Grounds for a critique of the centrality of work

Abstract

After identifying and describing five important aspects concerning the issue of work at the present time, this paper seeks to present arguments for a critique of one of them: the Marxist stream that defends the centrality of work. To that end, we argue that the concept of work is an abstraction resulting from the bourgeois practice and mentality which has also contributed to an inversion in the social values of productive activities. Devalued in practically all former class societies, productive activities, with capitalism, gained a noble status, being considered the source of property (Locke), wealth (Smith) and capital (Marx). Marx stressed the importance of productive activities when he stated that work is a natural and permanent activity of mankind, one that is also responsible for our humanization. In the present paper we criticize this naturalization of a specific characteristic of capitalist culture. Finally, following Marx, we argue that the tendency to save work time is subverting the notion of centrality of work in capitalism itself.