Dark Ghettos by Tommie Shelby

Author:Tommie Shelby
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780674970502
Publisher: Harvard University Press

What Is Work?

In debates about work and welfare, there is much ambiguity about the meaning of “work.” Articulating and defending a general account of what constitutes work would take us too far afield. But as we assess the new work regime, it will help to see that what should count as “work” depends on the point of demanding the relevant activity from the ghetto poor. If, for example, the point is to ensure that the ghetto poor are not a financial burden (“parasites” or freeloaders) on their fellow citizens, then “work” might be defined as any activity that the market remunerates. If the point is to bring discipline and order to the lives of the ghetto poor (a type of character rehabilitation), then “work” might include almost any structured and supervised activity, regardless of whether it is paid, including volunteer work or community service. If the point is to discourage the supposed vice of “welfare dependency” and to foster economic self-reliance, then any compensated activity, whether paid by private firms or by government funds, could count as “work.”

Many complain that the nonworking poor are failing to make useful contributions to society while simultaneously benefiting from the productive contributions of others. But many with this complaint regard as “work” only (legal) activities for which a person gets paid. This misleadingly conflates earning income through market-remunerated activity with making a positive contribution to society. It would leave out lots of socially beneficial activities for which people are often not paid. Feminists have argued persuasively that care work—care for children, the sick, the disabled, and the elderly—is typically performed by women, generally devalued by society, and mostly unpaid.10 Given how socially important, even necessary, such work is, this is profoundly unfair and insulting, especially if these women are also expected to do paid work and men are expected to do little, if any, care work. If the point of demanding work is that the ghetto poor should engage in activities that contribute to the public good, then care work—particularly raising children—should definitely count (see Chapter 5).

In addition, due to environmental dangers, technological advances, and an abundance of low-skilled labor in other parts of the world, it may be more efficient or otherwise beneficial to discourage some people from participating in the U.S. labor market, at least as it is currently structured. They could still do socially useful work that the market will not reward without public expenditures, such as building infrastructure, protecting the environment, maintaining public parks, and staffing public recreational facilities.

Insofar as work should involve making a positive contribution to society, one might also object to regarding as “work” certain paid activities that, though lawful, arguably have a negative impact on society, such as the production and sale of pornography or the running of gambling establishments. The fact that there is a market for such goods and services does not mean that, overall, they contribute to social welfare.

Another ambiguity in debates over work and welfare concerns time. Any duty to work must include a time dimension.

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