American Work Values

Beginning with the Lutheran-Calvinist support of work for the glory of God, the book's focus shifts to the change in work values that occurred from early industrialization in America to the end of the Great Depression, a period characterized by both opportunity and alienation. The modern trends that followed led to the empowerment of employees even as that empowerment tested the values of such participation in a climate of rampant downsizing. The book also deals with the debates related to work and welfare that simmered during these transformations. Whether it involved policy-makers in sixteenth-century Europe or wonks in the Washington of 1996, controversy over public assistance to the deserving and undeserving poor remained a raging controversy that spilled over into the debate on affirmative action.