stdClass Object
(
    [id] => 16480
    [title] => Work, that is, Care
    [alias] => work-that-is-care
    [introtext] => 
Commentaries - Beyond Inequality and Poverty
by Luigino Bruni
published in Avvenire on 01/05/2014
If we want to continue to write work as the first word of our social contract, today we have put some other words before it. Among these there is the care that goes along with work. To re-invent work the first thing to do is to recognize that a person's work experience must go beyond paid work (job) to include activities of care provided in the family and in the community. In the twentieth century we confined work to the workplace, to the factory and the office, leaving off all that work that had not been counted or valued only because it took place outside of the "labour market".
    [fulltext] => 
Today, however, work will only be reborn by the violation of the boundaries that we have set for it so far, and by an encounter - or re-encounter - with the great and decisive world of caring and primary social and non-merchantable ties.
Our market society is creating a growing inequality, especially in terms of freedom and opportunity. Today, whoever possesses enough money has got the power to buy in the market, in free time and among people for their own care. Those who don't possess enough, above all if they are women or mothers, are increasingly pushed into "traps of poverty" where marriages, family members and children tend to fall, too. And this is a serious form of neo-feudalism that is very under-estimated nowadays.
Work has always been the great means and the primary place of making freedom and equality the substantial principles and not only formal things in our democracies. However, this humanism of work was born and it grew up in a society that was created onto a strong social division of labour: men worked away from home and women took care of the children, the ill and the elderly. In the past decades we have been revisiting the part of the social contract on work in order to guarantee equal opportunities of work and civil careers for women, too. It is an epochal change that, however, does not happen on the axis of attention and caring - therefore, welfare. It brought about a serious consequence, though: women, and especially married women with small children or bigger kids (and perhaps also some elderly family members) find themselves in a substantially discriminatory situation involving great social and professional disadvantage in the most determining years of an individual's life (25-40) which causes great difficulties not only for them but also their children, all their family, relationships and therefore, communities. In fact, these women tend to not only work more at home, but sleep less, too (on average 10 hours less per week), have less time to dedicate to political and economic life and suffer more (than men) when work becomes a possibility and a must for them they feel that they are not giving enough time and care to their children and elderly parents. The list of consequences does not end here: a recent North American study, for example, has revealed that today, in this situation, for the first time psychic illnesses of children have increased beyond all other illnesses.
There is a great need to reconsider everyone's work in connection with the care that every adult citizen should be able to offer. Therefore, in order to improve the quality of family and social relationships and to reduce the asymmetries between men and women we should reduce the work hours and facilitate the re-distribution all the activities of attention and care of  themselves, their family members and also the children and elderly of our next door neighbours, communities and common goods. And this "part-time caretaking for everyone" should really be for everyone: doctors and judges, blue-collar workers and politicians; for the youth, adults and the elderly... We should begin thinking that dedicating time and energy to ourselves and others is part of our duties as citizens and the concrete expression of the principle of fraternity and solidarity. Similarly, bringing up children and assisting the elderly is work, and it is a great contribution towards the common good which should be publicly recognised.
Canadian philosopher Jennifer Nedelsky suggests, for example, that this part-time job of caring should consist in at least 12 hours weekly for each grown-up person, of which at least two hours should be spent outside of the family.  These are also work hours that should be deducted from those worked away from home, but considered in the overall "work hours pack" of every citizen (including those spent in the market-company and those with caring for family and community).
Utopia, so say many. Political projects and substantial democracy, so say a few. What is certain is that work should be reconsidered including caretaking that, in turn, should not be "outsourced" to the families or the state, or, perhaps the for-profit companies. Taking care of ourselves and each other can and should become an ordinary task of every man and woman. The demand for care in the world is rapidly increasing, but the offer is in continuous and progressive decrease. And so its "price" is becoming too high. Therefore, to reconsider work in combination with caretaking means to be aware that our post-modern and fragmented societies need new social bonds, new encounters and weaves in ordinary relationships. Otherwise work will not be created any more, or there won't be enough created for all. Happy May Day to all.
    [checked_out] => 0
    [checked_out_time] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [catid] => 888
    [created] => 2014-04-30 22:00:00
    [created_by] => 64
    [created_by_alias] => Luigino Bruni
    [state] => 1
    [modified] => 2020-08-23 20:47:43
    [modified_by] => 609
    [modified_by_name] => Super User
    [publish_up] => 2014-04-30 22:00:00
    [publish_down] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [images] => {"image_intro":"","float_intro":"","image_intro_alt":"","image_intro_caption":"","image_fulltext":"","float_fulltext":"","image_fulltext_alt":"","image_fulltext_caption":""}
    [urls] => {"urla":null,"urlatext":"","targeta":"","urlb":null,"urlbtext":"","targetb":"","urlc":null,"urlctext":"","targetc":""}
    [attribs] => {"show_title":"","link_titles":"","show_intro":"","show_category":"","link_category":"","show_parent_category":"","link_parent_category":"","show_author":"","link_author":"","show_create_date":"","show_modify_date":"","show_publish_date":"","show_item_navigation":"","show_icons":"","show_print_icon":"","show_email_icon":"","show_vote":"","show_hits":"","show_noauth":"","urls_position":"","alternative_readmore":"","article_layout":"","show_publishing_options":"","show_article_options":"","show_urls_images_backend":"","show_urls_images_frontend":""}
    [metadata] => {"robots":"","author":"","rights":"","xreference":""}
    [metakey] => 
    [metadesc] => 
    [access] => 1
    [hits] => 5871
    [xreference] => 
    [featured] => 0
    [language] => en-GB
    [on_img_default] => 1
    [readmore] => 4899
    [ordering] => 108
    [category_title] => EN - Avvenire Editorials
    [category_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari/it-varie-editoriali-avvenire
    [category_access] => 1
    [category_alias] => en-avvenire-editorial
    [published] => 1
    [parents_published] => 1
    [lft] => 79
    [author] => Luigino Bruni
    [author_email] => ferrucci.anto@gmail.com
    [parent_title] => IT - Editoriali vari
    [parent_id] => 893
    [parent_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari
    [parent_alias] => it-editoriali-vari
    [rating] => 0
    [rating_count] => 0
    [alternative_readmore] => 
    [layout] => 
    [params] => Joomla\Registry\Registry Object
        (
            [data:protected] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [article_layout] => _:default
                    [show_title] => 1
                    [link_titles] => 1
                    [show_intro] => 1
                    [info_block_position] => 0
                    [info_block_show_title] => 1
                    [show_category] => 1
                    [link_category] => 1
                    [show_parent_category] => 1
                    [link_parent_category] => 1
                    [show_associations] => 0
                    [flags] => 1
                    [show_author] => 0
                    [link_author] => 0
                    [show_create_date] => 1
                    [show_modify_date] => 0
                    [show_publish_date] => 1
                    [show_item_navigation] => 1
                    [show_vote] => 0
                    [show_readmore] => 0
                    [show_readmore_title] => 0
                    [readmore_limit] => 100
                    [show_tags] => 1
                    [show_icons] => 1
                    [show_print_icon] => 1
                    [show_email_icon] => 1
                    [show_hits] => 0
                    [record_hits] => 1
                    [show_noauth] => 0
                    [urls_position] => 1
                    [captcha] => 
                    [show_publishing_options] => 1
                    [show_article_options] => 1
                    [save_history] => 1
                    [history_limit] => 10
                    [show_urls_images_frontend] => 0
                    [show_urls_images_backend] => 1
                    [targeta] => 0
                    [targetb] => 0
                    [targetc] => 0
                    [float_intro] => left
                    [float_fulltext] => left
                    [category_layout] => _:blog
                    [show_category_heading_title_text] => 0
                    [show_category_title] => 0
                    [show_description] => 0
                    [show_description_image] => 0
                    [maxLevel] => 0
                    [show_empty_categories] => 0
                    [show_no_articles] => 1
                    [show_subcat_desc] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles] => 0
                    [show_cat_tags] => 1
                    [show_base_description] => 1
                    [maxLevelcat] => -1
                    [show_empty_categories_cat] => 0
                    [show_subcat_desc_cat] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles_cat] => 0
                    [num_leading_articles] => 0
                    [num_intro_articles] => 14
                    [num_columns] => 2
                    [num_links] => 0
                    [multi_column_order] => 1
                    [show_subcategory_content] => -1
                    [show_pagination_limit] => 1
                    [filter_field] => hide
                    [show_headings] => 1
                    [list_show_date] => 0
                    [date_format] => 
                    [list_show_hits] => 1
                    [list_show_author] => 1
                    [list_show_votes] => 0
                    [list_show_ratings] => 0
                    [orderby_pri] => none
                    [orderby_sec] => rdate
                    [order_date] => published
                    [show_pagination] => 2
                    [show_pagination_results] => 1
                    [show_featured] => show
                    [show_feed_link] => 1
                    [feed_summary] => 0
                    [feed_show_readmore] => 0
                    [sef_advanced] => 1
                    [sef_ids] => 1
                    [custom_fields_enable] => 1
                    [show_page_heading] => 0
                    [layout_type] => blog
                    [menu_text] => 1
                    [menu_show] => 1
                    [secure] => 0
                    [helixultimatemenulayout] => {"width":600,"menualign":"right","megamenu":0,"showtitle":1,"faicon":"","customclass":"","dropdown":"right","badge":"","badge_position":"","badge_bg_color":"","badge_text_color":"","layout":[]}
                    [helixultimate_enable_page_title] => 1
                    [helixultimate_page_title_alt] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [helixultimate_page_subtitle] => Civil Economy
                    [helixultimate_page_title_heading] => h2
                    [page_title] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [page_description] => 
                    [page_rights] => 
                    [robots] => 
                    [access-view] => 1
                )

            [initialized:protected] => 1
            [separator] => .
        )

    [displayDate] => 2014-04-30 22:00:00
    [tags] => Joomla\CMS\Helper\TagsHelper Object
        (
            [tagsChanged:protected] => 
            [replaceTags:protected] => 
            [typeAlias] => 
            [itemTags] => Array
                (
                )

        )

    [slug] => 16480:work-that-is-care
    [parent_slug] => 893:it-editoriali-vari
    [catslug] => 888:en-avvenire-editorial
    [event] => stdClass Object
        (
            [afterDisplayTitle] => 
            [beforeDisplayContent] => 
            [afterDisplayContent] => 
        )

    [text] => 
Commentaries - Beyond Inequality and Poverty
by Luigino Bruni
published in Avvenire on 01/05/2014
If we want to continue to write work as the first word of our social contract, today we have put some other words before it. Among these there is the care that goes along with work. To re-invent work the first thing to do is to recognize that a person's work experience must go beyond paid work (job) to include activities of care provided in the family and in the community. In the twentieth century we confined work to the workplace, to the factory and the office, leaving off all that work that had not been counted or valued only because it took place outside of the "labour market".
    [jcfields] => Array
        (
        )

