The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce

I really wish that I could be a lady—I could do all the lovely things a lady’s s’posed to do.I wouldn’t even mind if they would pay me,And I could be a person too.wage slavery 477....But now that times are harder and my Jimmy’s got the sackI went down to Vicker’s, they were glad to have me back.I’m a third-class citizen, my wages tell me that,But I’m a first-class engineer. 21Work in a capitalist society can fulfill the Greek ideal of happiness, reiteratedto the boys at English private schools in the nineteenth century as“the exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording themscope.” One can be an excellent mother in bringing up Connor and Lily toa full adult life, or an excellent carpenter making a staircase with windingtreads and housed stringers, or an excellent clerk completing an intricatebill of lading, or an excellent repairer of railcar-making machinery. 22 At leastone can in a modern capitalist society.