Relationship between Labor and Capital and the Problem of Alienation

1/28/2012

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term "alienation of labor" in a Marxist sense. Rather, the Church is using this economic term to describe the phenomenon of estrangement or alienation between human labor and capital caused by the disordering or confusion of ends and means or of efficient and instrumental causality.

Essentially, alienation occurs when material goods are held in greater esteem than man and his work which have spiritual, subjective realities. The spirit of alienation exists if we find Gerard Manley Hopkins' pen to be better than his poems and better than Gerard Manley Hopkins himself. Similarly, it occurs in the economic realm when we find our investment in equipment to be more valuable than the labor of the worker who uses the equipment, and more valuable than the worker himself.

The Church understands the term "labor" quite broadly to encompass any form of human contribution to production. The Church also understands that the alienation of labor occurs both quantitatively and qualitatively, and that this alienation of labor can be very subtle since it involves spiritual truths. Therefore, she warns: "One must not fall into the error of thinking that the process of overcoming the dependence of work on material is capable of overcoming alienation in the workplace or alienation of labor. The reference here is not only to the many pockets of non-work, concealed work, child labor, underpaid work, exploitation of workers--all of which still persist today--but also to new, much more subtle forms of exploitation of new sources of work, to over-working, to work-as-a-career that often takes on more importance than other human an necessary aspects, to excessive demands of work that make family life unstable and sometimes impossible, to a modular structure of work that entails the risk of serious repercussions on the unitary perception of one's existence and the stability of family relationships." (Compendium, No. 280) These are all examples of alienation of labor.

This is obviously not Marxism. It is, to borrow from Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem "To what serves Mortal Beauty," simply the Christian and common sense observation that:

Our law says: Love what are love's worthiest, were all known,
World's loveliest-men's selves.

The labor of "men's selves" is more worthy than what men have, capital. And most worthy of all are "men's selves." And if we alienate ourselves from "men's selves," which is nothing than a form of hate, we ultimately have alienated or estranged ourselves from God. For anyone who says he loves God but hates his brother is a liar. (1 John 4:20)

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Andrew M. Greenwell is an attorney licensed to practice law in Texas, practicing in Corpus Christi, Texas. He is married with three children. He maintains a blog entirely devoted to the natural law called Lex Christianorum. You can contact Andrew at agreenwell@harris-greenwell.com.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: labor, capital, human capital, social justice, dignity, work, market, economy, Andrew M. Greenwell, Esq.

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1 - 5 of 5 Comments

Rob
1 year ago
Andrew and Abbey bring up good points. I think in the debates over the economy we have lost sight of this principal. Ensuring capital is efficiently deployed, earns a return on investment etc is a good thing. But I think in today's environment capital deployment has mostly been done to earn more capital. The impact in some cases trickles down into real American jobs, but since the 90's more and more of the gains of investment in capital never trickles down. And while that is not inherently bad, I think we must ensure that if we are going to continue to have policies that allow capital to grow at the rates it has under the premise of a trickle down theory or economic growth theory, then by all means we need to hold the owners of this capital and our government to account to ensure it does. The casino that Wall Street has become has to stop. The common good is not being served by our current approach and singular focus on capital.
Andrew
1 year ago
@abey. Your point on spiritual work is a good one. Obviously the end of our work is an important feature of defining its value. Work done for evil's sake does not ennoble, and certainly doesn't advance virtue or the spiritual life.
Rob
1 year ago
I think there is no question that our entire economy has been structured with the principal that capital is valued over labor. While the owners of capital have done very, very well, those who are the laborers wages have remained stagnant or have fallen. Wealth distribution charts, disparity in pay from the CEO down to the lowest line worker make this so abundantly clear. But what probably makes this even more apparent is the growth of the financial services sector as a percentage of GDP over the last few decades. Some will say that we are all owners of capital via our ownership of stock in mutual funds, 401Ks etc and there is some truth to that. But there is a difference between having an infenticimal piece of something and being a true owner. Lest we think we do not bear any responsibility for the system we created let's not forget that we have shopped and purchased from companies who have continually devalued labor. When you considered a company as wealthy as Wal-Mart barely pays the majority of their employees above minimum wage, it's pretty clear what is thought of labor. Proof is in the pudding.
Cullen
1 year ago
Mr. Andrew-- I enjoy your articles on "work." I enjoy learning what the Church teaches on the subject. I am a blue-collar worker which means work is difficult at times but also very rewarding. I hope you keep writing about "work". I like what Blessed John Paul II said about work, "work is for man, not man for work." Work is good and helps us reach our potential and our true potential is Christ and the eternal. God Bless!
abey
1 year ago
Where physical work is to a mans necessity in his life on earth, spiritual work is the spiritual necessity to eternity. Since it is the body that leads the spirit in this life, the work of the body has to be such so as to feed the spirit, as saint Bernard says of the manner " Feed the spirit so that the spirit in turn will take care of the body" , for in the resurrection it is the Spirit which leads the body or called Spiritual body in eternity where the source is no more material but spiritual,GOD Himself, as stated in revelation-New Jerusalem. But if the work be to the body only, meaning to lusts of the flesh like in the case of Gay & gay promotions depriving & contradicting the Spiritual need leading to its enslavement, in turn the body ends in slavery, remembering that the Spirit is the basis of the Physical. GOD is spirit.

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