    [type] => intro
    [oddeven] => item-even
)

stdClass Object
(
    [id] => 16497
    [title] => Prudence (and Beyond, Too)
    [alias] => prudence-and-beyond-too
    [introtext] => 
Commentary - The virtues to be rediscovered and lived/3
by Luigino Bruni 
published inAvvenire  on August 25, 2013  

There has always been a deep friendship among good life, good economy and the virtue of prudence. But what has always been really important is to be able to recognize prudence that is not virtuous, as well as the imprudence that may be called a virtue.
The dawn of modernity was crossed by the debate on the mechanisms - sometimes considered providential - that were supposed to provide orientation towards social welfare not only through the scarce virtues, but also through the many flaws of real people, the vices of  <the man that he is, to make good uses of him in human society> (Vico, “The new Science”, 1744).
    [fulltext] => 
In this context, Adam Smith showed in a very convincing way that the development and the wealth of nations were not born from the vice of avarice nor from the sad passion of selfishness, but from the cardinal virtue of prudence, <the care of the goods, rank and reputation of the individual > (Smith, "Theory of Moral Sentiments," 1759). A good father (or mother) is, therefore, prudent, as he takes care of the family assets, assures their maintenance, makes them grow. He is the one who gives the car to his grown-up son and says: <Please take good care of it>. All this can certainly be called virtue; it is individual good and common good, too. And if we look at our history we realize that the virtue of prudence is found at the root of our peasant and artisan civilisation: that is where the proper use of assets, the maintenance of a the few things they had was taught, as well as the ways of increasing assets, having ever greater dreams and projects in life in a prudent way. Our history reminds us that vicious behaviours going against prudence include producing waste, being careless or foolish like those that squandered their assets (or those of their parents), and that we must bring to mind that our well-being depends also, and often above all, on the virtue of our fellow citizens, it depends on how and if a neighbour tends their garden and pays their taxes, and also on the virtue of the clients or public administration.
That first optimism of the Enlightenment that proposed the transformation of the prudence of individuals into public virtue did not last long - even though some still continue, ideologically or naively, to make appeal to it. It is enough to read the novels of Giovanni Verga to realize that this scenario had been already radically changed by then. The vices of individuals already left too many <battles won> along the <great river of progress>, and Providence had become the shipwrecked boat of Patron 'Ntoni. That much desired market economy which was cried for in a chorus, the one that would be harmonious and mutually beneficial was in fact turning into capitalism. Its power structures were recreating new forms of feudalism, new inequalities, new types of revenues, new nobles marked by a different, but no less effective, blue blood. In particular, we noticed - and we see it more and more - that the most important processes of economy are taking place inside the institutions and organizations (among them, the state), in banks and in enterprises where prudence and the virtues of individuals do not produce good life if you implement them within asymmetrical power relations that reinforce inequalities of all kinds.
It is here that the scenery changes dramatically, and the prudent person is not only asked to conduct their own lives and that of their families according to the virtues, but to act in order to ensure that laws, structures, systems of corporate governance and the many common goods are changed. And this is how the writing of a new-old moral chapter of crucial importance begins: if a virtuous person lives inside vicious institutions, in order to truly live the virtue of prudence they must also know how to act imprudently. If they want to be truly virtuous and prudent, they must be able to put the care of themselves, their interests, their fortunes, even their loved ones to the second place. If the person who wants and should denounce manifestations of injustice and untruth chooses to remain "prudently" silent when facing blackmail and revenge, they do not live the dimension of prudence that we call virtue. Sure, a good philosopher could argue that we should expand the concept of prudence until we return to a meta-individual self and spiritual or even otherworldly goods. Instead, I personally prefer to think that to understand the value and logic of the virtues it is necessary to take their paradoxical nature seriously. Virtue is truly virtuous when it dies and opens up to a greater "beyond", in a new relationship with the other virtues, and it does not surrender to the pseudo-virtues of what is "politically correct". So prudence is right when it is capable of being imprudent, fortitude is prudent when it is capable of turning into mild weakness, and every virtue is fulfilled when it blooms in agape, where the kind of justice that reigns can lead to giving the daily payment to those who, without any fault on their part, worked only for the last hour. Outside this horizon, behaviour that is prudent in itself loses contact with the virtue, just like those who park in the second row, and "prudently" turn in the rear-view mirror onto the car's door. In fact, if we do not take this crucial (at least for me) and formidable paradox seriously, the virtue ends up turning into the biggest vice because it becomes a selfish exercise aimed at individual perfection, forgetting the other.
The fulfilment of every moral action is agape because it is never defined and accomplished within any legal horizon, not even that of the virtues, because the agape invites them to transcend themselves in order to become (paradoxically) themselves. If whoever has to deal with the many moral and anthropological peripheries of the world today does not touch and does not occasionally cross the border of justice as outlined by the laws of the city, they cannot be truly righteous. When Alì knocked on the door of my Sicilian parish priest friend that night, if this latter one had stopped prudently on the threshold of our justice and had not let the man into his house (thinking about the possible legal consequences that later affected him, too), he would not have been truly virtuous. It is a paradoxical dynamic that is familiar to those working in rehabilitation communities and juvenile prisons and to the many who continue to risk their career, assets, revenues, jobs and the failure of their enterprise.
It is not asked of everyone to experience this paradoxical dimension of virtue all the time. But if we do not respond when the call comes, we compromise the ethical and spiritual quality of our existence, because these are not extraordinary acts of a few heroes, but actions we are all potentially capable of. This virtue-beyond-the-virtue is the yeast that raises the bread of an already virtuous life, and gives it the strength to move mountains. Gandhi would not have freed India if he had not been virtuously imprudent, and similarly, St. Francis of Assisi would not have taught us fraternity if he had not kissed the leper because of prudency. Many women and homeless would not have been released and recalled to life if they had not met people of agape-inspired imprudence who wanted to and could hug them, without the complacency of immune solidarity that is filling our economy and, unfortunately, also a part of our non-profit. The territory of the virtues - and therefore of the human - extends and is humanized every time someone has the imprudence to push the boundaries assigned to the virtues paying the price in person, and almost always without discounts. Blessed are the imprudent who push civilization forward and make the world a worthy and beautiful place to live in.
 
Translated by Eszter Kató
Further commentaries by Luigino Bruni in Avvenire are available through the Avvenire Editorial 

    [checked_out] => 0
    [checked_out_time] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [catid] => 888
    [created] => 2014-01-27 23:00:00
    [created_by] => 64
    [created_by_alias] => Luigino Bruni
    [state] => 1
    [modified] => 2020-08-23 20:47:43
    [modified_by] => 609
    [modified_by_name] => Super User
    [publish_up] => 2014-01-28 08:00:00
    [publish_down] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [images] => {"image_intro":"","float_intro":"","image_intro_alt":"","image_intro_caption":"","image_fulltext":"","float_fulltext":"","image_fulltext_alt":"","image_fulltext_caption":""}
    [urls] => {"urla":null,"urlatext":"","targeta":"","urlb":null,"urlbtext":"","targetb":"","urlc":null,"urlctext":"","targetc":""}
    [attribs] => {"show_title":"","link_titles":"","show_intro":"","show_category":"","link_category":"","show_parent_category":"","link_parent_category":"","show_author":"","link_author":"","show_create_date":"","show_modify_date":"","show_publish_date":"","show_item_navigation":"","show_icons":"","show_print_icon":"","show_email_icon":"","show_vote":"","show_hits":"","show_noauth":"","urls_position":"","alternative_readmore":"","article_layout":"","show_publishing_options":"","show_article_options":"","show_urls_images_backend":"","show_urls_images_frontend":""}
    [metadata] => {"robots":"","author":"","rights":"","xreference":""}
    [metakey] => 
    [metadesc] => 
    [access] => 1
    [hits] => 5393
    [xreference] => 
    [featured] => 0
    [language] => en-GB
    [on_img_default] => 1
    [readmore] => 8096
    [ordering] => 115
    [category_title] => EN - Avvenire Editorials
    [category_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari/it-varie-editoriali-avvenire
    [category_access] => 1
    [category_alias] => en-avvenire-editorial
    [published] => 1
    [parents_published] => 1
    [lft] => 79
    [author] => Luigino Bruni
    [author_email] => ferrucci.anto@gmail.com
    [parent_title] => IT - Editoriali vari
    [parent_id] => 893
    [parent_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari
    [parent_alias] => it-editoriali-vari
    [rating] => 0
    [rating_count] => 0
    [alternative_readmore] => 
    [layout] => 
    [params] => Joomla\Registry\Registry Object
        (
            [data:protected] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [article_layout] => _:default
                    [show_title] => 1
                    [link_titles] => 1
                    [show_intro] => 1
                    [info_block_position] => 0
                    [info_block_show_title] => 1
                    [show_category] => 1
                    [link_category] => 1
                    [show_parent_category] => 1
                    [link_parent_category] => 1
                    [show_associations] => 0
                    [flags] => 1
                    [show_author] => 0
                    [link_author] => 0
                    [show_create_date] => 1
                    [show_modify_date] => 0
                    [show_publish_date] => 1
                    [show_item_navigation] => 1
                    [show_vote] => 0
                    [show_readmore] => 0
                    [show_readmore_title] => 0
                    [readmore_limit] => 100
                    [show_tags] => 1
                    [show_icons] => 1
                    [show_print_icon] => 1
                    [show_email_icon] => 1
                    [show_hits] => 0
                    [record_hits] => 1
                    [show_noauth] => 0
                    [urls_position] => 1
                    [captcha] => 
                    [show_publishing_options] => 1
                    [show_article_options] => 1
                    [save_history] => 1
                    [history_limit] => 10
                    [show_urls_images_frontend] => 0
                    [show_urls_images_backend] => 1
                    [targeta] => 0
                    [targetb] => 0
                    [targetc] => 0
                    [float_intro] => left
                    [float_fulltext] => left
                    [category_layout] => _:blog
                    [show_category_heading_title_text] => 0
                    [show_category_title] => 0
                    [show_description] => 0
                    [show_description_image] => 0
                    [maxLevel] => 0
                    [show_empty_categories] => 0
                    [show_no_articles] => 1
                    [show_subcat_desc] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles] => 0
                    [show_cat_tags] => 1
                    [show_base_description] => 1
                    [maxLevelcat] => -1
                    [show_empty_categories_cat] => 0
                    [show_subcat_desc_cat] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles_cat] => 0
                    [num_leading_articles] => 0
                    [num_intro_articles] => 14
                    [num_columns] => 2
                    [num_links] => 0
                    [multi_column_order] => 1
                    [show_subcategory_content] => -1
                    [show_pagination_limit] => 1
                    [filter_field] => hide
                    [show_headings] => 1
                    [list_show_date] => 0
                    [date_format] => 
                    [list_show_hits] => 1
                    [list_show_author] => 1
                    [list_show_votes] => 0
                    [list_show_ratings] => 0
                    [orderby_pri] => none
                    [orderby_sec] => rdate
                    [order_date] => published
                    [show_pagination] => 2
                    [show_pagination_results] => 1
                    [show_featured] => show
                    [show_feed_link] => 1
                    [feed_summary] => 0
                    [feed_show_readmore] => 0
                    [sef_advanced] => 1
                    [sef_ids] => 1
                    [custom_fields_enable] => 1
                    [show_page_heading] => 0
                    [layout_type] => blog
                    [menu_text] => 1
                    [menu_show] => 1
                    [secure] => 0
                    [helixultimatemenulayout] => {"width":600,"menualign":"right","megamenu":0,"showtitle":1,"faicon":"","customclass":"","dropdown":"right","badge":"","badge_position":"","badge_bg_color":"","badge_text_color":"","layout":[]}
                    [helixultimate_enable_page_title] => 1
                    [helixultimate_page_title_alt] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [helixultimate_page_subtitle] => Civil Economy
                    [helixultimate_page_title_heading] => h2
                    [page_title] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [page_description] => 
                    [page_rights] => 
                    [robots] => 
                    [access-view] => 1
                )

