John Stapleford’s book, Bulls, Bears, and Golden Calves, provides a thorough overview with a Christian perspective of economic and ethical analysis. He reviews the moral challenges of macro, micro, and international economic issues. Stapleford covers a variety of important public policy issues such as self-interest, economic efficiency, and private property rights. He begins the book by laying a foundation of ethical thought and an analytical framework. Stapleford provides a Biblical perspective on the practical issues facing our current society. For example, there are three billion people in the world who live on less than $2 a day (Stapleford, 2009). The wealthy Americans continue to get richer. The greed and lawlessness of America’s corporate boardrooms is increasing. Legalized gambling continues to increase every year. The expansion of pornography and its accessibility to America’s younger generations has become a rapidly growing epidemic (Stapleford, 2009). This text is grounded solidly in biblical principles. A number of the problems he discusses are not specifically addressed in the Bible, but one of the author's strengths is to develop a Christian rationale for contemporary issues, based on biblical principles. An example of this skill is found in his forceful chapter on "False Hope . . . The Boom in Legalized Gambling" (Stapleford, 2009). Bulls, Bears, and Golden Calves provides useful information on many policy issues and is stimulating in encouraging reflection on an ethical framework to apply alongside economic analysis. Stapleford provides relevant statistics and applicable principles for each topic and incorporates some “history of economic thought,” especially the work of Adam Smith (Stapleford, 2009). ... ... middle of paper ... ...templates/story/story.php?storyId=124611210 Marks, L. (2006). The Loss of Leisure in a Culture of Overwork. Spirit of Change Magazine. Miller, G. (2010, October 12). Twenty Something Finance . Retrieved April 12, 2011, from The U.S. is the Most Overworked Developed Nation in the World – When do we Draw the Line?: http://20somethingfinance.com/american-hours-worked-productivity-vacation/ Scanlon, J. (2010, May). Sloan Work and Family Research Network, Boston College. Retrieved 4 11, 2011, from Sloan Work and Family Research Network, Boston College: http://wfnetwork.bc.edu/topic_extended.php?id=12&type=8&area=All Schwartz, F. (2011, March). Catalyst. Retrieved April 12, 2011, from http://www.catalyst.org/publication/219/statistical-overview-of-women-in-the-workplace Stapleford, J. (2009). Bulls, Bears, and Golden Calves. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
My own personal philosophy of leisure has been shaped by past and present activities I do for leisure and why I do them. To me, leisure is the sense of being free from external stressors that I face in my life such as school or work. The positive outcomes from partaking in leisure are generally overlooked and often underestimated. Leisure affects our emotions, our physical and mental health, and aids in the creation of relationships. In my own personal life, I have done and still participate in leisure as a way to sooth myself or unwind from the stress of school or work. The release of pent up emotions and energy for individuals helps their relationships with others and their overall health as well. When stress is released, an individual is
Solomon, Norman. "New House Rules: Christianity, Economics, and Planetary Living."Subverting Greed: Religious Perspectives on the Global Economy. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2002. 96-117. Print.
Previous generations have a strong belief of keeping work and home life separate; that work is for work and home is for play (Rampell, 2011, para 21). Today’s professionals do not seem to abide by similar beliefs, constantly crossing the borders of one into the other. While many recognize this as an issue that could result in employees being less productive, it has actually resulted in them accepting that their work may run late into the evening or even into the weekend. I agree with this completely in that I grew up being taught that business is business and personal is personal; you leave your home life at the door. But now times have changed, and my weekends are no longer dedicated to my home life, but for work, because I attend classes during the week. Also, in my line of work in the Allied Health industry, it is a requirement to work off hours. Long gone are the days of working nine to five, Monday through Friday; technology and the demand of wanting affairs done and done as soon as possible, has made it so the “work week” is now 24-7. “Jon Della Volpe, the director of polling at Harvard Institute of Politics, said, ‘Some experts also believe that today’s young people are better at quickly switching from one task to another, given their exposure to so many stimuli during their childhood and adolescence’” (Rampbell,
Americans have little to no time off each week. According to the article, “Overworked America: 12 Charts That Will Make Your Blood Boil”,some countries give workers 37-48 hours off each week. Other countries give workers 24-36 hours off each week.Americans in comparison have barely any hours off(Gilson).Even on the weekends , Americans find their lives consumed by work. A survey given to employed email users showed that 50% of them checked their work email on the weekends and 34% check work email while on vacation(Gilson).Americans cannot find a medium between their work lives and their personal lives.
