The Concept of Wort in Mercantilist and Cameralist Writings in the Habsburg Monarchy and the Dutch Republic during the 17th and 18th centuries

Research project P 14500 The Concept of Work in Mercantilist and Cameralist Writings Josef EHMER 26.6.2000 Over the last two decades or so, society`s way of organizing labor has been undergoing extensive changes whose social, cultural and political consequences can hardly be foreseen. Thus, new issues emerging from current social policy discussions are confronting the historical sciences with questions concerning the origination and formation of the so-called "work-based-society" (Arbeitsgesellschaft) as well as questions having to do with social developments which have led to this high assessment of work in modem society. One essential point can be seen above all in the fact that the concept of work has been limited to gainful employment for remuneration. This project proposes to investigate the origins of contemporary conceptions and how they took shape, to look at judgments and strategies with respect to them, to test the extent to which they correspond with reality, and to collect orientational insights applicable to this day and age. The current debate refers almost exclusively to labor relationships and circumstances that prevailed in industrial society. Fundamental attitudes of industrial society like industriousness, orderliness, thrift and punctuality are, however, the result of a process of molding society that goes all the way back to the epochs of the early modem period. Contemporary problems such as flexibility and the "unsteadiness" of gainful employment were an essential and widespread pattern in the, early modem period. A perspective extending far back into the early modem period can therefore contribute to opening up a view of the complexity of this process of change which the "work-based-society" has undergone. This proposed research undertaking will, therefore, investigate above all the social contexts, the times and the "places" in which this narrowing or specification of the concept of work to include only gainful employment took place, and elaborate I of this developmental process. Serving as source material for this analysis will be 17th - and 18th -century writings by cameralists in the Habsburg Monarchy and mercantilists in the Netherlands. These texts will be analyzed in their respective intellectual, economic, social and political contexts. Through the use of the method of historical comparison in this case, we expect to come up with new insights into a wide range of views and interpretational patterns having to do with the subject of "labour".

Fundamental attitudes of industrial society like industriousness, orderliness, thrift and punctuality are the result of a process of molding society that goes all the way back to the epochs of the early modern period. During the 17th and 18th centuries, gainful employment, labour productivity and the work ethic became increasingly valued. Contemporary problems such as flexibility and the "unsteadiness" of gainful employment were an essential and widespread pattern in the early modern period. The aim of the research carried on in the context of the project was to identify intellectual/ discursive points of origin and development of the "work-based society". The focal point of our analytical interest was the discourse about work during the epoch of mercantilism/ cameralism. This discourse was analyzed in two highly contrasting political and economic structures - the Dutch Republic and the Habsburg Monarchy. The Dutch Republic was one of the centers of early modern capitalism. Major parts of early modern world trade were carried on by Dutch merchants and trading companies. On the other side economic historians and contempories regarded the Habsburg Monarchy as one of the economically less succesful European empires that was highly in need of reform. With respect to these highly diverse contexts, the Dutch mercantilist and central European cameralist thinking show major differences with regard to perceptions of work. One of the main results of the project can be described as a sort of paradox. Though the Dutch Republic was characterized by a high level of demand for labour, considerations about work and its role within society played virtually no role. The major topic of Dutch mercantilist thinking was trade, its importance for the Dutch economy and society and the question of how to ensure the leading role of the country within the world economy. The texts were written by and for parts of the economic elite of the Republic - merchants and entrepeneurs. The perceptions of work that can be found within these texts were therefore part of an economic discourse and focused on activities that were considered to be useful for the leading sectors of economy. In contrast to the Dutch context, the cameralist texts were part of a discourse on how the society should be ordered to the benefit of the state. Work, that was considered to be a major tool to reach this goal was therefore less part of an economic than of a political and moral discourse. The normative approach of the cameralists and the measures they recommended focussed on the lower strata of society and developed concepts that perceived work as moral duty. Part of these perceptions was a clear separation of professions, the fight against idleness and the question of how to increase the workforce by populating the country and by "putting" people to productive work who were considered to carry on unproductive activities. The comparison of mercantilist and cameralist texts has shown the complex relationships between contemporary social and economic realities and the mercantilists` and cameralists` perceptions of work. The project also made clear that there was no exclusive path to the modern "work-based-society", at least on the level of economic discourse. Nevertheless, both the cameralist and mercantilist tradition demonstrate that conceptions of work are central for the unterstanding not only of industrial societies.