            [initialized:protected] => 1
            [separator] => .
        )

    [displayDate] => 2014-01-27 23:00:00
    [tags] => Joomla\CMS\Helper\TagsHelper Object
        (
            [tagsChanged:protected] => 
            [replaceTags:protected] => 
            [typeAlias] => 
            [itemTags] => Array
                (
                )

        )

    [slug] => 16497:prudence-and-beyond-too
    [parent_slug] => 893:it-editoriali-vari
    [catslug] => 888:en-avvenire-editorial
    [event] => stdClass Object
        (
            [afterDisplayTitle] => 
            [beforeDisplayContent] => 
            [afterDisplayContent] => 
        )

    [text] => 
Commentary - The virtues to be rediscovered and lived/3
by Luigino Bruni 
published inAvvenire  on August 25, 2013  

There has always been a deep friendship among good life, good economy and the virtue of prudence. But what has always been really important is to be able to recognize prudence that is not virtuous, as well as the imprudence that may be called a virtue.
The dawn of modernity was crossed by the debate on the mechanisms - sometimes considered providential - that were supposed to provide orientation towards social welfare not only through the scarce virtues, but also through the many flaws of real people, the vices of  <the man that he is, to make good uses of him in human society> (Vico, “The new Science”, 1744).
    [jcfields] => Array
        (
        )

    [type] => intro
    [oddeven] => item-even
)

stdClass Object
(
    [id] => 16503
    [title] => Let's Train Our Eyes
    [alias] => let-s-train-our-eyes
    [introtext] => 
End of year: thank-you's and stories to tell
by Luigino Bruni 
published in Avvenire on December 31, 2013 
 
The Greeks used two words to indicate what we now call time: chronos and kairos. For the chronos-time New Year's Eve is a day like any other. For the kairos-time, however, the hours and years are different: the day that Nelson Mandela died (4th December), or the one on which Pope Francis was elected (13th March) were days of a different quality that carved themselves onto the flat tablet of time. Chronos is a homogeneous quantity, while kairos is quality and diversity - somewhat analogous to the difference between space and place. The chronos-kairos dynamic is what creates the rhythm of time for our daily lives. The birth of children, mourning, jobs lost and found all colour and enliven the numbers on the calendar.

    [fulltext] => 
The year 2013 was certainly a longer one for those who suffered more, and there are many unemployed among them including just too many young people. We woke up abruptly and we realized that we did not lose millions of jobs to the U.S. sub-primes or to the spread, and that it is not Europe's fault if our young people do not have good jobs any more. We realized that we should get back on our feet by our own strength but we cannot, and the reason for that is a severe famine of moral capital. The world has changed really and we do not understand it anymore, and we all suffer because of the 'lack of thought' (Paul VI). We are suffering the pangs of childbirth. Something new is being born, but we still do not realize it. And we also suffer because one we cannot bear, collectively, to see a child being born amidst the pain of labour. And when you cannot see a child's arrival through all that pain, you do not see salvation, it is all suffering without reward, and the joy is missing. We should train our eyes to see farther and in a different way, and see among us and inside us the places and people where new things are happening, to find out where there are 'children being born’. And we should learn again to say thank you - a word to rediscover in its root charis (“grazie” in Italian, which is a derivative of this word – the translator).
The 31st day of December is, above all, the day of thanksgiving, even in civil terms. The exercise of saying thank you and the virtue of gratitude are always important, but they are essential in every exodus through a desert. Giving thanks, especially if it is serious and done at a cost, is an extraordinary resource for continuing to hope and to walk. There are many people to thank today. I would like to start by the entrepreneurs. Those who continue to risk resources, energy and talent to save jobs and go on in spite of everything. To the entrepreneurs building welfare and paying taxes: there are many, even if people don't speak about them, and nobody thanks them. When an entrepreneur decides to pay taxes they know that, in a world of tax evasion such as ours, they are paying much more than would be fair and equitable to pay. He knows that he is paying also for his "colleagues" who have placed their headquarters in Monaco, but use the same public goods. Many, when facing this injustice become embittered and start to escape. Other entrepreneurs, workers and citizens, get outraged, and just like - or even more than - anyone will cry out for justice. But they do not get into bad ways and keep going ahead. And not only to comply with tax obligations: they also know how to make a donation. And a donation is always to be thanked. If it were not for these "few righteous" (that, after all, are not so few), the city would have already destroyed itself. Another, painful thanks that also becomes "sorry", must get to those entrepreneurs who did not manage to survive and had to close their business, leaving many workers at home, in the midst of great suffering and anguish (I know many). "The man is not his fault," I read in a community of Fr. Oreste Benzi. "The entrepreneur is not the failure of his business" - you can always start over.
Thanks also to the many people who accompany the poor and those who are lonely, and by the force of agape cure the despairs. To the many honest public officials who do not give up when they could for many reasons. To all those teachers that continue to love our children in injured, impoverished and despised schools. Finally - but we should go on and on - thanks to the families, to mothers and fathers, and even more so to the elderly who continue to mend the fides, the faith and the rope that still holds us together. They keep mending the social fabric that reminds us of our roots and our history.
In the "Thousand and One Nights" Scheherazade should not stop telling stories unless she wants to die. Today, if we want to live and let live we need to tell more stories of real life to find new reasons together for hope that is not in vain, and continuously repeat to one another "don't give up". And never to cease to give thanks.
 
  Translated by Eszter Kató
Further commentaries by Luigino Bruni in Avvenire are available through the Avvenire Editorial
    [checked_out] => 0
    [checked_out_time] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [catid] => 888
    [created] => 2013-12-31 00:00:00
    [created_by] => 64
    [created_by_alias] => Luigino Bruni
    [state] => 1
    [modified] => 2023-04-14 16:52:13
    [modified_by] => 64
    [modified_by_name] => Antonella Ferrucci
    [publish_up] => 2013-12-31 00:00:00
    [publish_down] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [images] => {"image_intro":"","float_intro":"","image_intro_alt":"","image_intro_caption":"","image_fulltext":"","float_fulltext":"","image_fulltext_alt":"","image_fulltext_caption":""}
    [urls] => {"urla":false,"urlatext":"","targeta":"","urlb":false,"urlbtext":"","targetb":"","urlc":false,"urlctext":"","targetc":""}
    [attribs] => {"article_layout":"","show_title":"","link_titles":"","show_tags":"","show_intro":"","info_block_position":"","info_block_show_title":"","show_category":"","link_category":"","show_parent_category":"","link_parent_category":"","show_associations":"","show_author":"","link_author":"","show_create_date":"","show_modify_date":"","show_publish_date":"","show_item_navigation":"","show_icons":"","show_print_icon":"","show_email_icon":"","show_vote":"","show_hits":"","show_noauth":"","urls_position":"","alternative_readmore":"","article_page_title":"","show_publishing_options":"","show_article_options":"","show_urls_images_backend":"","show_urls_images_frontend":"","helix_ultimate_image":"","helix_ultimate_image_alt_txt":"","spfeatured_image":"","helix_ultimate_article_format":"standard","helix_ultimate_audio":"","helix_ultimate_gallery":"","helix_ultimate_video":"","video":""}
    [metadata] => {"robots":"","author":"","rights":"","xreference":""}
    [metakey] => 
    [metadesc] => 
    [access] => 1
    [hits] => 4607
    [xreference] => 
    [featured] => 0
    [language] => en-GB
    [on_img_default] => 1
    [readmore] => 5066
    [ordering] => 122
    [category_title] => EN - Avvenire Editorials
    [category_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari/it-varie-editoriali-avvenire
    [category_access] => 1
    [category_alias] => en-avvenire-editorial
    [published] => 1
    [parents_published] => 1
    [lft] => 79
    [author] => Luigino Bruni
    [author_email] => ferrucci.anto@gmail.com
    [parent_title] => IT - Editoriali vari
    [parent_id] => 893
    [parent_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari
    [parent_alias] => it-editoriali-vari
    [rating] => 0
    [rating_count] => 0
    [alternative_readmore] => 
    [layout] => 
    [params] => Joomla\Registry\Registry Object
        (
            [data:protected] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [article_layout] => _:default
                    [show_title] => 1
                    [link_titles] => 1
                    [show_intro] => 1
                    [info_block_position] => 0
                    [info_block_show_title] => 1
                    [show_category] => 1
                    [link_category] => 1
                    [show_parent_category] => 1
                    [link_parent_category] => 1
                    [show_associations] => 0
                    [flags] => 1
                    [show_author] => 0
                    [link_author] => 0
                    [show_create_date] => 1
                    [show_modify_date] => 0
                    [show_publish_date] => 1
                    [show_item_navigation] => 1
                    [show_vote] => 0
                    [show_readmore] => 0
                    [show_readmore_title] => 0
                    [readmore_limit] => 100
                    [show_tags] => 1
                    [show_icons] => 1
                    [show_print_icon] => 1
                    [show_email_icon] => 1
                    [show_hits] => 0
                    [record_hits] => 1
                    [show_noauth] => 0
                    [urls_position] => 1
                    [captcha] => 
                    [show_publishing_options] => 1
                    [show_article_options] => 1
                    [save_history] => 1
                    [history_limit] => 10
                    [show_urls_images_frontend] => 0
                    [show_urls_images_backend] => 1
                    [targeta] => 0
                    [targetb] => 0
                    [targetc] => 0
                    [float_intro] => left
                    [float_fulltext] => left
                    [category_layout] => _:blog
                    [show_category_heading_title_text] => 0
                    [show_category_title] => 0
                    [show_description] => 0
                    [show_description_image] => 0
                    [maxLevel] => 0
                    [show_empty_categories] => 0
                    [show_no_articles] => 1
                    [show_subcat_desc] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles] => 0
                    [show_cat_tags] => 1
                    [show_base_description] => 1
                    [maxLevelcat] => -1
                    [show_empty_categories_cat] => 0
                    [show_subcat_desc_cat] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles_cat] => 0
                    [num_leading_articles] => 0
                    [num_intro_articles] => 14
                    [num_columns] => 2
                    [num_links] => 0
                    [multi_column_order] => 1
                    [show_subcategory_content] => -1
                    [show_pagination_limit] => 1
                    [filter_field] => hide
                    [show_headings] => 1
                    [list_show_date] => 0
                    [date_format] => 
                    [list_show_hits] => 1
                    [list_show_author] => 1
                    [list_show_votes] => 0
                    [list_show_ratings] => 0
                    [orderby_pri] => none
                    [orderby_sec] => rdate
                    [order_date] => published
                    [show_pagination] => 2
                    [show_pagination_results] => 1
                    [show_featured] => show
                    [show_feed_link] => 1
                    [feed_summary] => 0
                    [feed_show_readmore] => 0
                    [sef_advanced] => 1
                    [sef_ids] => 1
                    [custom_fields_enable] => 1
                    [show_page_heading] => 0
                    [layout_type] => blog
                    [menu_text] => 1
                    [menu_show] => 1
                    [secure] => 0
                    [helixultimatemenulayout] => {"width":600,"menualign":"right","megamenu":0,"showtitle":1,"faicon":"","customclass":"","dropdown":"right","badge":"","badge_position":"","badge_bg_color":"","badge_text_color":"","layout":[]}
                    [helixultimate_enable_page_title] => 1
                    [helixultimate_page_title_alt] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [helixultimate_page_subtitle] => Civil Economy
                    [helixultimate_page_title_heading] => h2
                    [page_title] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [page_description] => 
                    [page_rights] => 
                    [robots] => 
                    [access-view] => 1
                )

