As we waited in the barber shop for our turn in the chair, the four of us talked about our jobs. We were all men in our 30’s and 40’s, and apparently we were all working extremely hard.
The banker was putting in 60-70 hour weeks; the construction worker had nagging aches and pains all over his body; and the traveling sales rep only got to see his family twice a month. I couldn’t help myself, and joined the competition by talking about how I hadn’t had a true day off in over a month.
What struck me about the conversation was that we were all bragging, but not about the quality of our work or anything we had accomplished. It was simply the fact that we were working hard - too hard, in fact - and that we were making great sacrifices for ourselves and our families.
This equating of hard work with virtue is a direct result of the Protestant Work Ethic. Calvinist in its roots, this ethic came to define both the religious and economic sensibilities of American culture. The focus on hard work, discipline, and frugality went hand in hand with many significant developments such as the birth of modern capitalism, the Industrial Revolution, and the rise of the middle class - and with new levels of abuse and oppression of the working class.
With its mixed legacy, and with 21st century realities of greater technology and abundance, perhaps it’s time to recognize that the Protestant Work ethic has outlived its usefulness. As the four of us in the barber shop revealed, it has now become a chain that is creating a whole new type of bondage.
At some point in the 20th century, our major economic challenge shifted. We no longer struggle to provide enough of what everyone needs. Instead, the challenge has become having enough jobs available so that everyone can earn a living. In other words, we don’t need to work long hours to survive anymore, and we do so only because we are in unnecessary competition with one another.
It doesn’t help that we have forgotten the discipline and frugality parts of the Protestant Work Ethic, and now worship at the altar of hard work so we can participate in a runaway culture of materialism and consumerism.
I often feel the weight of these chains myself. Even as I write about the need to move past the Protestant Work Ethic, a part of me struggles with that same compulsion to stay busy. If I don’t put in at least an 8-workday, or a 50-hour workweek, I feel like I’m slacking and unworthy of my job - even if I’ve accomplished a lot and the job is going very well.
What glorious freedom is to be found in no longer feeling bound by that compulsion to always be working hard!
How liberating would it be for that banker to be able to say at 3:00 in the afternoon, “I just did the good work of helping a couple buy a house. I’m going to leave early and take my wife out for dinner instead of working late.”
Or if the construction worker could say, “My back is really sore this week. I’m going to take a long weekend and get healed up, so I don’t run the risk of a debilitating injury.” Or if the traveling sales rep felt free to say, “I’ve been on the road for over a week. I’m going to cancel my last two stops and go home to see my kids.”
What if we could find as much virtue in those responses as we do in, “I’ve been working so hard lately. I haven’t had a day off in I don’t know how long”?
Unfortunately, most workers don’t enjoy such freedom. This drive to hard work is now being used to create a whole new type of underclass - rich in "stuff" but poor in the intangible things that make life worthwhile. This collective drive toward "more" creates an overall culture of idolizing work which makes its hard for individuals to break free, even when they desire to. Only when these systematic issues are addressed, and our culture as a whole is able to make a shift away from the Protestant Work Ethic, will these chains be loosened.
We as church leaders are being called to help start this shift by freeing ourselves and our congregations from outdated expectations on success and hard work. That will be the subject of part 2 of “Beyond the Protestant Work Ethic.”
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