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WORK IS THE CORE HUMAN INSTINCT OR VALUE
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- Abraham H. Maslow
WORK IS THE CORE HUMAN INSTINCT OR VALUE1. HUMANS BASIC FUNCTION IS WORK Paul Craig Roberts and Matthew A. Stephenson, NQA, MARX’S THEORY OF EXCHANGE, ALIENATION, AND CRISIS, 1973, p.2. For Marx, man’s human function is work. Man realizes himself in labor. In economies organized for production for direct use, the relations between men are convivial rather than commercial, and society has control over the allocation and employment of labor. This follows from producing use-values for direct consumption by the community rather than “commodities” which find their way into consumption indirectly by being sold in a market. 2. WORK IS AT CENTER OF INDIVIDUAL VALUES Karl Marx & Frederich Engels, THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, 1948, p. 15. In proportion as the bourgeoisie, i.e., capital, is developed, in the same proportion is the proletariat, the modem working class, developed--a class of laborers, who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labor increases capital. These laborers, who must sell themselves piecemeal, are a commodity, like every other article of commerce, and are consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition to all the fluctuations of the market.
Paul Craig Roberts and Matthew A. Stephenson, NQA, MARX’S THEORY OF EXCHANGE, ALIENATION, AND CRISIS, 1973, p. 45. This makes it clear that Marx’s condemnation of capitalism is not based solely on the intensity of exploitation and the fact that extracted surplus value becomes the private property of the exploiter. Rather, his condemnation is based on the social form of labor, and therefore on the form of social organization that results when the purpose of production is exchange. The capitalist may increase his extraction of surplus value by lengthening the working day or by forcing the worker to work harder, but his attempts will be limited by the lessened efficiency of the labor force, and the wise capitalist knows that he must husband his machinery, land and labor resources because they are necessary for continuing production.
Human Motivation (1908-1970)Psychologist Abraham Maslow’s classic work Motivation and Personality (1954) formed the foundation for most of his later research. In his classic text, he maintains that all human needs may be grouped into five major categories. Commonly referred to as “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,” these categories are arranged into a pyramid-like structure of importance so that the needs at one level must be minimally met before one is motivated by higher level needs. In other words, according to Maslow, only unsatisfied needs are motivators of behavior. His theory continues to be used in a wide variety of contexts including psychology, education, business, and cultural studies. Some of the central ideas of Maslow’s theory include: humans have an innate tendency to move toward higher levels of health, creativity, and self-fulfillment; neurosis may be regarded as a blockage of the tendency toward self-actualization; and business efficiency and personal growth are not incompatible. Indeed, Maslow argued, self-actualization leads individuals to the highest levels of efficiency (Motivation and Personality, 1987). This biographical sketch will further define and explain Maslow’s hierarchy of basic needs. It will also expand on the hierarchy by explaining what happens when these basic needs go unmet. Finally, it will explain the pervasive nature of the basic needs, which span cultures. In his hierarchy, Maslow’s first, and most important type of needs include the “physiological” ones. These needs include food, water, sex, sleep, etc. The desire to satisfy the physiological needs is most pronounced in people who are poverty stricken (i.e., the hungry, the homeless). For such individuals, their greatest motivator is to meet their physiological needs. For example, in a person who is lacking food, the need to satisfy hunger is a stronger force than fulfilling other needs such as finding safety, love, or esteem. It is only when hunger and other first level needs are satisfied that other “higher” order needs emerge. The “safety” needs are the second category of needs, according to Maslow. Children, in particular, demonstrate the need for safety in their preference for routine or organization in their lives. Within Maslow’s second level, behaviors such as parental arguing, physical assault, separation, divorce, or death within the family may be particularly threatening to a child. This need for safety can also be seen in adults who desire to live in a “safe” residence or in those who avoid unfamiliar situations. Third in Maslow’s hierarchy are the “love” needs. Generally, these emerge only when the safety needs are met. Examples of unfulfilled needs at this level include people who desire children, a spouse, or friends. Such individuals seek affection and belonging within a group in order to meet these needs. According to Maslow, these love needs are so significant that the lack of satisfying these needs is a major cause of psychological maladjustment. The “esteem” needs are the fourth category of importance for Maslow. He maintains that all people have a need for a stable high evaluation of themselves, for self-respect or self-esteem. These needs may be classified into two subsets. First there is the desire for strength, achievement, adequacy, independence, and freedom. Second is the desire for reputation or prestige, recognition, attention, importance, and appreciation. When the esteem needs are satisfied, an individual has a greater potential for self-confidence, worth, strength, capability and adequacy. Maslow’ s studies indicate that such needs are present in all healthy adults. “Self-actualization” is the fifth and final set of needs identified by Maslow. Achieving self-actualization rests on the prior satisfaction of the physiological, safety, love, and esteem needs. Even if all the needs below self actualization are met, we may still experience discontent and restlessness. In healthy people, there is a drive to become more or better than what one is. Maslow identifies this as an inherent drive in people when he suggests that “What a man can be, he must be” (Maslow, 1954). This illustrates the need for self-actualization. It refers to the desire for achieving what one is capable of becoming. While the idea of a “hierarchy” gives the impression that the needs are fixed in order, Maslow argues that that may not necessarily be the case. Some people, for example, have a greater need for love, creativity, etc., in which case those needs would take precedence over some of the others. While it is true, according to Maslow, that individuals have differing levels of desire for a particular need, he also asserts that when the psychological needs (i.e., esteem, love, self-actualization) are thwarted in one’s development, it can lead to some significant psychological problems. Maslow maintains that individual psychological health is based largely on whether our love needs in particular are satisfied. Effects such as maladjustment, inability to maintain relationships, neuroses, etc., result when our basic psychological needs go unmet. This is where the true significance of Maslow’s theory lies. What is also remarkable about Maslow’s theory of motivation is that, while researchers have maintained that our needs or drives are determined culturally, Maslow maintains that the basic needs may indeed cross cultural lines. Particularly relevant to the self-actualization needs, Maslow asserts that while the ways in which we self-actualize are culture-bound, the need to do so is not. For example, in some cultures hunting may be prized by society, in others, becoming educated may be valued. Despite the specific ways that healthy individuals self-actualize, what they have in common is that they desire and strive to do it. Maslow’ s theory is often criticized for its simplicity and its lack of empirical support. Indeed, Maslow maintains in his writing that such theory is difficult to support. Instead, he suggests that researchers continue to try and disprove his theory. Most of his theory is based on clinical research on psychotherapists and their patients. While the theory has its shortcomings, it is still widely used as a theory of motivation in psychology and related fields. The simplest integration of Maslow into debate revolves around his hierarchy of needs. The debater could use Maslow to set up a criteria. The debater could argue that the most important values are physiological, while the least important values are self-actualization. For example, in a debate where self-actualization values and physiological values are being advocated, the debater could integrate Maslow to argue that physiological values are more important. 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