            [initialized:protected] => 1
            [separator] => .
        )

    [displayDate] => 2013-12-31 00:00:00
    [tags] => Joomla\CMS\Helper\TagsHelper Object
        (
            [tagsChanged:protected] => 
            [replaceTags:protected] => 
            [typeAlias] => 
            [itemTags] => Array
                (
                )

        )

    [slug] => 16503:let-s-train-our-eyes
    [parent_slug] => 893:it-editoriali-vari
    [catslug] => 888:en-avvenire-editorial
    [event] => stdClass Object
        (
            [afterDisplayTitle] => 
            [beforeDisplayContent] => 
            [afterDisplayContent] => 
        )

    [text] => 
End of year: thank-you's and stories to tell
by Luigino Bruni 
published in Avvenire on December 31, 2013 
 
The Greeks used two words to indicate what we now call time: chronos and kairos. For the chronos-time New Year's Eve is a day like any other. For the kairos-time, however, the hours and years are different: the day that Nelson Mandela died (4th December), or the one on which Pope Francis was elected (13th March) were days of a different quality that carved themselves onto the flat tablet of time. Chronos is a homogeneous quantity, while kairos is quality and diversity - somewhat analogous to the difference between space and place. The chronos-kairos dynamic is what creates the rhythm of time for our daily lives. The birth of children, mourning, jobs lost and found all colour and enliven the numbers on the calendar.

    [jcfields] => Array
        (
        )

    [type] => intro
    [oddeven] => item-even
)

stdClass Object
(
    [id] => 16520
    [title] => Agape (The Great Dawn)
    [alias] => agape-the-great-dawn
    [introtext] => 
Commentary - The virtues to be rediscovered and lived/7
by Luigino Bruni 
Published in Avvenire on September 22, 2013 

Reciprocity is the golden rule of human sociality. Only the word reciprocity can explain the basic structure of society, even if that society is characterized by indignation, revenge and endless court cases. The DNA of the political being is a twisting helix of giving and receiving. Even human love is essentially a matter of reciprocity from its first moment to its last. Just think of how often someone departs from this earth holding the hand of their beloved or, in their absence, clasping it in their thoughts with the last strength of their mind and heart. Reciprocity is the dimension of love where we love those who love us; there have been many ways and many words to express this in different human cultures.
    [fulltext] => 
In ancient Greek culture the most famous ways of expressing love were eros and philia. These were two different forms of love, but they have one thing in common: reciprocity, the basic need for a response from the other. Eros is direct reciprocity, which is two-way and exclusive; it is where the other is loved because it fills a need and because love satisfies us. It is revived again and again, a vital desire. In the Greek idea of philia (which is similar to what we now call friendship), reciprocity is more complex: a lack of response from the other is tolerated, giving and receiving are not always kept in balance and forgiveness is possible/necessary many times. That's why eros is not a virtue, but philia can be because it requires loyalty, even from a friend that temporarily betrays us and does not return our love. But the philia type of love is not unconditional love as it is cut off when the other - by not returning my feelings - makes me realize that he or she no longer wants to be my friend.
Eros and philia are wonderful and essentialfor every good life - yet, they are not enough. The human person is great precisely because the existing greatness of reciprocity is not enough for us; we want the infinite. So, at some point in history, when the right time came, the need was born to find another word for a dimension of love that is not contained in those two words for love, no matter how rich and elevated they both were. This new word, agape, was not entirely new to Greek vocabulary, but its use and meaning were new. It was used to characterise the people that were commonly called "those of the road", the first (beautiful) name of Christians. Agape was not an invention, but it was a revelation of a dimension of power that ispresentinside every person, even when it remains buried and is waiting for someone to say "come out". It is not a form of love that begins where the other forms end, and it is not the opposite of either eros or philia because agape is what makes every love complete and mature. For it is agape that gives love the human dimension of graciousness that is not guaranteed by philia and, even less so, eros. By opening them up, it makes way for the fulfilment of the virtues that without it are subtly selfish. For the same reason, they chose charitas when agape was translated to Latin, which in earlier times was spelled with the 'h' in it, a very rarely used letter. Its insertion into the word changed everything because it could mean many things.
The first message was that charitas was neither amor (love) nor amicitia (friendship), but it was something else. Furthermore, this charitas was no longer the caritas of Roman merchants, who used it to express the value of goods (those that cost a lot are 'caro'). But that letter 'h' also served to remind everyone that charitas pointed to another great Greek word: charis, grace or gracefulness ("Hail Mary, full of 'charis'"). There is no agape without charis, and there is no charis without agape. While philia can forgive up to seven times, agape will until seventy times seven; philia gives the tunic but agape gives the cloak too, and philia walks a mile with his friend but agape walks two and not only with friends. Eros endures, hopes and covers little; philia covers, endures, hopes a lot; agape hopes, covers and endures all.
The form that agape love takes provides great power for action, economic and social change. Every time a person acts for good, finding the resources for it in the action itself and inside themselves even without the promise of reciprocity, is when agape is at work. Agape is the love that is typical of founders who start a movement or a cooperative without being able to count on the reciprocity of others. They are the ones that act with the fortitude and perseverance necessary to endure the long periods of loneliness. Agape does not affect the choice to 'love back' the other, but when unrequited it suffers; agape is only complete with reciprocity (<A new commandment I give you: love one another!>), but it does not hurt so much as to cut off its love if it remains unrequited. The fullness of reciprocity in agape is also expressed in a ternary relationship: A gives himself to B, and B gives himself to C - agape is transitive unlike philia and eros. Indeed, this dimension of "impartiality" and openness is essential to bring about agape.
Even the maternal and paternal love for a child would not be agape, so mature and complete, if it were spent in the relation A => B, B => A, without the dimension B => C ..., which overcomes every temptation of incestuous or narcissistic love. The need for reciprocity and to keep going even when there is no answer is what makes agape a relational experience, which is at once vulnerable and fertile. Agape is a most fertile wound. It is agape that shapes our communities into welcoming and inclusive places with doors wide open that never close. This is what undermines sacred hierarchies, caste systems, and the temptation of power. Furthermore, agape is essential for every common good because it knows the kind of forgiveness that is able to undo the wrongs done to us. Anyone who has been the victim of evil, of any evil, will know that the evil done and received cannot be fully compensated for or repaired by penalties and paying for damages. It lives on like a wound that is still there. This is the case unless one day it meets the forgiveness of agape, which, unlike the forgiveness of eros and philia, is able to heal all wounds, even the mortal ones, making them the dawn of a resurrection.
However, there is a theory that has been present throughout the history of our culture. Agape - they say - cannot be a civil form of love; to allow such vulnerability would not be prudent. It can only be lived in family life, spiritual life and perhaps in volunteering. In the streets and businesses, however, we should be contented with the different ranges of eros (incentives) and, at most, of philia. This thesis is deeply rooted because, at least partly, it is based on historical evidence of the many experiences born of agape - we return to hierarchy or communitarianism. It is the story of many communities that started with agape and, upon receiving the first wounds, end up transforming themselves into very hierarchical and formal systems. It is also the story of experiences that were born to be open and inclusive but, after their first failures, closed their doors, expelling all that was different. History is also a succession of these instances of "stepping back", but these instances do not reduce the civil value of agape. On the contrary, they should motivate us to put more agape (and not less) into politics, business and work. For every time that agape makes an appearance in human history, even if it stays just for a short or very short time, it never leaves the world unchanged. The body heat has risen again and again, and a new nail is driven into the rock; the starting point of those who begin their climb tomorrow will be a few meters or, at least, centimeters higher.
Not a drop of agape is wasted on the earth. Agape broadens the horizon of possibilities for the good of humanity; it is the yeast and salt of every good bread. The world does not die, and life begins again every morning because there are people capable of agape: <And now these three remain: faith, hope and agape. But the greatest of these is agape>. 
 
Further commentaries by Luigino Bruni in Avvenire are available through the Avvenire Editorial
 
