3.1. Common Right that Governs an Exclusive Right …show more content…
The Spirit who liberates Workers from Alienation As a remedy for the alienation of labor, Volf suggests a theologically insightful understanding of work as the Spirit’s charism. In this pneumatological understanding of work, workers’ labor is understood as a way in which they tend each other’s needs in their organic relationships. This is because the results of their labor equally serve to constitute different parts of the eschatological kingdom of God. This community-centered understanding of work contradicts what Meeks names as “prideful work,” since prideful work “leads people to exclude others from their labor and its fruits.” Volf makes some concrete suggestions in order to prevent the alienation of workers in the capitalist market. To be specific, first, employers should let their workers know the overall process of production, so that they can know how their own labor can contribute to the final products. Second, if possible, employers are to divide the workforce into small groups of workers, and permit their workers to participate in the decision-making process for the specific procedures of their labor. Third, employers should share with their workers the mechanism and know-how of the machines that they oversee. In doing these, the workers are not reduced to merely the passive overseers of the machines. Fourth, employers should provide their workers with opportunities to learn diverse skills and discover and develop their own gifts. Thereby, the workers can become more creative and thus more human as a result. In the implementation of these policies, the Spirit liberates the workers from alienation through co-working with people as the power of the new