There are many of us who spend our days in work environments that evoke humorous scenes from the hit series The Office or movies like Office Space. Author Matthew Crawford, (who holds a PhD. In Political Philosophy and a position at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture) sees the fact that so many of us identify with these environments and the Dilbertian humor they engender, as a sad commentary on our modern civilization. In addition to being an academic, he manages his own motorcycle repair shop. Crawford is a man of two worlds and tries to reconcile them in his recent book Shopcraft as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into The Value Of Work.
Many people, including myself, have known both the joys and the struggle of doing so called “blue collar”, trade and craft work. Crawford sings the praises of craftsmanship and the intellectual challenge inherent in many trade jobs, but he fails to mention the sometimes back breaking and soul crushing aspects of some of these jobs as well. He decries the mindless inaneness of many modern office environments, but fails to realize that sometimes this is equally the case in trade and manual labor. In my teens and 20’s, I did a variety of manual and trade jobs from agriculture to mechanic to fence builder. Some of these so called noble jobs were interesting and rewarding, while others were as soul crushing as any desk job.
I know where Crawford is coming from when he speaks of the feeling of accomplishment after fixing a motorcycle. This is similar to the feeling I've had after harvesting a field, gettting some old tractor running or building a piece of furniture. There is something unexplainably rewarding about completing a job with your own skill. I find more joy in crafting a piece of furniture, piece of art, or fixing something than I do in much of anything else.
I contrast this with my current profession where the scale of accomplishment and feeling is often difficult to quantify. In a given day, as director of a small library, it is difficult to say what i really accomplished. I know that I was busy and that 1000 small things were touched on. Still there is often not one thing that I can look at and say: "there!...I made that or finished that". Once at a library conference, a speaker gave the advice that if you can finish one thing a day it should be counted as an accomplishment. I've taken that to heart...but most days it is difficult to have a feeling that one has done more than push paper and email around the office.
The books most noble feature is Crawford’s unwavering championing of the idea of teaching manual trade skills like mechanical arts, construction trades, craft skills and other skills that are immediately useful. Too few people today know how to do much of anything in the way of fixing, crafting or constructing anything. Industrial arts and trade skills classes that used to be standard often no longer exist in high school curriculums. I agree with Crawford that we all can benefit from knowledge in areas of practical skills in the trades and arts. Even if people don’t pursue these areas for a career, they can offer a lifetime hobby or something to fall back on for supplemental income. In addition, a craft of trade skill can offer intellectual challenges and ways of interpreting the world that can bring us outside our day to day boxes. This is why I like to garden, build things and sometimes fix things…or try to. It is intellectually challenging and stimulates the brain in ways that are off the beaten path.
I wish Crawford had spent more time discussing the value of trade and art skills and less on defining what they are not. Much of the book is spent in an almost defensive posture counterpoised against the prevailing wisdom of the day: that college education and knowledge work is the only good way to go. I hope that he will write another book in which he examines the true life enriching and affirming values to be gained from his work and that of others in the area of the manual arts.
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