Contributing something useful to one's fellow human beings, making something or performing a service, was not a high priority in olden times. Work was for slaves. For the masters, the ideal was the Vita Contemplativa , the contemplative life of thought, meditation and introspection. But in modern societies like Germany, work is a value that is almost unquestioned, a major force that gives meaning, shape and perspective to people's lives, that integrates them into the world and society. Many people who do not have work, or whose work has been taken away, suffer greatly.
Work is one of the two main pillars of German society.
The other main value is the family. And it is on these two values that the German social system is constructed. A Polish laborer will take seven or eight marks an hour, a Russian will take three or five. They question this re-feudalization of society , the erosion of the social state and its gains. Proceed to Part 7.