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Good Ideas Are Just the Beginning

Capitalism has come to dominate essentially all aspects of human life, so much so that
society is now ruled by what Jeff Noonan calls the money value system.i Because of the
money value system, Americans are increasingly spending more of their lives working. In The
Problem with Work, Kathi Weeks offers two economic proposals that seek to create more free
time for Americans: a guaranteed basic income and reducing the work day from eight to six
hours without reducing pay.ii Are Kathi Weeks proposals an effective means for ensuring that
people have more free time? Does Weeks make a convincing argument for why her proposed
reforms will create more free time? I argue that while Weeks offers valuable economic
proposals for securing more free time and compelling arguments on how these reforms could
improve society, the reforms alone are not enough to ensure that Americans will have more free
time as she overlooks several factors that may reduce their effectiveness. First I will describe the
role that work plays in peoples lives according to Weeks. Next I will expound on Weeks
reforms and what she anticipates will be their effects on peoples lives. Lastly I will evaluate
Weeks proposals based on how Jeff Noonan, William Scheuerman, and P.J. Brendese may
respond to them.
Kathi Weeks presents work in a political context rather than in a purely economic one.iii
Weeks sets out on this endeavor in part because, given the fact that people work so long and so
hard, she is confused as to why people not only are complacent in a system which requires that
so much of their life is spent working, many people are gladly living for work.iv Work is held in
such high regard that it appears to be valued more than other activities.v Instead of recognizing
that working to earn a living is a socially constructed stipulation of human life, work has in
essence been re-imagined as something that is part of the natural order.vi The re-imagination

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of what work is has subsequently led people to focus on the problems with work only as they
pertain to a specific job or lack thereof rather than treating work as a requirement, work as a
system, work as a way of life as the fundamental problems.vii The failure by political theorists
to highlight the larger political problems with work thus depoliticizing it, along with the sharp
decline of union membership in the United States, has hindered antiwork activism and the
prospects for inventing postwork alternatives.viii
Weeks contends that we are forced to work by a social system that ensures that working
is the only way that most of us can meet our basic needs.ix Furthermore, Weeks asserts that
work is the primary means by which individuals are integrated not only into the economic
system, but also into social, political, and familial modes of cooperation.x Work conditions
people to play a specific role within these systems including that of a disciplined individual,
governable subject, worthy citizen, and responsible family member.xi In addition, work is
characterized as being honorable and having moral value.xii Those who defend and encourage
working long hours glamorize work as being a main source of individual growth, selffulfillment, social recognition, and status.xiii Weeks does not reject work altogether or deny that
there is some value in work including its productivity aspect.xiv Her claim is that society places
too much emphasis on work by making it an object of desire and privileged field of aspiration,
rather than focusing on other modes of experiencing the same satisfaction that can come from
work or focusing on other pleasures that we may wish to discover, cultivate, and enjoy.xv
In short, Weeks concludes that Americans lives revolve around work: it is an integral
part of our culture. In her view, we need to de-emphasize and de-prioritize work to a certain
extent. But since working is necessary in order to meet our basic needs, Weeks first proposal,
which says that Americans should get a guaranteed basic income, can help to reduce the

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dependency on work and give people more freedom in their lives.xvi Weeks defines basic
income as an income paid unconditionally to individuals regardless of their family or household
relationships, regardless of other incomes, and regardless of their past, present, or future
employment status.xvii To be more precise, she calls for a basic livable income that would
give people the option of not having to work.xviii Furthermore, Weeks says that the basic income
should be unconditional and paid as a social wage rather than as a lump sum.xix A basic
income would allow people to free themselves from the tight grip that work has on their lives,
and it would give them the opportunity not just to have, do, or be what we already want, do, or
are, but it may also allow us to consider and experiment with different kinds of lives, with
wanting, doing, and being otherwise.xx Ending the dependence on work as the only means for
fulfilling ones basic needs will give people the prospect of freedom in and over their lives to
reconfigure and reimagine the structures, relations, values, experiences, and meaning of
work.xxi
Weeks second proposal, reducing the work day from eight to six hours without reducing
pay, is imperative for her because Americans are increasingly working more hours and spending
more time on work related activities.xxii Weeks anticipates that this reform will improve the
quality of life, and one of the aims of the reform is to incite a challenge to the basic structure
of work and the needs, desires, and expectations that are attached to it.xxiii The manner in which
this proposal is framed is crucial to its success. The demand must have broad appeal, should be
an effective means for improving peoples lives, and should transcend traditional gender roles in
terms of employment and household duties.xxiv Working shorter hours will allow people to
claim the time to reinvent our lives, to reimagine and redefine the spaces, practices, and
relationships of nonwork time.xxv Weeks recognizes and embraces the fact that her proposals

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are rather ambitious. She believes that it is valuable to have ambitious demands because they
can open up a public debate about the present and future status of work and provide an avenue
for developing a critical discourse on work values.xxvi
Jeff Noonan contends that the influence of capitalism on society must first be diminished
before time can truly be experienced as free.xxvii This is because the money value system is so
engraved in the American psyche that only activities which contribute to the capitalist system are
seen as valuable and worthy of praise.xxviii While Weeks proposals may create more free time
for Americans, the prevalence of the money value system does not necessarily mean that the
extra time will truly be free and spent on anything of substance such as discovering and enjoying
new pleasures. If people choose to spend their free time on further contributing to capitalism and
reinforcing the money value system, rather than on tasks which may help cultivate their own
possibilities and desires as Weeks intends, then they will continue to fail to realize the life-value
potential that reduced demands on their labour time create.xxix Unless the money value system
that governs American society is subverted, the free time that may result from Weeks reforms
may be reduced to yet another portion of peoples lives being captured by capitalism. Weeks is
less critical of society than Noonan is, and she believes that if people had more time they would
use it in a productive manner.xxx Perhaps she has a bit too much faith in the American people.
Weeks shorter work day proposal would presumably have to be signed into law in order
to be binding on employers. One suggestion Weeks gives on how to pay for a guaranteed basic
income program is to implement a more modernized, effective, and progressive tax system,
which would surely mean taxing employers at a higher rate.xxxi These laws would, in theory,
help Weeks proposals achieve what they intend. In reality, however, we have seen that too
often employers do not abide by labor laws and find loopholes in the tax system that allow them

