Abstract
Meaningful work is both a moral issue and an economic one. Studies show that workers’ experience of meaninglessness in their jobs contributes to job dissatisfaction which has negative effects to business. If having a meaningful work is essential for the well-being of workers, providing them with one is an ethical requirement for business establishments. The essay aims to articulate an account of meaningful work in the Catholic social teachings (CST). CST rejects the subjectivist and relativist notion of work which affirms the absolute freedom of individuals to choose their commitment and goals, even if this includes experiencing satisfaction in dehumanizing work. First, the paper will present a summary account of some of the current views on meaningful work from the objective-normative approach. This will be followed by a systematic treatment of the meaning and value of work in the CST, the similarities and differences it has with alternative views, and its implications for the way we promote meaningful work. The paper will argue that by recognizing the subjective and objective dimensions of work and affirming that although the two are inseparable, the former takes priority over the latter; CST develops a holistic, comprehensive, and coherent account of meaningful work which overcomes some of the difficulties that are usually encountered in dealing with this issue from a purely objective approach.
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Notes
Catholic social teachings refer to a wide variety of documents of the magisterium of the Catholic Church which respond to the changing social and economic challenges of the modern world. “There is no canonical or official list of the documents belonging to Catholic social teachings” (Aubert and Boileau 2003, p. 17). “Beginning with Leo XIII and his encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891), which addressed some of the problems that were emerging in the relationship of management and labor due to the great changes brought about by the Industrial Age, every pope thereafter would utilize his office to address social concerns” (McKenna 2002, p. 13).
In his reply to his critics, Bowie says that he has no problem amending his account of meaningful work to include intellectual virtues and psychological goods. He writes, “I would like to continue the conversation to see if a Kantian and an Aristotelian convergence might develop around a self-fulfillment theory of a meaningful work” (2012, p. 187).
Criticisms have been leveled against the implication of Kant’s notion of imperfect duty for business. Imperfect duty gives one a wide range of options because it does not specify any particular course of action to achieve an end. “This means one is duty bound to do something, sometime, to help others in need but one need not help on every occasion—beneficence in this case, is optional” (Ohreen and Petry 2012, p. 369).
See also John Paul II (1987, no. 1).
Because metaphysics is necessary to ground human rights and dignity, CST is normative in its orientation as it analyzes and judges human experience in the light of the Divine truth and the philosophy of being of the Christian tradition, while at the same time assimilating the insights of the entire philosophical tradition, the most important of which is the subjectivity of the human person.
John Paul II (1981, no. 6).
“Since more often, however, decisions concerning economic and social conditions, on which the future lot of the workers and of their children depends, are made not within the business itself but by institutions on a higher level, the workers themselves should have a share also in determining these conditions—in person or through freely elected delegates” (Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes 1965, no. 68).
See Executive Office of the President Council of Economic Advisers (2010), Work-Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility.
“Work-family enrichment occurs when resources from one role improve performance or positive affect in the other role” (Tummers and den Dulk 2011, p. 7).
“Rest (combined with religious observances) disposes man to forget for a while the business of his everyday life, to turn his thoughts to things heavenly, and to the worship which he so strictly owes to the eternal Godhead” (Leo XIII 1891, no. 41).
“Worthy work is work that is morally and/or esthetically valuable. It is objective” (Ciulla 2012, p. 126).
See Melé (2005) for some examples on how the principle of subsidiarity can be implemented in business organizations.
See John Paul II (1981, no. 9).
See Cherrington (1980, pp. 230, 266–269).
“I wish to consider meaningful work independently of whether or not it is prudent, practical, or politically feasible to claim it as an employee right” (Desjardins 2012, p. 146).
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Tablan, F. Catholic Social Teachings: Toward a Meaningful Work. J Bus Ethics 128, 291–303 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2104-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2104-0