Translated by Eszter Kató
 
    [checked_out] => 0
    [checked_out_time] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [catid] => 888
    [created] => 2013-09-22 13:38:31
    [created_by] => 64
    [created_by_alias] => Luigino Bruni
    [state] => 1
    [modified] => 2020-08-23 20:47:43
    [modified_by] => 609
    [modified_by_name] => Super User
    [publish_up] => 2013-09-21 23:07:27
    [publish_down] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [images] => {"image_intro":"","float_intro":"","image_intro_alt":"","image_intro_caption":"","image_fulltext":"","float_fulltext":"","image_fulltext_alt":"","image_fulltext_caption":""}
    [urls] => {"urla":null,"urlatext":"","targeta":"","urlb":null,"urlbtext":"","targetb":"","urlc":null,"urlctext":"","targetc":""}
    [attribs] => {"show_title":"","link_titles":"","show_intro":"","show_category":"","link_category":"","show_parent_category":"","link_parent_category":"","show_author":"","link_author":"","show_create_date":"","show_modify_date":"","show_publish_date":"","show_item_navigation":"","show_icons":"","show_print_icon":"","show_email_icon":"","show_vote":"","show_hits":"","show_noauth":"","urls_position":"","alternative_readmore":"","article_layout":"","show_publishing_options":"","show_article_options":"","show_urls_images_backend":"","show_urls_images_frontend":""}
    [metadata] => {"robots":"","author":"","rights":"","xreference":""}
    [metakey] => 
    [metadesc] => 
    [access] => 1
    [hits] => 8614
    [xreference] => 
    [featured] => 0
    [language] => en-GB
    [on_img_default] => 1
    [readmore] => 9329
    [ordering] => 135
    [category_title] => EN - Avvenire Editorials
    [category_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari/it-varie-editoriali-avvenire
    [category_access] => 1
    [category_alias] => en-avvenire-editorial
    [published] => 1
    [parents_published] => 1
    [lft] => 79
    [author] => Luigino Bruni
    [author_email] => ferrucci.anto@gmail.com
    [parent_title] => IT - Editoriali vari
    [parent_id] => 893
    [parent_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari
    [parent_alias] => it-editoriali-vari
    [rating] => 0
    [rating_count] => 0
    [alternative_readmore] => 
    [layout] => 
    [params] => Joomla\Registry\Registry Object
        (
            [data:protected] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [article_layout] => _:default
                    [show_title] => 1
                    [link_titles] => 1
                    [show_intro] => 1
                    [info_block_position] => 0
                    [info_block_show_title] => 1
                    [show_category] => 1
                    [link_category] => 1
                    [show_parent_category] => 1
                    [link_parent_category] => 1
                    [show_associations] => 0
                    [flags] => 1
                    [show_author] => 0
                    [link_author] => 0
                    [show_create_date] => 1
                    [show_modify_date] => 0
                    [show_publish_date] => 1
                    [show_item_navigation] => 1
                    [show_vote] => 0
                    [show_readmore] => 0
                    [show_readmore_title] => 0
                    [readmore_limit] => 100
                    [show_tags] => 1
                    [show_icons] => 1
                    [show_print_icon] => 1
                    [show_email_icon] => 1
                    [show_hits] => 0
                    [record_hits] => 1
                    [show_noauth] => 0
                    [urls_position] => 1
                    [captcha] => 
                    [show_publishing_options] => 1
                    [show_article_options] => 1
                    [save_history] => 1
                    [history_limit] => 10
                    [show_urls_images_frontend] => 0
                    [show_urls_images_backend] => 1
                    [targeta] => 0
                    [targetb] => 0
                    [targetc] => 0
                    [float_intro] => left
                    [float_fulltext] => left
                    [category_layout] => _:blog
                    [show_category_heading_title_text] => 0
                    [show_category_title] => 0
                    [show_description] => 0
                    [show_description_image] => 0
                    [maxLevel] => 0
                    [show_empty_categories] => 0
                    [show_no_articles] => 1
                    [show_subcat_desc] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles] => 0
                    [show_cat_tags] => 1
                    [show_base_description] => 1
                    [maxLevelcat] => -1
                    [show_empty_categories_cat] => 0
                    [show_subcat_desc_cat] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles_cat] => 0
                    [num_leading_articles] => 0
                    [num_intro_articles] => 14
                    [num_columns] => 2
                    [num_links] => 0
                    [multi_column_order] => 1
                    [show_subcategory_content] => -1
                    [show_pagination_limit] => 1
                    [filter_field] => hide
                    [show_headings] => 1
                    [list_show_date] => 0
                    [date_format] => 
                    [list_show_hits] => 1
                    [list_show_author] => 1
                    [list_show_votes] => 0
                    [list_show_ratings] => 0
                    [orderby_pri] => none
                    [orderby_sec] => rdate
                    [order_date] => published
                    [show_pagination] => 2
                    [show_pagination_results] => 1
                    [show_featured] => show
                    [show_feed_link] => 1
                    [feed_summary] => 0
                    [feed_show_readmore] => 0
                    [sef_advanced] => 1
                    [sef_ids] => 1
                    [custom_fields_enable] => 1
                    [show_page_heading] => 0
                    [layout_type] => blog
                    [menu_text] => 1
                    [menu_show] => 1
                    [secure] => 0
                    [helixultimatemenulayout] => {"width":600,"menualign":"right","megamenu":0,"showtitle":1,"faicon":"","customclass":"","dropdown":"right","badge":"","badge_position":"","badge_bg_color":"","badge_text_color":"","layout":[]}
                    [helixultimate_enable_page_title] => 1
                    [helixultimate_page_title_alt] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [helixultimate_page_subtitle] => Civil Economy
                    [helixultimate_page_title_heading] => h2
                    [page_title] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [page_description] => 
                    [page_rights] => 
                    [robots] => 
                    [access-view] => 1
                )

            [initialized:protected] => 1
            [separator] => .
        )

    [displayDate] => 2013-09-22 13:38:31
    [tags] => Joomla\CMS\Helper\TagsHelper Object
        (
            [tagsChanged:protected] => 
            [replaceTags:protected] => 
            [typeAlias] => 
            [itemTags] => Array
                (
                )

        )

    [slug] => 16520:agape-the-great-dawn
    [parent_slug] => 893:it-editoriali-vari
    [catslug] => 888:en-avvenire-editorial
    [event] => stdClass Object
        (
            [afterDisplayTitle] => 
            [beforeDisplayContent] => 
            [afterDisplayContent] => 
        )

    [text] => 
Commentary - The virtues to be rediscovered and lived/7
by Luigino Bruni 
Published in Avvenire on September 22, 2013 

Reciprocity is the golden rule of human sociality. Only the word reciprocity can explain the basic structure of society, even if that society is characterized by indignation, revenge and endless court cases. The DNA of the political being is a twisting helix of giving and receiving. Even human love is essentially a matter of reciprocity from its first moment to its last. Just think of how often someone departs from this earth holding the hand of their beloved or, in their absence, clasping it in their thoughts with the last strength of their mind and heart. Reciprocity is the dimension of love where we love those who love us; there have been many ways and many words to express this in different human cultures.
    [jcfields] => Array
        (
        )

    [type] => intro
    [oddeven] => item-even
)

stdClass Object
(
    [id] => 16522
    [title] => Hope (The Treasure Room)
    [alias] => hope-the-treasure-room
    [introtext] => 
Commentary - The virtues to be rediscovered and lived/5
by Luigino Bruni 
Published in Avvenire on September 8, 2013 

Our civilization faces a scarcity of an important resource, hope. Hope is certainly a virtue, but behind this great word there are many things hiding, some greater and some lesser than the virtue itself. Like any ancient and noble word, hope is like those stratified cities that over the centuries have witnessed many lives and different civilizations. There is, in fact, a first layer  of hope - which shows instantly because it is very superficial – that is not a virtue, but an vice.
    [fulltext] => 
It is the hope that Greek mythology places in Pandora's Box (the jar that contained all the spirits of evil) and that, mysteriously and ambiguously, does not escape from it along with the other evils to flood the world, but remains trapped in the vessel. This is the hope that St. Paul calls "vain". It is often used by the powerful to invite people to hope for  imaginary economic boom and a better future while they do nothing, or too little, to improve the living conditions of the present. This is the hope of winning the lottery or scratch cards. It is also the attitude of those who, when faced with a problem, say: "let's hope for the best," a phrase that concludes something is worth no time or energy (and is without value), which marks the end of that meeting and does not initiate a responsible commitment to find a concrete solution together. This is the 'opium of the people' type of hope, which often has become and still becomes an instrument of domination, especially of the poor, who are victims of illusions created on purpose to keep them in their poverty and misery. This hope is evil because it can cause us to live, or at least survive, without committing to becoming the protagonists of our own happiness, waiting passively for salvation to be delivered by chance, by the gods or by the state. Greek philosophy and then, undoubtedly, Christianity waged battle against this vain and illusory hope to free people from malicious and deceitful hopes, and so opened the way for hope that does not bring disappointment. We have to admit that this battle was ultimately lost as we look at how many illusions and false hopes our consumer society and TV based culture produce (the data on hours spent in front of the TV – in a time of ever-increasing loneliness - are shocking:  we have now returned to the highest levels of the '80s).
If we dig deeper, we find a second layer of hope, which is already more of a real virtue. It is the spiritual and moral attitude that leads one to find real reasons for hoping that the near future will be better than the present and to take action so that this hoped-for "not yet" becomes "already". It's this type of hope that drove past generations to struggle against the  poverty of their present and, even though they were lacking in welfare and rights, to build a better future for their children and grandchildren. It was this hope that made the work of many of our grandfathers and grandmothers bearable,  sometimes even pleasing, as they worked almost like slaves in fields and in mines. Behind their struggles and tears they glimpsed future diplomas, degrees, and houses - quite different types of struggles and fields. It is the hope of girlfriends, wives and mothers.  Led by it many sharecroppers and artisans  became entrepreneurs, not mainly for love nor money, but in search of a better future with dignity and freedom.
But there is also a third layer of hope that, once reached, begins to reveal the traits of an ancient city that is very noble and beautiful. This is the hope of those who have struggled to the extent that they dedicated their lives to building a better future for everyone's children, not only their own. This hope is civil, social and political, and has moved thousands of workers, trade unionists, politicians, co-operators, citizens, men and many (unfortunately forgotten) women, people who wanted and knew how to spend their lives improving their world. It is this hope that has moved and still moves the boundaries of all that is human forward, and it supports all the virtues by refreshing them, giving them courage, meaning and direction. And it is this hope that we have to exercise daily and relive again today; we must do this together to re-enter the world of politics, markets, and companies so that they don't despair for long. We need to increase virtuous acts and exercise hope, which have to be taken out from under the bushel and shared with each other, amplified by the media, because hope is contagious, even more than discouragement and social despair are.
The discovery of the dimensions of hope, however, does not stop at the third high and noble level. There is indeed a fourth form of hope that is found at a great depth and  is different from all the others because it is no longer contained within the semantic register of the word virtue. It cannot be reached (unlike virtue) through exercise, discipline or commitment. This hope is, simply, a gift or granted, charis. When it appears, it always surprises us and takes our breath away. It is the encounter with the treasure room. This hope can be neither calculated nor anticipated, only waited for and desired; when it arrives it is a great joy, paradise, like the return of a long-awaited friend from far away who, one day, finally and unexpectedly, returns to us. There is a deep connection between this hope and waiting. The Portuguese and Spanish languages reveal this about it - there is only one word for hope and wait: esperar. And there is perhaps something of this hope in the mysterious finale of the Count of Monte Cristo: "All human wisdom is contained in these two words: "Wait and Hope.” It is waiting for the groom with your lamps lit with hope. This hope arrives, as every true and great gift, without notice and without asking permission when we run out the usual resources of hope, finding ourselves in circumstances without reason to hope, not even in Paradise. Yet it arrives after the announcement of a serious illness, after a serious betrayal, after endless loneliness and when you least expect it; it blossoms  delicately in the soul, like a light breeze, so that you can hope again, hope and wait in a different way. We feel that we are given a new chance, a new reason to hope really that is not for comforting self-deception, because the strength to hope is born in us again, taking us beyond despair. And so having submitted the books in court, after yet another illusory promise of bank credit and  the thirtieth failed job interview it still, with eyes still shiny, flourishes deep inside us, hope. It surprises us and gets us to start the race again and continue the fight. This hope is not generated by ourselves: it just comes and is therefore a gift. The Christian tradition knew this well and called hope a 'virtue', adding to it the adjective 'theological' to emphasize its dimension of gratuitousness, the surplus with respect to any merit and that it cannot be stolen by any sadness and despair of the present. If this fourth (or n-th) type of hope were not present on earth, life would be unbearable; it becomes such when this hope does not arrive, or you cannot hear it because of the too many noises. Life would be unbearable, especially the lives of the poor. But they, just like Fellini's Cabiria, manage to get back on the path, to smile, to dance and to hope again notwithstanding their misfortune. This is the hope that, even today, motivates thousands of workers, entrepreneurs, social workers, politicians and public officials to get back on their feet, spes contra spem (hope against hope), and move forward because, every now and then, they experience this type of hope. And so they restart running their and our good race.

