从马克思的唯物史观考察,劳动是一个历史的范畴。在古希腊罗马劳动被视为劣等活动,中世纪教会把劳动视为原罪的惩罚或修道的苦行。新教伦理把劳动界定为天职,迎合了资本主义生产的“自由劳动的理性组织方式”。古典经济学把劳动进一步资本主义化,劳动转变成雇佣劳动,人贬低为谋生的工人。工作伦理正是一种服务于资本主义生产方式的意识形态,它遮蔽了劳动异化的本质。劳动虽从最卑微的位置上升到现代社会的法则,却依然被视为一种必要的“牺牲”。唯有在人的本质力量得到解放与全面发展的社会,劳动才会成为吸引人的劳动,成为个人的自我实现。 Viewing from Marx’s historical materialism, labor is a historical category. In ancient Greece and Rome, labor was considered inferior, and medieval churches viewed labor as the punishment for original sin or ascetic. Protestant ethics defined labor as a bounden duty to cater to “the rational organization of free labor” of capitalist production. Classical economics further capitalized labor, converted labor into wage labor, and degraded workers to make a living. Working ethic is just an ideology serving the capitalist mode of production, which obscures the essence of labor alienation. Although labor rose from the most humble position to the laws of modern society, it was still regarded as a necessary “sacrifice.” Only in a society where the essential forces of human beings are liberated and developed in an all-round way will labor become an attractive labor and an individual self-realization.