Benjamin Barber, "Time, Work, and Leisure in a Civil Society"

Questions for Making Connections within the Reading:

1. What might Barber mean by "civil society"? Although most dictionaries will provide a standard definition, use cues from Barber's writing to devise a text-specific explanation of the term. Why doesn't Barber simply call it "society" or "the government"? Is there any important difference between our civil society and, say, Americans in general. Is there a difference between civil society and the formal institutions of the state--the legislatures, the courts, federal agencies, and so on?

2. Explain what Barber means by "the ideology of work." Why doesn't he use the more familiar term, "the work ethic"? What's the difference between an "ethic" and an "ideology"? What, according to Barber, is the history behind the ideology of work? Why does he view the celebration of work as damaging rather than redemptive?

3. Why does Barber object to the linkage between economic power and political power? What does this objection suggest about his conception of democracy and the proper place of the economic sphere? If money should not be the prerequisite for participation in political life, what prerequisites does Barber think should take its place?

Questions for Writing:

1. Many economists have argued that the market--our economic system--takes its orders from the humble consumer. Some have even argued that the market responds to the popular will much more directly and completely than does our political system. What might Barber say in response to this view? Is Barber fair to the market? Does he recognize its strengths as well as its weaknesses? By extension, does he overestimate the power of politics? Should decisions about wages be made by political means rather than by following the law of supply and demand?

2. If Barber's proposal were put into effect--if people were paid to work less or not at all--would this change result in more widespread participation in politics, or would it create a two-tier society with a working class and a dependent class? On the basis of the evidence that Barber provides, do you feel that a change in our attitudes toward leisure is an adequate remedy for the problem of the "jobless future"? If not, what alternatives can you imagine?

Questions for Making Connections Between Readings:

1. What responsibility does civil society have for those who refuse to work? For those who elect not to pursue professional success? For those who can't work? Jon Krakauer recounts Chris McCandless's flight from the world of work and leisure that Barber describes in his essay. Is McCandless's journey into the wild evidence that Barber's assessment of the American work ethic is correct? Should civil society be concerned with those who do not or cannot conform to its norms and expectations? How does one determine membership in civil society?

2. Is the fast-food industry a threat to civil society? Are agribusiness and biogenetic engineering? Is civil society possible without corporate success? Does globalization extend or curtail the influence of civil society? Drawing on either Eric Schlosser's "Global Realization" or Michael Pollan's "Playing God in the Garden," consider the relationship between corporations and civil society, as Barber has defined it.

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