Further commentaries by Luigino Bruni in Avvenire are available through the Avvenire Editorial
 
Translated by Eszter Kató
 
    [checked_out] => 0
    [checked_out_time] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [catid] => 888
    [created] => 2013-09-08 13:38:31
    [created_by] => 64
    [created_by_alias] => Luigino Bruni
    [state] => 1
    [modified] => 2020-08-23 20:47:43
    [modified_by] => 609
    [modified_by_name] => Super User
    [publish_up] => 2013-09-07 23:07:27
    [publish_down] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [images] => {"image_intro":"","float_intro":"","image_intro_alt":"","image_intro_caption":"","image_fulltext":"","float_fulltext":"","image_fulltext_alt":"","image_fulltext_caption":""}
    [urls] => {"urla":null,"urlatext":"","targeta":"","urlb":null,"urlbtext":"","targetb":"","urlc":null,"urlctext":"","targetc":""}
    [attribs] => {"show_title":"","link_titles":"","show_intro":"","show_category":"","link_category":"","show_parent_category":"","link_parent_category":"","show_author":"","link_author":"","show_create_date":"","show_modify_date":"","show_publish_date":"","show_item_navigation":"","show_icons":"","show_print_icon":"","show_email_icon":"","show_vote":"","show_hits":"","show_noauth":"","urls_position":"","alternative_readmore":"","article_layout":"","show_publishing_options":"","show_article_options":"","show_urls_images_backend":"","show_urls_images_frontend":""}
    [metadata] => {"robots":"","author":"","rights":"","xreference":""}
    [metakey] => 
    [metadesc] => 
    [access] => 1
    [hits] => 4542
    [xreference] => 
    [featured] => 0
    [language] => en-GB
    [on_img_default] => 1
    [readmore] => 8228
    [ordering] => 142
    [category_title] => EN - Avvenire Editorials
    [category_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari/it-varie-editoriali-avvenire
    [category_access] => 1
    [category_alias] => en-avvenire-editorial
    [published] => 1
    [parents_published] => 1
    [lft] => 79
    [author] => Luigino Bruni
    [author_email] => ferrucci.anto@gmail.com
    [parent_title] => IT - Editoriali vari
    [parent_id] => 893
    [parent_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari
    [parent_alias] => it-editoriali-vari
    [rating] => 0
    [rating_count] => 0
    [alternative_readmore] => 
    [layout] => 
    [params] => Joomla\Registry\Registry Object
        (
            [data:protected] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [article_layout] => _:default
                    [show_title] => 1
                    [link_titles] => 1
                    [show_intro] => 1
                    [info_block_position] => 0
                    [info_block_show_title] => 1
                    [show_category] => 1
                    [link_category] => 1
                    [show_parent_category] => 1
                    [link_parent_category] => 1
                    [show_associations] => 0
                    [flags] => 1
                    [show_author] => 0
                    [link_author] => 0
                    [show_create_date] => 1
                    [show_modify_date] => 0
                    [show_publish_date] => 1
                    [show_item_navigation] => 1
                    [show_vote] => 0
                    [show_readmore] => 0
                    [show_readmore_title] => 0
                    [readmore_limit] => 100
                    [show_tags] => 1
                    [show_icons] => 1
                    [show_print_icon] => 1
                    [show_email_icon] => 1
                    [show_hits] => 0
                    [record_hits] => 1
                    [show_noauth] => 0
                    [urls_position] => 1
                    [captcha] => 
                    [show_publishing_options] => 1
                    [show_article_options] => 1
                    [save_history] => 1
                    [history_limit] => 10
                    [show_urls_images_frontend] => 0
                    [show_urls_images_backend] => 1
                    [targeta] => 0
                    [targetb] => 0
                    [targetc] => 0
                    [float_intro] => left
                    [float_fulltext] => left
                    [category_layout] => _:blog
                    [show_category_heading_title_text] => 0
                    [show_category_title] => 0
                    [show_description] => 0
                    [show_description_image] => 0
                    [maxLevel] => 0
                    [show_empty_categories] => 0
                    [show_no_articles] => 1
                    [show_subcat_desc] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles] => 0
                    [show_cat_tags] => 1
                    [show_base_description] => 1
                    [maxLevelcat] => -1
                    [show_empty_categories_cat] => 0
                    [show_subcat_desc_cat] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles_cat] => 0
                    [num_leading_articles] => 0
                    [num_intro_articles] => 14
                    [num_columns] => 2
                    [num_links] => 0
                    [multi_column_order] => 1
                    [show_subcategory_content] => -1
                    [show_pagination_limit] => 1
                    [filter_field] => hide
                    [show_headings] => 1
                    [list_show_date] => 0
                    [date_format] => 
                    [list_show_hits] => 1
                    [list_show_author] => 1
                    [list_show_votes] => 0
                    [list_show_ratings] => 0
                    [orderby_pri] => none
                    [orderby_sec] => rdate
                    [order_date] => published
                    [show_pagination] => 2
                    [show_pagination_results] => 1
                    [show_featured] => show
                    [show_feed_link] => 1
                    [feed_summary] => 0
                    [feed_show_readmore] => 0
                    [sef_advanced] => 1
                    [sef_ids] => 1
                    [custom_fields_enable] => 1
                    [show_page_heading] => 0
                    [layout_type] => blog
                    [menu_text] => 1
                    [menu_show] => 1
                    [secure] => 0
                    [helixultimatemenulayout] => {"width":600,"menualign":"right","megamenu":0,"showtitle":1,"faicon":"","customclass":"","dropdown":"right","badge":"","badge_position":"","badge_bg_color":"","badge_text_color":"","layout":[]}
                    [helixultimate_enable_page_title] => 1
                    [helixultimate_page_title_alt] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [helixultimate_page_subtitle] => Civil Economy
                    [helixultimate_page_title_heading] => h2
                    [page_title] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [page_description] => 
                    [page_rights] => 
                    [robots] => 
                    [access-view] => 1
                )

            [initialized:protected] => 1
            [separator] => .
        )

    [displayDate] => 2013-09-08 13:38:31
    [tags] => Joomla\CMS\Helper\TagsHelper Object
        (
            [tagsChanged:protected] => 
            [replaceTags:protected] => 
            [typeAlias] => 
            [itemTags] => Array
                (
                )

        )

    [slug] => 16522:hope-the-treasure-room
    [parent_slug] => 893:it-editoriali-vari
    [catslug] => 888:en-avvenire-editorial
    [event] => stdClass Object
        (
            [afterDisplayTitle] => 
            [beforeDisplayContent] => 
            [afterDisplayContent] => 
        )

    [text] => 
Commentary - The virtues to be rediscovered and lived/5
by Luigino Bruni 
Published in Avvenire on September 8, 2013 

Our civilization faces a scarcity of an important resource, hope. Hope is certainly a virtue, but behind this great word there are many things hiding, some greater and some lesser than the virtue itself. Like any ancient and noble word, hope is like those stratified cities that over the centuries have witnessed many lives and different civilizations. There is, in fact, a first layer  of hope - which shows instantly because it is very superficial – that is not a virtue, but an vice.
    [jcfields] => Array
        (
        )

    [type] => intro
    [oddeven] => item-even
)

stdClass Object
(
    [id] => 16525
    [title] => A Proper Outlook on Work
    [alias] => a-proper-outlook-on-work
    [introtext] => 
Commentary - The Golden Rule of «Reciprocity»
Written by Luigino Bruni
Posted in Avvenire  on July 21, 2013 
We should take advantage of these difficult times to think about the nature of that fundamental human activity we call work. For this purpose, let us suppose that some of our fellow citizens decided to colonize a desert island. As soon as they arrive and settle in, it becomes clear that for their families to grow and their village to develop they must shift from a “domestic” self-sufficient economy to a “political” exchange economy, where each person must strive to make their skills useful to others and make the most of the skills others possess.
    [fulltext] => 
If those whose skills are not in demand fail to convince others of their usefulness, they soon have to learn a different trade to avoid becoming beggars dependent on charity. «Nobody but a beggar – Adam Smith reminds us – chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens» (The Wealth of Nations, 1776).
This simple exercise reveals three truths that are at once fundamental yet neglected: first, that our work turns goods into wealth and increases our wellbeing; second, that in a market economy work essentially involves a duty to reciprocate; and third, that an economic system breaks down when the chain of reciprocity is broken. Throughout history there have been other ways to organize community life. Although the earliest systems relied on a sacred hierarchy, the most relevant large-scale systems have been the various collectivist planned economies of the twentieth century. Global financial capitalism is among the alternative systems (which I call civil) that are not based on reciprocity but instead on greed and entitlements (entitlements deviate from the principles of healthy markets, because they eliminate reciprocity).
There is yet another far more fascinating alternative that often comes up in cultural critiques of modernity and the market. It is “romantic” view which posits that reciprocal work and necessity should not determine what occupations exist on the “island”. According to its proponents, it would be more dignified and ethical for people to choose their occupations without having to depend on others in the market and for the “State” to pay everyone fair wages (they do not explain where the revenue for this would come from nor who would produce it).
What would happen on the island if this last scenario were to be tried? Undoubtedly, there would be a surplus of enjoyable occupations because people would be reaping the intrinsic benefits of following their passions and favored vocations. A list of such occupations is easy to imagine: observing the stars, writing romances, collecting butterflies, studying economics etc. At the same time, the community would suffer from a shortage of many of the less enjoyable but necessary occupations: street cleaners, sewage technicians, miners, undertakers etc. In this society people would not interact properly, because they would be too busy pursuing their own selfish interests. The two lists would be much longer if people were moved from this hypothetical island into one of our complex cities, where many people have unpleasant jobs (certainly not pleasant enough to work happily eight hours a day for decades) that are useful to others and indispensable to society. During the long term labor crisis we currently face, we must bear in mind that the most characteristic feature of work is reciprocity, i.e., meeting the needs of others. Work brings us together and provides the main binding force of our society, even when reciprocity coexists with asymmetries of power, money, responsibility – such asymmetries are a threat to the existence and dignity of reciprocity. Work is an excellent cure for selfishness in all its forms, because it prompts people to walk a mile in another’s shoes and ask themselves what skills they have that would be interesting to others.
One of the virtues that helps us live well in a market economy is empathy, which is the ability to anticipate and understand the needs and desires of others and make an effort to satisfy those needs. Civil markets are a social mechanism for the exchange of goods and services that would not exist if everyone only followed their own aspirations, inclinations and individual pleasure.
This perspective also allows us to grasp the proper meaning of the word “interest”. It involves something that is important to more than just the individual, and it is the reciprocal relationship between them (interests) that fosters interaction. Another issue concerns the culture of non-reciprocal work that threatens to infiltrate our businesses and organizations. Genuine reciprocity in our personal and working lives is not a simple matter, and it always requires a fair amount of creativity and commitment from all parties involved. Thus, shortcuts are often taken to avoid these difficulties. Consider that in pre-modern communities caregiving was the duty of women whose “vocation” was to devote their entire lives to the care of others (especially males), and who were entitled to have their needs for care and attention satisfied by wives, daughters, sisters or nuns. The transfer of such concerns (possibly to civil society or the non-capitalist market) is a giant leap forward for humanity and dignity. The market can be a valuable ally of reciprocity, which is also a form of subsidiarity.
Choosing not to encourage or implement reciprocity at work is narrow-minded and a mistake. A social worker friend of mine recently visited the city jail to start an inmate work program to involve some of the young people there. “All I found was a bunch of lazybones”, he said. The work done by those young people was not genuine, because it lacked reciprocity, which was the consequence of simply trying to keep them busy instead of making them useful to others or even themselves. “I will not rest until these young people feel useful to our city”, he continued. He then did his utmost to find real work for them so that they could experience genuine reciprocity.
And he succeeded, even in this time of crisis, like so many other social and civil entrepreneurs. They innovate because they feel productive inclusion is not enough and are willing to try reciprocity, where all give and receive. I am convinced that our present crisis stems from having created too many “jobs” in the past decades – not only in the public sector – that stop short of reciprocity due to a lack of creativity and commitment on the part of employers, workers, and institutions. All the same, few experiences are more painful than feeling excluded from the reciprocity that permeates our shared lives. Retirement can often be a very painful experience if retirees do not continue to feel useful to their fellow citizens in other ways. Unemployment is tragic not only because of the income loss, but because one is excluded from the network of reciprocity: “the law of the Moderator of the world, which commands us to find ways to be useful to one another” (Antonio Genovesi, 1767). The way to recover from economic and social crises is to bring reciprocity back to work. To do that we must learn to look at the world around us through the eyes of others.
Further commentaries by Luigino Bruni in Avvenire are available through the Avvenire Editorial
Translated by Tomás Olcese
 
