Social Security debate boils down to questions about the value of work and retirement | Commentary

In Washington, they are talking about cutting Social Security and raising the retirement age. Much of this is political theater. But budgets reflect values. So, what is the value of work and retirement?

Not all work is created equal. Some earn lots for doing little, while others scrape by. That’s the way the capitalist cookie crumbles. The market value of work is often beyond our control. But the market determines our retirement prospects. In our world, the life of the elderly is defined by lifelong differences in work and wages. Is it fair that some old folks struggle to pay their bills, while others struggle to spend down their wealth? The politicians need to tell us whether all workers deserve a living wage — and a dignified retirement.

Booker T. Washington once said in a controversial speech about race and economics that we ought to “dignify and glorify” common labor. He suggested that American social problems won’t be cured until “there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” We might also ask whether the poet and farmworker also deserve a dignified retirement.

To work is to earn a living. When we work, we have a basic right to enjoy the fruits of our labor — and what we save from our wages. But does earning a living mean that if you don’t work, you haven’t really earned the right to live? Or is there a basic right to life that includes a right to sustenance, especially for those who are too old to work?

Workers resent those who don’t “earn their keep.” This is an old problem. In the Bible’s tale of the prodigal son, the good son worked while the other partied. The working son is angry at his lazy brother. Jesus suggests that each son is loved — despite the fact that one worked and the other played. But it doesn’t seem fair that some loaf while others toil. Does that include retirees?

Earning a living is not the only reason we work. Human beings enjoy meaningful labor. Work can be understood as a vocation or a calling that defines our identity. We are what we work at. From this perspective, non-workers are problematic. Those who don’t work seem to lack definition.

And what about retirees? What are they, in a world that defines us in relation to our work? Notice that in calling these folks “retirees,” we still define them in terms of work. Retirees are former workers, forever associated with their careers, even in their retirement.

One challenge of retirement is to redefine who you are and how you spend your time. In a culture and economy focused on work, retirement is not only an economic problem, it is also an existential one.

It might help if we also think of work not only as “earning a living” — but also in terms of making a life. The idea of a “life’s work” is not connected to economic activity. We speak of a body of “work” produced by artists and authors. A poem or some other work of art is not produced to earn a paycheck. Rather, it is a project of who we are, what we value, and what we build.

We can also imagine life itself as a work in this sense. A significant question here is about what we want our lives and legacies to be. What lasting “work” will we leave behind?

The answer to that question often has very little to do with how we earn a living. Our life’s work may be our family. Or our community. Or a place in which we till the ground. Often this kind of work is what we would be willing to do for free. And retirement is often viewed as an opportunity to finally do some meaningful work.

But economics lurks in the background. We cannot do meaningful “work” in retirement unless we are freed from economic necessity. And in our economy some people are more free than others.

These reflections on work don’t provide concrete answers to the debate about Social Security. But before we can engage in that debate, we have to decide what we think about human dignity, fairness, and the meaning of work.

Andrew Fiala is a professor of philosophy and director of The Ethics Center at Fresno State. Contact him: fiala.andrew@gmail.com.