{{Short description|Philosophy that respects all forms of labor equally}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}The '''dignity of labour''' or the '''dignity of work''' is the philosophical holding that all types of [[Job (role)|jobs]] are respected equally, and no occupation is considered superior and none of the jobs should be discriminated on any basis. This view holds that all types of work (jobs) are necessary in a society and it is absolutely wrong to consider any work good or bad: the work itself is a dignity.
Scottish [[philosopher]] [[Thomas Carlyle]] has been cited as "the first to espouse the 'dignity of work'".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rowland |first=Tim |title='Labor is Life' or 'Workers of the world, unite'? Future of capitalism lies in the middle |url=https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/story/opinion/columns/2022/09/12/where-do-employee-and-employer-share-productivity-in-harmony-capitalism-socialism-tim-rowland/66769673007/ |access-date=2023-03-18 |website=Herald-Mail Media |language=en-US}}</ref> In ''[[Past and Present (book)|Past and Present]]'' (1843), he wrote: <blockquote>Labour is Life: from the inmost heart of the Worker rises his god-given Force, the sacred celestial Life-essence breathed into him by Almighty God; from his inmost heart awakens him to all nobleness,—to all knowledge, 'self-knowledge' and much else, so soon as Work fitly begins.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of Collected Works, Volume XIII. Past and Present, by Thomas Carlyle. |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26159/26159-h/26159-h.htm |access-date=2023-04-08 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref></blockquote>
Former U.S. President [[Joe Biden]] made restoring "the dignity of work" a central tenet of his [[Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign|2020 campaign]] and [[Presidency of Joe Biden|administration]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=House |first=The White |date=2022-09-05 |title=Remarks by President Biden Celebrating Labor Day and the Dignity of American Workers |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/09/05/remarks-by-president-biden-celebrating-labor-day-and-the-dignity-of-american-workers/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=The White House |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=House |first=The White |date=2023-02-08 |title=Remarks of President Joe Biden – State of the Union Address as Prepared for Delivery |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/02/07/remarks-of-president-joe-biden-state-of-the-union-address-as-prepared-for-delivery/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=The White House |language=en-US}}</ref>
== About == Social reformers such as [[Basava]] and his contemporary Sharanas, as well as [[Mahatma Gandhi]], were prominent advocates of the dignity of labour.<ref>{{cite web |last=Suryanarayanan |first=A. N. |date=2009 |title=Dignity of labour |url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/24246/dignity-labour.html |publisher=The Deccan Herald}}</ref>
The dignity of labour is one of the major themes in [[Christian ethics]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Osborn|first=Andrew Rule|title=Christian Ethics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r6BuAAAAMAAJ|access-date=4 July 2016|year=1940|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|language=en|page=64|quote=This conception of the divine dignity of work is distinctive of Hebrew and Christian Ethics.}}</ref> and as such, it is upheld by the [[Anglican Communion]],<ref name="Norman2003">{{cite book|last=Norman|first=Edward|title=An Anglican Catechism|date=1 May 2003|publisher=A&C Black|language=en |isbn=9780826467003|page=146|quote=The Church upholds the dignity of labour, whether it is in productive or service work, or whether it is in the rearing of children and the maintenance of the home.}}</ref> in [[Catholic social teaching]], in [[Methodist]] principles,<ref name="Bundy1979">{{cite book|last=Bundy|first=Colin|title=The Rise and Fall of the South African Peasantry|year=1979|publisher=University of California Press|language=en|isbn=9780520037540|page=[https://archive.org/details/risefallofsoutha0000bund/page/39 39]|quote=Methodist teaching, especially, favoured the creation of wage-earners and stressed the dignity of labour and desirability of manual skills.|url=https://archive.org/details/risefallofsoutha0000bund/page/39}}</ref> and in [[Reformed church|Reformed]] theology.<ref name="Ogier1996">{{cite book|last=Ogier|first=Darryl Mark|title=Reformation and Society in Guernsey|year=1996|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|language=en|isbn=9780851156033|page=173|quote=Work discipline was engendered through such measures, and through the general (Calvinist-inspired) emphasis on the dignity of labour in one's calling.}}</ref>