    [checked_out] => 0
    [checked_out_time] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [catid] => 888
    [created] => 2013-08-09 15:27:39
    [created_by] => 64
    [created_by_alias] => Luigino Bruni
    [state] => 1
    [modified] => 2020-08-23 20:47:43
    [modified_by] => 609
    [modified_by_name] => Super User
    [publish_up] => 2013-08-10 11:22:10
    [publish_down] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [images] => {"image_intro":"","float_intro":"","image_intro_alt":"","image_intro_caption":"","image_fulltext":"","float_fulltext":"","image_fulltext_alt":"","image_fulltext_caption":""}
    [urls] => {"urla":null,"urlatext":"","targeta":"","urlb":null,"urlbtext":"","targetb":"","urlc":null,"urlctext":"","targetc":""}
    [attribs] => {"show_title":"","link_titles":"","show_intro":"","show_category":"","link_category":"","show_parent_category":"","link_parent_category":"","show_author":"","link_author":"","show_create_date":"","show_modify_date":"","show_publish_date":"","show_item_navigation":"","show_icons":"","show_print_icon":"","show_email_icon":"","show_vote":"","show_hits":"","show_noauth":"","urls_position":"","alternative_readmore":"","article_layout":"","show_publishing_options":"","show_article_options":"","show_urls_images_backend":"","show_urls_images_frontend":""}
    [metadata] => {"robots":"","author":"","rights":"","xreference":""}
    [metakey] => 
    [metadesc] => 
    [access] => 1
    [hits] => 4794
    [xreference] => 
    [featured] => 0
    [language] => en-GB
    [on_img_default] => 1
    [readmore] => 7227
    [ordering] => 185
    [category_title] => EN - Avvenire Editorials
    [category_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari/it-varie-editoriali-avvenire
    [category_access] => 1
    [category_alias] => en-avvenire-editorial
    [published] => 1
    [parents_published] => 1
    [lft] => 79
    [author] => Luigino Bruni
    [author_email] => ferrucci.anto@gmail.com
    [parent_title] => IT - Editoriali vari
    [parent_id] => 893
    [parent_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari
    [parent_alias] => it-editoriali-vari
    [rating] => 0
    [rating_count] => 0
    [alternative_readmore] => 
    [layout] => 
    [params] => Joomla\Registry\Registry Object
        (
            [data:protected] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [article_layout] => _:default
                    [show_title] => 1
                    [link_titles] => 1
                    [show_intro] => 1
                    [info_block_position] => 0
                    [info_block_show_title] => 1
                    [show_category] => 1
                    [link_category] => 1
                    [show_parent_category] => 1
                    [link_parent_category] => 1
                    [show_associations] => 0
                    [flags] => 1
                    [show_author] => 0
                    [link_author] => 0
                    [show_create_date] => 1
                    [show_modify_date] => 0
                    [show_publish_date] => 1
                    [show_item_navigation] => 1
                    [show_vote] => 0
                    [show_readmore] => 0
                    [show_readmore_title] => 0
                    [readmore_limit] => 100
                    [show_tags] => 1
                    [show_icons] => 1
                    [show_print_icon] => 1
                    [show_email_icon] => 1
                    [show_hits] => 0
                    [record_hits] => 1
                    [show_noauth] => 0
                    [urls_position] => 1
                    [captcha] => 
                    [show_publishing_options] => 1
                    [show_article_options] => 1
                    [save_history] => 1
                    [history_limit] => 10
                    [show_urls_images_frontend] => 0
                    [show_urls_images_backend] => 1
                    [targeta] => 0
                    [targetb] => 0
                    [targetc] => 0
                    [float_intro] => left
                    [float_fulltext] => left
                    [category_layout] => _:blog
                    [show_category_heading_title_text] => 0
                    [show_category_title] => 0
                    [show_description] => 0
                    [show_description_image] => 0
                    [maxLevel] => 0
                    [show_empty_categories] => 0
                    [show_no_articles] => 1
                    [show_subcat_desc] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles] => 0
                    [show_cat_tags] => 1
                    [show_base_description] => 1
                    [maxLevelcat] => -1
                    [show_empty_categories_cat] => 0
                    [show_subcat_desc_cat] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles_cat] => 0
                    [num_leading_articles] => 0
                    [num_intro_articles] => 14
                    [num_columns] => 2
                    [num_links] => 0
                    [multi_column_order] => 1
                    [show_subcategory_content] => -1
                    [show_pagination_limit] => 1
                    [filter_field] => hide
                    [show_headings] => 1
                    [list_show_date] => 0
                    [date_format] => 
                    [list_show_hits] => 1
                    [list_show_author] => 1
                    [list_show_votes] => 0
                    [list_show_ratings] => 0
                    [orderby_pri] => none
                    [orderby_sec] => rdate
                    [order_date] => published
                    [show_pagination] => 2
                    [show_pagination_results] => 1
                    [show_featured] => show
                    [show_feed_link] => 1
                    [feed_summary] => 0
                    [feed_show_readmore] => 0
                    [sef_advanced] => 1
                    [sef_ids] => 1
                    [custom_fields_enable] => 1
                    [show_page_heading] => 0
                    [layout_type] => blog
                    [menu_text] => 1
                    [menu_show] => 1
                    [secure] => 0
                    [helixultimatemenulayout] => {"width":600,"menualign":"right","megamenu":0,"showtitle":1,"faicon":"","customclass":"","dropdown":"right","badge":"","badge_position":"","badge_bg_color":"","badge_text_color":"","layout":[]}
                    [helixultimate_enable_page_title] => 1
                    [helixultimate_page_title_alt] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [helixultimate_page_subtitle] => Civil Economy
                    [helixultimate_page_title_heading] => h2
                    [page_title] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [page_description] => 
                    [page_rights] => 
                    [robots] => 
                    [access-view] => 1
                )

            [initialized:protected] => 1
            [separator] => .
        )

    [displayDate] => 2013-08-09 15:27:39
    [tags] => Joomla\CMS\Helper\TagsHelper Object
        (
            [tagsChanged:protected] => 
            [replaceTags:protected] => 
            [typeAlias] => 
            [itemTags] => Array
                (
                )

        )

    [slug] => 16525:a-proper-outlook-on-work
    [parent_slug] => 893:it-editoriali-vari
    [catslug] => 888:en-avvenire-editorial
    [event] => stdClass Object
        (
            [afterDisplayTitle] => 
            [beforeDisplayContent] => 
            [afterDisplayContent] => 
        )

    [text] => 
Commentary - The Golden Rule of «Reciprocity»
Written by Luigino Bruni
Posted in Avvenire  on July 21, 2013 
We should take advantage of these difficult times to think about the nature of that fundamental human activity we call work. For this purpose, let us suppose that some of our fellow citizens decided to colonize a desert island. As soon as they arrive and settle in, it becomes clear that for their families to grow and their village to develop they must shift from a “domestic” self-sufficient economy to a “political” exchange economy, where each person must strive to make their skills useful to others and make the most of the skills others possess.
    [jcfields] => Array
        (
        )

    [type] => intro
    [oddeven] => item-even
)

stdClass Object
(
    [id] => 16524
    [title] => It Is Not About the Diet: It Is About Humanity
    [alias] => it-is-not-about-the-diet-it-is-about-humanity
    [introtext] => 
Commentary - New Realities and Old Ideas About Prosperity
Written by Luigino Bruni
Published in Avvenire on July 27, 2013


