Poor Richard's Principal: Recovering the American Dream Through the Moral Dimension on Work, Business, and Money

Trinity Journal, Fall 1998 by Hill, P J

Robert Wuthnow. Poor Richard's Principal: Recovering the American Dream Through the Moral Dimension of Work, Business, and Money. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996. 429 pp. $24.95.

One picks up this book with a clear sense of anticipation, anticipation based on two facts. First, Robert Wuthnow, Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, is an important scholar who has authored numerous books on American religion and culture. Second, the book's topic, the relationship between morality and economic issues, is of prime importance in our wealthy and materialistic society.

There are three basic themes to the book. First, the American Dream has been an organizing moral framework that, in past generations, served reasonably well to both limit and explain the influence of the material world. It provided understandings of the reasons for work, the influence of money, and the importance of constraining the impact of economic forces on one's life. This moral perspective drew heavily upon certain understandings about the family, the community, and religion. It kept work from being seen as an end in itself and provided a deeper meaning to economic functions.

The second argument is that Americans still search for moral meaning in their economic life. They want to be able to give a legitimate account of themselves and hence struggle to fit both work and money into some sort of a moral framework. Like previous generations, they do not want to be completely dominated by economic forces and have a strong desire to find purpose beyond monetary values. However, Wuthnow sees the present day moral framework as having changed rather dramatically and not serving us as well as in the past in understanding or limiting economic activity. He argues that we have compartmentalized our lives to the point that our ethical systems impinge little upon our economic lives. Increased incomes, greater occupational mobility, and higher levels of education mean that there is a wider range of choice than in the past. But as choices have expanded, our ability to understand and to evaluate these choices has diminished.

Finally, Wuthnow concludes his book by arguing that we need to recover an effective moral language if we are to deal adequately with our economic lives. The moral limits to economic activity need to be articulated, understood, and believed in. Deeper human values than mere material success must be in place in order for us to have meaningful relationships with the work place and with our material lives.

The book is a clear success in the second of the three arguments outlined above but is less satisfying in the other two. Let me turn first to the positive aspects of Wuthnow's arguments and then discuss where the book is more disappointing.

Wuthnow, ever the empirical social scientist, draws upon a 1992 survey that he conducted of two thousand adult men and women as the basis for many of his conclusions. The survey, based upon personal interviews, focused on attitudes toward work experiences, family, religion, the uses of money, and moral understandings. From this survey and from his own interpretation of historical trends and religious attitudes, Wuthnow constructs a carefully nuanced picture of present day attitudes towards work and money. He also draws upon art and literature to supplement his interpretation.

Wuthnow argues that we all want to be able to give a legitimate account for our activities and that this is particularly the case for our work. Thus we search for a moral framework that "provides a legitimate answer to the question, 'Why is this desire of value?"' (p. 93). He supports this assertion with numerous survey responses that indicate the various ways in which people look for meaning in their work. He also finds that there is not as much alienation and selfish behavior in the work place as is often reported, but that most people find that their jobs provide a reasonable level of satisfaction and their colleagues to be cooperative and humane. There is not as much cynicism as we might expect among workers, and most think that they are contributing to the betterment of the world. However, Wuthnow also argues that the moral framework in which people attempt to place their economic experiences is less than complete and that "the concept of moral limits has largely been restricted to behaviors that have little to do with the economic realm" (p. 50).

Wuthnow describes well the negative impact of money and markets on culture. He argues that the expansion of markets brings monetary considerations into a number of areas that formerly were dominated by other forces. For instance, "Money's lack of memory replaces trust with transience. Bargaining becomes more important than sharing" (p. 197). Also, increased money incomes, while helpful in expanding the range of individual choice can make the mass market the primary reference group rather than the local community with its shared values and norms. And, the ability to earn substantial amounts of money can cause people to see increased income as the solution to problems in human relationships.