Shall Employers Govern the Souls of Workers?

As sociologist Steven Vallas describes, employers seeking to control the labor process not only dictate the environment of workers, but they try to shape their personal attributes as well. Rather than just focusing on technical skills, they put forth preferred standards of self-presentation, fashion, and speech patterns, which, as he states, means employers’ effectively try to control the worker’s soul (Vallas 48). In the discipline of tax accounting–where I plan to work after college–this governance of the soul would seem to be less pronounced than in other domains like hospitality, for instance, where more time is spent directly interacting with clients face-to-face. Nonetheless, beyond my ability to fill out spreadsheets, I anticipate non-trivial oversight of my actions. Naturally, when I do interact with clients, I will be expected to conduct myself politely and professionally regardless how frustrating they may be. If accountants ever do not feel like acting cordial in this way, their firm’s management will not excuse them for swaying from the behavioral standard.

If this remains the extent of the “soul governance,” it would not be a problem. Afterall, as members of polite society, we should form the virtue of self restraint when dealing with those who annoy us both in and out of work. However, if the overreach compels employees to adopt quasi-new personas who are entirely different from who they are outside work, this could be dubious. As Vallas explains, an employee’s subjectivity–his ability to choose for himself–shapes his identity (Vallas 47). As I see it, if the firm’s pursuit of higher profits supersedes genuine care for the workers as individuals, it is a violation of their human dignity. If, as described above, they are driven to act more virtuously, it is okay; however, if they are forced to suppress their own will entirely, perhaps even adopting corporate ideologies and modes of thinking they disagree with, it would demonstrate employers view them as instruments. In the cultivation of more profitable behavior, the true human flourishing of the workers should not be sacrificed.

Thank you for reading. It truly means a lot.

If you’d like to hear more what I have to say, check out my podcast, “A Disciple and a Doubter,” where I and my friend Jackson discuss topics of faith and doubt.

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