There are many good reasons why more and more people go jogging in parks, bike through the streets, or even do calisthenics on the beach. Clearly, our bodies have yet to adapt to the fact that the world – or at least most of it – has changed. We still find greasy, high-calorie foods more attractive than vegetables and lean meals, which makes sense when we think that for roughly one hundred thousand years (the period of the early homo sapiens) the necessary calories for hunting, keeping warm, escaping from predators and surviving were scarce.
    [fulltext] => 
The human body takes much longer than society and culture to change. Thus, to stay healthy we must balance the natural impulses of our bodies with activities that burn our excess calories. We must artificially change our eating habits and go on diets that are costly both to society and individuals.
Likewise, our society consumes more junk foods than healthy ones and does not make the effort to get in shape. Our parents and grandparents are the last remnants of a world defined by scarcity, where famine and starvation were a constant threat. Back then, the symbols of prosperity were abundance, plenitude and the increase, in size and number, of individual possessions (a new home or vehicle) and community assets (from church steeples to high-rise towers).
In art rich or holy people were portrayed as being plump. The songs, religion, work and myths of the past were expressions of ever-present scarcity coupled with the hope of abundance. Even ethics was based on appreciating and finding contentment in little things. In that culture, no feast went without an overabundance of food, clothing and grandiose wastefulness. Feasts were a celebration of desired prospects that nurtured the dreams of comfort of the poor, who could feel (almost) rich for at least a day. Those genuine and powerful dreams have propelled the world forward. Unless we capture the echo of this culture, we will not be able understand, for instance, our anxiety about food or why we accumulate so many things in our closets (some have estimated there are over 30,000 objects in the average home). In this culture, however, abundance was not the only thing associated with prosperity. The diminished social status of women and the underprivileged, intertwined with hierarchical and unequal relationships, was also a part of that world.
An apartment culture was a reaction to this, as young couples began to emancipate themselves from the hierarchy of patriarchal families and build their own homes to enjoying intimacy and their long-awaited freedom. The rise of a market economy is looked upon – and rightly so – as a path of deliverance from restrictive community relations forged by bonds that were akin to shackles. “What have I done for you to abandon me? Maybe you have found a better worker than me”, wrote Luigi Einaudi to describe the dialogue between a cobbler and a fellow citizen who had changed trades (Lessons on Social Policy, 1949). We have been brought up in a paradigm that equates “good” with “plenteous”, in which prosperity means abundance, “better” is a synonym for “more” and growth is measured in terms of increased possessions for the individual and family. That is what we wished for our children. The environment today no longer sustains that kind of humanistic abundance, and relational goods that until recently were plentiful enough to be perceived as evils – and often they were – are fast becoming the most scarce, desirable and valuable goods.
Many would trade entire fortunes for a gesture of true selflessness (and often this desire is so intense that they fall prey to false graciousness). However, the symbols and codes of communication used in politics, economics, the media and advertising (centered on food and things, especially for children) are still those of the old world, encouraging us to consume “things” and isolate ourselves. As a logical consequence of this imbalance, very little is done to help the outrageous number of people who still live in poverty and are threatened with starvation. We must urgently adapt our vocabulary of the good life, starting with our schools. This does not mean we should no longer study Verga, Rabelais or Dickens, or that we should abandon the classic tales that come from the past world of scarcity. Instead, we should complement old educational “motifs” with other images and symbols that meaningfully associate prosperity and relational exchanges,with more graciousness and freedom. The classics already provide the themes, but we must strive to create new ones and avoid living off educational and cultural entitlements.
There are signs of change, but more needs to be done. We need to reinforce the importance of relationships with stories like the ones that made people feel satisfied and rich in times of scarcity and hunger. We need new “lands of plenty” that inspire dreams and desires. For all the talk about relationships these days, there are no new myths or narratives that move the heart and spur individual and collective action. Europe – especially the South – will once again enjoy comfort and a healthy economic life as soon as we reinvent our collective idea of prosperity. The same holds true for our idea of nourishment, because nothing reveals the quality of family relationships in a community more than its eating habits. Indeed, the foremost sign of the relational poverty of our times is the “solitary meal” culture (perhaps we will be able to focus on relationships at the 2015 Feeding the Planet Expo).
Europe can make it. Its history is full of extraordinary cases of civil and economic success born out of real communities, fertile lands and diverse people who were capable of inventing democracy and markets. Today they can reinvent them. Especially during times of crisis, our most valuable asset has always been relationships, not securities. “An artist is never poor”, Babette would say after a wonderful lunch. In fact, Babette’s art went beyond cuisine: it was about relationships as well. Material wealth is important, but it only improves our lives when enjoyed in fellowship. Assets should be a vehicle for closeness, and they should build bridges instead of walls. Let us therefore focus less on consumption and more on our relationships, turning our eyes away from material objects and towards one another.
Further commentaries by Luigino Bruni in Avvenire are available through the Avvenire Editorial 
Translated by Tomás Olcese
 
    [checked_out] => 0
    [checked_out_time] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [catid] => 888
    [created] => 2013-08-21 16:53:23
    [created_by] => 64
    [created_by_alias] => Luigino Bruni
    [state] => 1
    [modified] => 2020-08-23 20:47:43
    [modified_by] => 609
    [modified_by_name] => Super User
    [publish_up] => 2013-07-27 17:14:26
    [publish_down] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [images] => {"image_intro":"","float_intro":"","image_intro_alt":"","image_intro_caption":"","image_fulltext":"","float_fulltext":"","image_fulltext_alt":"","image_fulltext_caption":""}
    [urls] => {"urla":null,"urlatext":"","targeta":"","urlb":null,"urlbtext":"","targetb":"","urlc":null,"urlctext":"","targetc":""}
    [attribs] => {"show_title":"","link_titles":"","show_intro":"","show_category":"","link_category":"","show_parent_category":"","link_parent_category":"","show_author":"","link_author":"","show_create_date":"","show_modify_date":"","show_publish_date":"","show_item_navigation":"","show_icons":"","show_print_icon":"","show_email_icon":"","show_vote":"","show_hits":"","show_noauth":"","urls_position":"","alternative_readmore":"","article_layout":"","show_publishing_options":"","show_article_options":"","show_urls_images_backend":"","show_urls_images_frontend":""}
    [metadata] => {"robots":"","author":"","rights":"","xreference":""}
    [metakey] => 
    [metadesc] => 
    [access] => 1
    [hits] => 6277
    [xreference] => 
    [featured] => 0
    [language] => en-GB
    [on_img_default] => 1
    [readmore] => 6488
    [ordering] => 145
    [category_title] => EN - Avvenire Editorials
    [category_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari/it-varie-editoriali-avvenire
    [category_access] => 1
    [category_alias] => en-avvenire-editorial
    [published] => 1
    [parents_published] => 1
    [lft] => 79
    [author] => Luigino Bruni
    [author_email] => ferrucci.anto@gmail.com
    [parent_title] => IT - Editoriali vari
    [parent_id] => 893
    [parent_route] => economia-civile/it-editoriali-vari
    [parent_alias] => it-editoriali-vari
    [rating] => 0
    [rating_count] => 0
    [alternative_readmore] => 
    [layout] => 
    [params] => Joomla\Registry\Registry Object
        (
            [data:protected] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [article_layout] => _:default
                    [show_title] => 1
                    [link_titles] => 1
                    [show_intro] => 1
                    [info_block_position] => 0
                    [info_block_show_title] => 1
                    [show_category] => 1
                    [link_category] => 1
                    [show_parent_category] => 1
                    [link_parent_category] => 1
                    [show_associations] => 0
                    [flags] => 1
                    [show_author] => 0
                    [link_author] => 0
                    [show_create_date] => 1
                    [show_modify_date] => 0
                    [show_publish_date] => 1
                    [show_item_navigation] => 1
                    [show_vote] => 0
                    [show_readmore] => 0
                    [show_readmore_title] => 0
                    [readmore_limit] => 100
                    [show_tags] => 1
                    [show_icons] => 1
                    [show_print_icon] => 1
                    [show_email_icon] => 1
                    [show_hits] => 0
                    [record_hits] => 1
                    [show_noauth] => 0
                    [urls_position] => 1
                    [captcha] => 
                    [show_publishing_options] => 1
                    [show_article_options] => 1
                    [save_history] => 1
                    [history_limit] => 10
                    [show_urls_images_frontend] => 0
                    [show_urls_images_backend] => 1
                    [targeta] => 0
                    [targetb] => 0
                    [targetc] => 0
                    [float_intro] => left
                    [float_fulltext] => left
                    [category_layout] => _:blog
                    [show_category_heading_title_text] => 0
                    [show_category_title] => 0
                    [show_description] => 0
                    [show_description_image] => 0
                    [maxLevel] => 0
                    [show_empty_categories] => 0
                    [show_no_articles] => 1
                    [show_subcat_desc] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles] => 0
                    [show_cat_tags] => 1
                    [show_base_description] => 1
                    [maxLevelcat] => -1
                    [show_empty_categories_cat] => 0
                    [show_subcat_desc_cat] => 0
                    [show_cat_num_articles_cat] => 0
                    [num_leading_articles] => 0
                    [num_intro_articles] => 14
                    [num_columns] => 2
                    [num_links] => 0
                    [multi_column_order] => 1
                    [show_subcategory_content] => -1
                    [show_pagination_limit] => 1
                    [filter_field] => hide
                    [show_headings] => 1
                    [list_show_date] => 0
                    [date_format] => 
                    [list_show_hits] => 1
                    [list_show_author] => 1
                    [list_show_votes] => 0
                    [list_show_ratings] => 0
                    [orderby_pri] => none
                    [orderby_sec] => rdate
                    [order_date] => published
                    [show_pagination] => 2
                    [show_pagination_results] => 1
                    [show_featured] => show
                    [show_feed_link] => 1
                    [feed_summary] => 0
                    [feed_show_readmore] => 0
                    [sef_advanced] => 1
                    [sef_ids] => 1
                    [custom_fields_enable] => 1
                    [show_page_heading] => 0
                    [layout_type] => blog
                    [menu_text] => 1
                    [menu_show] => 1
                    [secure] => 0
                    [helixultimatemenulayout] => {"width":600,"menualign":"right","megamenu":0,"showtitle":1,"faicon":"","customclass":"","dropdown":"right","badge":"","badge_position":"","badge_bg_color":"","badge_text_color":"","layout":[]}
                    [helixultimate_enable_page_title] => 1
                    [helixultimate_page_title_alt] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [helixultimate_page_subtitle] => Civil Economy
                    [helixultimate_page_title_heading] => h2
                    [page_title] => Avvenire Editorials
                    [page_description] => 
                    [page_rights] => 
                    [robots] => 
                    [access-view] => 1
                )

            [initialized:protected] => 1
            [separator] => .
        )

    [displayDate] => 2013-08-21 16:53:23
    [tags] => Joomla\CMS\Helper\TagsHelper Object
        (
            [tagsChanged:protected] => 
            [replaceTags:protected] => 
            [typeAlias] => 
            [itemTags] => Array
                (
                )

        )

    [slug] => 16524:it-is-not-about-the-diet-it-is-about-humanity
    [parent_slug] => 893:it-editoriali-vari
    [catslug] => 888:en-avvenire-editorial
    [event] => stdClass Object
        (
            [afterDisplayTitle] => 
            [beforeDisplayContent] => 
            [afterDisplayContent] => 
        )

    [text] => 
Commentary - New Realities and Old Ideas About Prosperity
Written by Luigino Bruni
Published in Avvenire on July 27, 2013


There are many good reasons why more and more people go jogging in parks, bike through the streets, or even do calisthenics on the beach. Clearly, our bodies have yet to adapt to the fact that the world – or at least most of it – has changed. We still find greasy, high-calorie foods more attractive than vegetables and lean meals, which makes sense when we think that for roughly one hundred thousand years (the period of the early homo sapiens) the necessary calories for hunting, keeping warm, escaping from predators and surviving were scarce.
    [jcfields] => Array
        (
        )

    [type] => intro
    [oddeven] => item-even
)