned about the history of the work day and how in the early ages people were only able to work from dawn to dusk because of no electricity, and many had a lot of leisure time. As companies began to form and people started to work more, leisure time slowly decreased. With the development of electricity and light, factories and offices now could run before sunrise and after sunset. Our bodies motors began ticking longer and longer. However, the biggest change was the development of the clock because it allowed for businesses to keep their workers for a maximum amount of hours to get the most work out of them. The clock made our bodies work on over time, causing them to become more tired and overworked. Our culture now changed from one of leisure to one of work. This we learned is called a paradime shift, in which something we know changes drastically which effects the way we live or see things. Now our lifestyles changed because we have less time for chores, family, sports etc because we must work more and more in order to compete with other workers.

Overall, we have realized now that as time goes on, our work drive only grows more and more. I wonder if our bodies will ever reach a point of destruction from the constant lack of sleep and over work. Where can the line be drawn where we as a society can regain leisure time and strengthen the bonds we have within our families and communities. Would shortening work hours strengthen communities and help provide more peace? Only time would tell.

One of the things I was most surprised about this week was really delving into how much technology has and continues to shape our thoughts, behaviours, and societies. For example, in the film about the Chicago’s World Fair, I was shocked by how much of the displays and attractions on which countries spent thousands of dollars were technologically driven to display the superiority of their nations. Even the displays of food and lace subtly showed the majesty of each of the nation’s technological advancement, with the food showing the connectivity of each nation, and the world as a whole; for who could transport fresh oranges thousands of miles without technology, and who could make such fine lance in such bulk without machines and power. In addition to the more amusing and appealing attractions, I found it shocking how many weapons were on display. By seeing the grandeur of the weaponry on display from several of the countries directly involved in the later wars on Europe, I couldn’t help but wonder if the drive to be the greatest at the fair did not contribute to the destruction and millions of casualties during the war which might not have been so great had the weaponry not advanced so far beyond the past war tactics. I wonder this in part due to the fact that throughout my studies of the Great War, one fact has remained glaringly obvious: while the weapons technology had advanced rapidly, the battle tactics had not, and thus even more people were killed. In addition to the massive display of superiority over one another, I found it shocking that nations used people as a part of their attractions, to show their dominance over a ‘lesser’ civilisation and to show a disparity between their wealth and advancement and that of their colony. I found this particularly disturbing not only due to the clear violation of human rights, but also due to the fact that Hank, from the Connecticut Yankee was so appalled with the slavery he saw around him in King Arthur’s time. While I had known that people were still greatly discriminated against after the abolition of slavery, particularly people from other, ‘savage’ nations, after reading Hank’s views I suppose I thought it would not have been so severe; although after having researched more about Twain’s life, it made more sense to me that his characters would share views akin to his own, rather than completely representing the ideals of the general US population, let alone the European population as well.

In addition to the film, I was interested by how much Hank’s exposure to more advanced technology altered his view of the society in sixth century England, and in King Arthur’s court. For example, if I had found myself in his position, I believe I would not try to change the communication and business aspects of the nation, which Hank chose to do – I believe in part due to the massive industrial and technological revolution which was occurring around the time the novel was written – but instead would try to improve the health and medical aspects of the country. I believe this difference to be in part personal differences, but primarily due to the differences between the worlds in which Hank and I have grown up. During his time, in the 19^th century, the industrial revolution was occurring, whereas nowadays, many of the large technological advancements are in the field of medicine. Thus, although I am personally more fascinated by medicine than some of my colleagues, I believe there to be a universal increase in interest in the medical field, more broadly in the increasing longevity of the human race.

Finally, I find it fascinating that the opinion of idleness has shifted over time, from the Grecian view of it being something which one ought to wish to obtain, to its being frowned upon to the extent that it was seen as a great sin, to now, when idleness itself is the goal and is seen as a great success, for which people toil away. The notion of idleness has always seemed hypocritical to me, being a way to oppress the masses, while seemingly not applying to the higher classes, who could elect to do things at their own leisure. Even now, though it is not frowned upon so greatly, it seems as though idleness and leisure are the ultimate goal, for which people ought to work, in some cases practically working themselves to death, rather than having people simply find worth and contentment in where they are and what they have, so that people, particularly in the states, can finally experience that what they have is enough.

I found Hank’s journey through Arthurian England as an analogy for how people go through the world. Like the Romans said “Veni, vidi, vici” he went, he saw, he became the boss, tried to takedown the church, then killed twenty- five thousand english knights with electric fences and gatling guns. No matter where people go they never seem to want it to stay the same as before they journeyed there, they always want to leave a mark, so make a change. They cause the natural to become unnatural just as Hank turned sixth century England into the industrial revolution that occurred 1300 years later. He could not sit be and enjoy a world he would have never been able to experience otherwise, he had to create advertising for the knights without a purpose, training schools for a navy that didn’t exist and altogether destroy the flow of time that existed without him. Imagine the incredible story that Twain could have told if people were beings of intrigue, adventure and had the ability to let the time move without them leading it. It could have been a fantastic adventure about a guy stuck in the constantly changing and advancing world of the industrial revolution who gets brought back to King Arthur’s time and just goes along with the world. He might save some pigs who happen to have crowns from evil pig farmers, he could be a peasant in the street who bows as the king walks by, or he could have even been mind controlled by the church to preach their values to the others of the time. Too bad he just could not let time continue as intended.