The Evolution of Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Evolution of Work - Essay Example This paper will show that the very definition of work has changed as history progressed which, in turn, was due to extensive economic development. As parameters for this essay, it will first detail the general meaning of work then it will focus on the American sense of work ethics. For the following paragraphs, this paper will expound on the historical context of work. It will then relate work to the religion of American Protestantism. Thereafter, the significant changes in American work ethics will be tackled with relations to historical progress and economic development. In the denotative aspect of work, the word means the physical or mental effort and activity directed towards the production or the accomplishment of a particular task. The applications of this word towards everyday life give work a complex meaning due to the ever changing events in human activity. It is in this sense that historical contextualization becomes important in the understanding of the development of the word. One notable event in history which gave work a turning definition was during the 15th to the 16th centuries where the Age of Navigation was at its height and the colonial period took its hold upon history. What was the primary objective of work during such period? Work and its meaning can be defined in two ways: one was in the context of the colonizers, and the other was in the context of the colonized.... The objectives of the colonizers sounded good because they had this promise of a better life for the un-colonized. Education and the introduction of civilization through conquest was the primary way of bringing the good life that they were experiencing at their homelands. This definition was not the same for the colonized. For the natives of the Western colonizers, the definition of work was a form of acculturation and conforming to the demands of their masters (Geddes). Although the promise of a better life through economic development was presented as a compromise of being colonies, the ultimate benefit of this process of colonization was one-sided – it was only beneficial to the colonizers. Exploitation of natural resources and the development of slavery were the major products of this period in history. It was the burden of the Western powers to civilize the natives and to take the economic advantages for themselves as part of development for their motherland (Geddes). Hen ce, work for the colonized natives meant the physical aspect of its denotative definition. They were subjected into forced labour, like that of the corvee of the British Empire in India. Work for the colonized was difficult because they had to endure the dictates of the colonizers accompanied by eventual abuses by their masters (Geddes). As economic development happened with historical progress, the definition of work became complex. Mercantilism was shut down and capitalism took its beginnings through the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. It was in this moment that complexity in work entered due to the technological developments of that time. New machinery was introduced;