Work Is More Than a Job

In her legendary tune about working the daily grind, Dolly Parton sings, “Workin’ 9 to 5/What a way to make a livin’/Barely gettin’ by/It’s all takin’ and no givin’.” Singing from the worker’s perspective, Parton gives voice to the feeling — and no doubt to the reality of the dynamics of the relationship between capital and labor– that a lot more is taken from the worker than is given back in a capitalist economy. That is the nature of how profit is produced; the worker is paid less for her labor than she produces.