To think there’s dignity in work, no matter the job?

[TheWildMintBear]

It seems like some people look down on certain types of work but isn’t there value and dignity in any job if you’re earning an honest living?

Vast tiers of management in most industries. Loads of office-based jobs are pure torture and contribute absolutely nothing to society, simply propping up the absolute worst forms of consumer capitalism.

Loads of businesses are completely immoral in terms of what they produce and promote, and no job with any of them has any "dignity". The overwhelming majority of people hate their jobs and do them because they have to, not because they want to.

I don't, it's nonsense.

I struggle to respect politicians, especially since the expenses scandal, and then Boris Johnson and his yes-men brought politics in general into total disrepute; they seem to have a lot of privileges, and massive pay rises, face no consequences for wrongdoing, and when they do commit serious offences (which less privileged people might go to prison for), they seem to get richer and richer off the back of them. They are supposed to represent people far less well off than them, yet many politicians have little or no experience of how such people live, with their privileged backgrounds.

If working in a minimum wage, customer-facing job at some point in their lives was a pre-requisite to enter Parliament, I would respect them more.

In a capitalist world, why on earth would a business employ someone if they are not contributing something?

Whether people like their jobs or not is irrelevant. They are still doing something considerably more useful than doing nothing at all.

Capitalism is massively flawed. Loads of jobs exist that are humiliating, miserable and dangerous, and shouldn't exist.

I'm all for doing nothing, and would give up work instantly if I could. I deliberately keep my life as simple and cheap as possible, so I don't have to work particularly hard.

Universal Basic Income is the way forward.

"Dignity in work" is just ridiculous, it's what right-wing Tories spout when they want the plebs to enrich them further.

Whether people like their jobs or not is extremely relevant. There's nothing "dignified" about waking up every day filled with dread and misery at the prospect of going to work.

Universal basic income is the way forward for lazy people who are happy to do nothing whilst sponging off people who do something.

Oh, boy, there's so much wrong with that. Quite apart from anything else, we spend an absolute fortune and employ thousands of people to administer a ridiculously complex and unfair benefits system. It would actually be cheaper just to give everyone a fixed amount of money every year. There you go, there's a job that doesn't need to exist - benefit assessor.

And yeah, I'm quite lazy, but it doesn't affect you. I've never claimed any benefits, besides Child Benefit when my kids were younger.

So great is your respect for common folk that you assume if they weren't working for money then they wouldn't be doing anything at all.

That's nice 🙄

Not much dignity in child labour.

The rich are the laziest, most have never worked a day in their life and pay others to do it for them, that’s the height of laziness!

The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a global stress test—exposing the fault lines in modern society and stripping back the façade of what we believe is indispensable. When lockdowns were imposed and economies slowed to a halt, it became startlingly clear that society does not rely on the vast majority of industries we once considered central to our lives. What remained standing—and crucial—were the essential services: healthcare, food supply, sanitation, utilities, transportation, and communication infrastructure. These sectors became the backbone of survival and continuity. Everything else, as the pandemic starkly revealed, was largely auxiliary fluff, a by-product of consumer capitalism, and a mechanism to keep the majority occupied in a relentless pursuit of financial security.

This is not to devalue those non-essential sectors entirely, but rather to place them in perspective. The reality is that much of the modern economy is not about sustaining life or ensuring societal stability; it is about generating wealth, creating demand where none existed, and maintaining a system that rewards perpetual motion over genuine need. COVID-19 proved that society can function albeit in a reduced state without the vast apparatus of marketing, entertainment, luxury services, and speculative finance. But it cannot function without the people who stock supermarket shelves, drive delivery vans, staff hospitals, or maintain energy grids.

Yet this realisation leads to a deeper question: who looks after the people doing the looking after? The pandemic also revealed how underpaid, undervalued, and overexploited our essential workers are. Society may depend on them, but the system in place treats them as expendable. So while the crisis demonstrated what is truly necessary, it also exposed a moral contradiction: if these roles are essential, why are they not treated as such in terms of compensation, respect, and support?

The challenge moving forward is not just to recognise what is essential, but to reorganise society in a way that genuinely reflects that reality. That means rethinking economic priorities, redistributing value, and re-evaluating the societal status we assign to various forms of labour. It also means questioning a capitalist logic that prioritises productivity over well-being, and that too often marginalises care, community, and resilience the very foundations upon which we relied when everything else stopped.

Think I clicked the wrong button as not got my glasses on. yanbu !!

I truly believe doing some work, any work, that helps feed or house you or your family, either directly by doing the tasks required to run a house or raise a family or whatever, or through earning money to buy what's necessary absolutely has inherent value

Now you've expanded a bit on that, I'll agree, there's value in what needs doing to look after your family. But if you limit it to purely paid work, then I think it's nonsense.

I've worked in a job where I was neither wanted nor needed, as evidenced by the fact that after I resigned, I wasn't and still haven't been replaced 2 years on. Tasks were absorbed by my manager or others in the team.

It was one of the most depressing work experiences of my life. Purpose is vitally impossible.

I hate people being judged for the work they do. Take Birmingham, up to their neck in rubbish as the refuse collectors are on strike. You soon realise how important people working in "unskilled" jobs are when they don't turn up for work.

(Pretty sure driving a bin lorry does require a lot of skill btw and all the H&S that refuse collectors adhere to...)

Yes to cleaners etc. But some jobs are pretty immoral. In our current system there are companies who'll make the world a worse place as long as there's profit in it. Not much dignity in being a lobbyist working for a gambling firm for example.

Definitely. You are doing something useful

Professional athletes are entertainers. High tier entertainers are generally overpaid, but I wouldn't say unnecessary.

people should aspire to the financial sector or the science industry etc not people kicking a ball about

I think dignity is innate in all people as a natural birth right. Work, whatever it is irrelevant. People who do no work at all have equal dignity to those who do. Society may regard them with disdain and view them as less, or lazy and useless, but other people's views don't affect or negate their inherent dignity.

I’m 61. I never aspired to the financial sector or science industry. Both really boring in my eyes.

I don't think anyone looks down at any jobs, we might know we wouldn't want to do them, but I don't think anyone looks down. If anything they'd respect the person

Love this post. I hope it makes people think about the judging and to respect everybody.

Society would not function without everyone doing their jobs. And jobs give you purpose, occupation and a sense of self.

This post really resonated with me because I have similar thoughts and have been mostly a teacher over the last 15 years with a brief stint in healthcare as a care assistant. I am now being forced to re-evaluate these values as I am sick of the abuse and disrespectful behaviour I have to constantly endure when I am trying to teach. When I tell adults I am a teacher, their reaction is one of respect, but that is sadly not echoed at school and I have been sworn at, told to 'f off', had things thrown at me, kids throwing things at each other so I can't turn my back even for 1 sec to write something on the board, I've had my classroom door slammed more times than I can count, have kids physically running away and hiding under tables and stairs when they should be in class etc. and am repeatedly told that my subject (as an optional one) is pointless and less important than other core subjects even by my higher GCSE pupils. I set them homework the other week and 1 person did it. They know if they band together and stand against you as a teacher, there isn't much you can do and I regularly have to press a 'help' button if fights break out or I feel unsafe.

As a result, I am now looking at jobs in law and business where I know my communication skills (humanities background) will be well compensated and hopefully valued. The salaries are better as well but for me it isn't even about that, I am fed up of being intimidated and disrespected at work. I am trying to come to terms with being a less 'caring' and 'productive' member of the the workforce but at this point if it helps me regain my sanity, so be it!