In Roman Catholicism, usually titled "The dignity of work and the rights of workers" the affirmation of the dignity of human labour is found in several papal [[encyclical]]s, most notably [[Pope John Paul II]]'s ''[[Laborem Exercens]]'', published 15 September 1981.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers |url=http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/the-dignity-of-work-and-the-rights-of-workers.cfm |website=United States Conference of Catholic Bishops}}</ref>
In his 2021 book ''[[The Tyranny of Merit]],'' philosopher [[Michael Sandel]] says that a spiritual revolution that celebrates the dignity of labour rather than [[meritocracy]] is the way to rectify the loss of faith in institutions evidenced in [[populism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sandel |first=Michael J. |title=The tyranny of merit: what's become of the common good? |date=2021 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-199117-7 |location=London}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Christianity}} *[[Critique of work]] *[[Decent work]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == ; Books *{{Cite book |last=Hodson |first=Randy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwVKKFDfIeMC |title=Dignity at Work |date=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-77812-1 }} *{{Cite book |last=Lamont |first=Michèle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ehXs95d-BU4C |title=The Dignity of Working Men: Morality and the Boundaries of Race, Class, and Immigration |date=2009 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-03988-9}} *{{Cite book |last=Gomez |first=Napoleon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mws3EAAAQBAJ |title=Collapse of Dignity: The Story of a Mining Tragedy and the Fight Against Greed and Corruption in Mexico |date=2013 |publisher=BenBella Books |isbn=978-1-939529-26-8 }} *{{Cite book |last=Bal |first=Matthijs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nx8vDwAAQBAJ |title=Dignity in the Workplace: New Theoretical Perspectives |date=2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-55245-3 }} *{{Cite book |last=Willen |first=Sarah S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=coq5DwAAQBAJ |title=Fighting for Dignity: Migrant Lives at Israel's Margins |date=2019 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-5134-0}}
; Journals *{{Cite journal |last=Spencer |first=T |date=13 January 1844 |title=Dignity of Labour |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/32b6b5d9dad28a3d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=374 |journal=Chambers's Edinburgh Journal |issue=2 |url-access=limited |via=32-32}} *{{Cite journal |last=Devas |first=C S |date=October 1887 |title=The Rights and Dignity of Labour |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/5461d8518dc47de9/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=394 |journal=The Dublin Review |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=467–469 |url-access=limited}} *{{Cite journal |last=Sarkar |first=Santanu |date=2007 |title=The Struggle to be a Part: Story of Dignity of Indian Labour |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275715674 |journal=The Indian Journal of Labour Economics |volume=50 |issue=2 |via=ResearchGate}} *{{Cite journal |last=King |first=Barry |date=2010 |title=On the new dignity of labour |url=http://www.ephemerajournal.org/contribution/new-dignity-labour |journal=Ephemera Journal |volume=10 |issue=3/4 |pages=285–302}} *{{Cite journal |last=Nkosi |first=Lethiwe |date=2011 |title=Kenneth Kaunda : the dignity of labour |url=https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/EJC168753 |journal=African Yearbook of Rhetoric |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=61–66 |hdl=10520/EJC168753 }} *{{Citation |last=Ban |first=Wang |title=Dignity of Labour |date=2019 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvk3gng9.14 |work=Afterlives of Chinese Communism |pages=73–76 |editor-last=Sorace |editor-first=Christian |series=Political Concepts from Mao to Xi |publisher=ANU Press |jstor=j.ctvk3gng9.14 |isbn=978-1-78873-476-9 |editor2-last=Franceschini |editor2-first=Ivan |editor3-last=Loubere |editor3-first=Nicholas}}
; Articles *{{Cite web |date=2 July 1853 |title=The Dignity of Labor |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-dignity-of-labor-1853-07-02/ |website=Scientific American}} *{{Cite journal |last=Blackie |first=J S |date=January 1879 |title=The Dignity of Labour |journal=[[Good Words]] |volume=20 |pages=837–840}} *{{Cite web |last=Somavia |first=Juan |date=31 March 2015 |title=Valuing the dignity of work |url=https://hdr.undp.org/en/content/valuing-dignity-work |website=Human Development Reports UNDP}} *{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=William P. |date=Summer 2020 |title=The Dignity of Labor |url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-dignity-of-labor |website=Dissent Magazine}}
[[Category:Labor]] [[Category:Christian ethics]] [[Category:Gandhism]] [[Category:Egalitarianism]] [[Category:Social justice]]