Working Alternatives
American and Catholic Experiments in Work and Economy
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Working Alternatives explores economic life from a humanistic and multidisciplinary perspective, with a particular eye on religions’ implications in practices of work, management, supply, production, remuneration, and exchange. Its contributors draw upon historical, ethical, business, and theological conversations considering the sources of economic sustainability and justice.
The essays in this book—from scholars of business, religious ethics, and history—offer readers practical understanding and analytical leverage over these pressing issues. Modern Catholic social teaching—a 125-year-old effort to apply Christian thinking about the implications of faith for social, political, and economic circumstances—provides the key springboard for these discussions.
Contributors: Gerald J. Beyer, Alison Collis Greene, Kathleen Holscher, Michael Naughton, Michael Pirson, Nicholas Rademacher, Vincent Stanley, Sandra Sullivan-Dunbar, Kirsten Swinth, Sandra Waddock
John Seitz and Christine Firer Hinze have produced a multi-disciplinary collection of essays exploring creatively the character of work. The personal commitments of the authors and the diversity of contexts they address – from business to university to the unpaid work of care-givers – provide the reader with a wide range of insights for understanding and transforming work in the 21st century.---Daniel Finn, College of St. Benedict/St. John's University
Working Alternatives’ practical and pluralistic approach to economic justice is an original and important intervention for equality and change. It overcomes a longstanding pitfall of Catholic social teaching: grand schemes and moral appeals that lack traction against powerful interests that benefit from the status quo. These authors show how creative local efforts can rebalance economic power, even if a major overhaul of market capitalism is still aspirational. If you have ever felt that Catholic economic thought involves a lot more exhortation than it does realistic plans of action, this book will give you renewed energy and hope.---Lisa Sowle Cahill, Monan Professor of Theology, Boston College
This is an excellent exploration of solutions to problems and issues of work and economics. Highly recommended.---Choice
John C. Seitz is a scholar of U.S. religion. He serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and as an Associate Director for the Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University.
Dr. Christine Firer Hinze (Edited By)
Christine Firer Hinze is Professor of Theology and Director of the Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University.
Introduction
John C. Seitz and Christine Firer Hinze | 1
PART I: SEEING DIFFERENTLY: ALTERNATIVE VISIONS OF ECONOMY AND WORK
The Care Economy as Alternative Economy
Sandra Sullivan-Dunbar | 21
An Integral Ecology as the Ground for Good Business:
Connecting Institutional Life in Light of Catholic Social Teachings
Michael Naughton | 45
Inaugurating a “Bold Cultural Revolution” through Prayer and Work
Nicholas Rademacher | 71
Generative Businesses Fostering Vitality:
Rethinking Businesses’ Relationship to the World
Sandra Waddock | 96
PART II: VALUING DIFFERENTLY: CHALLENGING WORK AND BUSINESS AS USUAL
The Homemaker as Worker: Second Wave American Feminist
Campaigns to Value Housework
Kirsten Swinth | 121
Curing the “Disease” in Corporatized Higher Education:
Prescriptions from the Catholic Social Tradition
Gerald J. Beyer | 148
Working Alternatives: From Capitalism to Humanistic Management?
Michael Pirson | 189
PART III: PRACTICING DIFFERENTLY: CREATING ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF WORKING
The “Dignity of Motherhood” Demands Something Different:
A Catholic Experiment in Reproductive Care in New Mexico
Kathleen Holscher | 225
Southern Christian Work Camps and a Cold War
Campaign for Racial and Economic Justice
Alison Collis Greene | 253
Meaningful Work in a Time of Crisis
Vincent Stanley | 280
List of Contributors | 305
Index | 309