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to pay little or no taxes.xxxii Social acceleration has contributed to the rise of transnational
corporations which essentially operate with impunity.xxxiii It is now widely acknowledged that
the relative mobility and vast size of the TNCs sometimes allow them to neutralize the regulatory
capacities of the nation-state.xxxiv In addition, TNCs are a major part of the world economy and
thus can exert tremendous influence on governments.xxxv Countries are often forced to bend
over backward in order to attract and keep foreign business for fear that the TNCs will simply
move to another country.xxxvi Weeks does not anticipate what the negative implications of her
proposals may be on the U.S. economy. Given the power of global business, taxing them at a
higher rate and forcing them to pay full time wages for six hour workdays may cause more harm
than good to the overall economy. Businesses could close operations in the U.S. and move
somewhere with more favorable tax and labor policies. Weeks may respond to this limitation of
her proposals by stating that the reforms and the overall movement for workers rights are
designed precisely to provide leverage when negotiating with employers. This would be an
unfortunate underestimation of the power and influence that TNCs possess.
If Weeks proposed reforms were enacted, they would more than likely be available only
to people with full citizenship rights. Weeks seems to assume that citizenship is easily
attainable, or maybe she is only concerned with securing more free time for those who already
have the privilege of citizenship. In either case, she is neglecting a large number of workers that
would not benefit from her proposals. In 2011, the Pew Hispanic Center claimed that
abouteight million immigrants were working illegally in the U.S.xxxvii Businesses are able to
exploit these workers because immigration policy and the capitalist system have created the
ideal migrant, the temporary worker stripped of labor rights and the entitlements of
citizenship.xxxviii Of course Weeks proposals are not expected to repair a broken immigration

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system. However, the challenge to the structure of work and the increase in workers leverage
that Weeks is trying to produce with her proposals may not be achieved unless all workers can
enjoy the benefits of the reforms. The shorter work day can be undermined by illegal workers
that are willing to work longer hours for less pay because they have no rights.xxxix In addition,
the leverage to negotiate for higher wages and benefits that could result from having a
guaranteed basic income would be undercut if citizens were forced to compete with
undocumented workers for employment.xl Weeks may respond to the minimization of her
proposals by stating that they are not supposed to solve all problems with work and would at
minimum incite a serious discussion about the influence that it has over peoples lives. She
would be right to say that there is no perfect solution that could encapsulate all of the problems
that work and capitalism have created in society, but her proposals cannot have the impact that
she aspires to unless they benefit all workers within the U.S., even those who are here illegally.
While Weeks proposals to give Americans a guaranteed basic income and reduce the
work day from six to eight hours without reducing pay are attractive, may help to secure some
free time, and can challenge the American-capitalist creed which says that life should revolve
around work, these reforms alone would most likely not lead to the creation of substantive free
time or have a significant influence on work and society because of the money value system, the
influence of business on all aspects of society, and the exclusion of a large subset of workers
from the reforms benefits. Before Weeks proposals can be implemented and be useful for
creating substantive free time, there needs to be a reprogramming of the money value mindset,
and the proposals must be accompanied by a broad array of reforms to society, government, and
the capitalist system. At this point America is not ready for reforms of this magnitude.

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Notes
i

Jeff Noonan, "Free Time as a Necessary Condition of Free Life." Contemporary Political Theory 8.4 (2009): 378.
Print.
ii
Kathi Weeks, The Problem With Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries.
Durham: Duke University Press, 2011: 137, 152. Print.
iii
Weeks, 2.
iv
Weeks, 1-2.
v
Weeks, 2.
vi
Weeks, 3.
vii
Weeks, 3.
viii
Weeks, 4.
ix
Weeks, 7.
x
Weeks, 8.
xi
Weeks, 8.
xii
Weeks, 11.
xiii
Weeks, 11.
xiv
Weeks, 12.
xv
Weeks, 12.
xvi
Weeks, 137, 145.
xvii
Weeks, 138.
xviii
Weeks, 138-139.
xix
Weeks, 139.
xx
Weeks, 145.
xxi
Weeks, 146.
xxii
Weeks, 152, 161.
xxiii
Weeks, 152-153.
xxiv
Weeks, 155, 162.
xxv
Weeks, 168.
xxvi
Weeks, 171.
xxvii
Noonan, 385.
xxviii
Noonan, 378.
xxix
Noonan, 385.
xxx
Weeks, 169.
xxxi
Weeks, 138.
xxxii
William E. Scheuerman, Liberal Democracy and the Social Acceleration of Time. Baltimore, MD: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 2004. 166. Print.
xxxiii
Scheuerman, 164-165.
xxxiv
Scheuerman, 166.
xxxv
Scheuerman, 166.
xxxvi
Scheuerman, 166.
xxxvii
P.J. Brendese, "Double Crossed by the Crossing: On the Spacio-temporal Borders of
Immigration." Contemporary Political Theory 12.3 (2013): 233. Print.
xxxviii
Qtd. in Brendese, 238.
xxxix
Brendese, 237.
xl
Brendese, 238.