Richard’s purpose is to remind Christians about the importance of loving neighbor and to teach how Christians can help the poor with their hearts and minds. He relates an important commandment in the Bible, “Love your neighbor,” with the economics by using the concept of “consequence of action.” He promotes the Christians to live a life which God is expecting for them to live by learning about the economics. He wants the Christians to stop justifying ourselves that we love each other when we are not, and he wants us to truly understand God’s intention of putting “love your neighbor” as one of the important commandments. As we study economics, it is important to understand that we should not focus on worldly issues and that we should not forget about God’s commandments. Moreover, this article teaches the Christians that we don’t need to be afraid to study economics because we can use the economics to obey God’s
Hodson, Randy and Sullivan A. Teresa. (2008). The Social Organization of Work, Fourth Edition. Published: United States of America.
In his book Leisure: The Basis of Culture, German philosopher Joseph Pieper provides a broader, deeper definition of leisure as the driving force behind our very existence. He points out that a common misconception regarding leisure is that it is the opposite of work. However, this cannot be true because, once our basic needs are met, is ultimately geared towards leisure. Therefore, it is in order to say that we work so that we can have leisure. As Aristotle put it in Politics, ‘leisure is the center-point about which everything revolves’. In today’s modern society, almost every human activity involves some sort of work. Pieper does not see work as just a form of occupation, but gives it an anthropological definition encompassing the whole concept of man. In his everyday life man works, and since work is about getting leisure, man’s very existence is to find leisure. His culture, way of life, is defined by leisure. BACKGROUND
The next chapter titled: “Hyphenated Culture: Painting by Numbers in the New Age of Leisure”, discusses at length America and its eternal battle with leisure. At the time man had an inherent ancient capitalist folkloric belief that the common worker with time on his hands was a threat to public order. If fact many housewives didn’t like or even want automatic dishwashers because the easy work made them feel lazy.
Many individuals would define leisure as time free from paid work, domestic responsibilities, and just about anything that one would not do as part of their daily routine. Time for leisure and time for work are both two separate spheres. The activities which people choose to do on their spare time benefit their own personal interests as well as their satisfactions. While some people may enjoy one activity, others pay not. Leisure is all about personal interests and what people constitute having a good time is all about. Some may say that the process of working class leisure can be seen to contribute their own subordination as well as the reproduction of capitalist class relations. Self-produced patterns of working class leisure can lead to resistance to such reproduction. This leads to social class relations and inequalities, and the fact that it they can never be completely reproduced in the leisure sphere. This film Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community, gives some examples of the role of leisure within a capitalist society dealing with issues such as class inequalities, and how they are different among various societies.
Sullivan, M. (2007, 7). Home / UCLA Newsroom. Working Families Rely Heavily on Retrieved February 6, 2014, from
Arthur, John, and Scalet, Steven, eds. Morality and Moral Controversies: Readings in Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Eighth Edition, 2009.
It seems that life seems to move at a fast pace. We live in a world where wealth is the key to survival and happiness. Throughout the years, I felt that I had little to no leisure activities, which means that I was unable to choose freely an activity that I enjoy the intrinsic rewards. However, keeping track of my daily routine prove me wrong. What is leisure? Leisure is the possibility for an individual to have the time and money to do whatever they want and enjoy it. It’s the ability to have freedom. In the following paragraph, I would highlight essential activities that I do, analyze my leisure pattern, what’s my true definition of leisure from our reading and why my leisure helps define me.
Stebbins, R. (2004). Between Work & Leisure: The Common Ground of Two Seperate Worlds. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Department of sociology,2006. Qualitative and quantitative approaches. [online] Available at: [Accessed 24 November 2011].
White, Cyde. R. (1955). American Journal of Sociology. Social class differences in the uses of Leisure, Vol. 61, No.2, pages 145-150