A Vision For a Civil Society Without Work For All

Hello

The ongoing downturn shows problems we didn’t anticipate in better times. Now we discuss the role of the state in the crisis or are condemning the scrupulous behavior of companies against employees.
But, isn’t it the wrong perspective? We know in a capitalistic system a company has to find ways to survive in a constant battle of competition. Companies have to automate production lines, to organize in a lean manner to reduce costs – all the normal measures to survive in the competitive system.
For sure, I don’t agree with the reaction of many companies. I liked they would have more creative ideas to improve now processes and implement new structural ideas (as I have written in former posts), but labor unions, politics and civil society should also take responsibility for the socio-economic system.
Unions and politics are fighting for better earnings, minimal salaries, mandatory pension, work hours, etc. That’s fine, but doesn’t prevent the society from the problems we face now.

In the crisis we realize, that important mechanism are lacking: We (all over Europe I think) have no basic state pension; we have no tax for work place reduction (e.g. a tax per workplace financing two years of unemployment insurance).
In spite of different crises during the last decades, we still think in categories of work and leisure; and work is still defined in relation to GNP. That means, it ist "work" if the ambulance brings back a dead person from an accident on the highway, but it is no work to plant your own salad or to look after your mother.
Without work, you are less worth and meaningless. We didn’t develop a culture with the value to be active, involved in different activities.
As Ralf Dahrendorf postulated perhaps 30 years ago, humans don’t need work (defined by GNP), a human being wants to be active, so let’s develop an activity-oriented society (not a consumer- or leisure-oriented society).
I think our educational system is wrong too. We develop more and more diploma like Bachelors, Masters,… but what for? These diploma are work oriented, generating the hope for jobs and higher income – nobody will look for education only to develop his personality or just for fun. In contrary edu is a business itself. In principle education should be free for everybody without the possibility to make profit on the institutional side.

For all this ideas we can find examples or theories: In Denmark, I’ve seen Grundtvig-Schools where directors and young people - employed or unemployed – were involved together in different activities. There was no diploma at the end.
In the 70th economists (not left-wing people) have developed new tax and pension models .– but nothing was implemented. There was also the idea to give everybody bonuses for education at birth. But nothing was implemented

Now, in the crisis, we lack such developments and people blame managers and principles of the capitalistic system.
Again, companies should react differently as I explained in former posts, but also the civl society should act more pro-active and develop a vision for a society without work for all but meaningful activities, education and money for all. Such a vision would change also the behavior of companies.

What do you think about?

Best regards,
Willi Fehlmann