So I was rereading Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and I found this passage about the division of labour and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to start a thread with the pros and cons of each of them, and which one would be a better strategy in our days and why.
“In the progress of the division of labour, the employment of the far greater part ofthose who live by labour, that is, of the great body of the people, comes to be confinedto a few very simple operations; frequently to one or two. But the understandings ofthe greater part of men are necessarily formed by their ordinary employments. Theman whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which theeffects too are, perhaps, always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion toexert his understanding, or to exercise his invention in finding out expedients forremoving difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit ofsuch exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for ahuman creature to become. The torpor of his mind renders him, not only incapableof relishing or bearing a part in any rational conversation, but of conceiving anygenerous, noble, or tender sentiment, and consequently of forming any just judgmentconcerning many even of the ordinary duties of private life. Of the great and extensiveinterests of his country, he is altogether incapable of judging; and unless veryparticular pains have been taken to render him otherwise, he is equally incapable ofdefending his country in war. The uniformity of his stationary life naturallycorrupts the courage of his mind, and makes him regard with abhorrence the irregular,uncertain, and adventurous life of a soldier. It corrupts even the activity of his body,and renders him incapable of exerting his strength with vigour and perseverance, inany other employment than that to which he has been bred. His dexterity at his ownparticular trade seems, in this manner, to be acquired at the expence of his intellectual,social, and martial virtues. But in every improved and civilized society this is the stateinto which the labouring poor, that is, the great body of the people, must necessarilyfall, unless government takes some pains to prevent it.
“In the progress of the division of labour, the employment of the far greater part ofthose who live by labour, that is, of the great body of the people, comes to be confinedto a few very simple operations; frequently to one or two. But the understandings ofthe greater part of men are necessarily formed by their ordinary employments. Theman whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which theeffects too are, perhaps, always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion toexert his understanding, or to exercise his invention in finding out expedients forremoving difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit ofsuch exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for ahuman creature to become. The torpor of his mind renders him, not only incapableof relishing or bearing a part in any rational conversation, but of conceiving anygenerous, noble, or tender sentiment, and consequently of forming any just judgmentconcerning many even of the ordinary duties of private life. Of the great and extensiveinterests of his country, he is altogether incapable of judging; and unless veryparticular pains have been taken to render him otherwise, he is equally incapable ofdefending his country in war. The uniformity of his stationary life naturallycorrupts the courage of his mind, and makes him regard with abhorrence the irregular,uncertain, and adventurous life of a soldier. It corrupts even the activity of his body,and renders him incapable of exerting his strength with vigour and perseverance, inany other employment than that to which he has been bred. His dexterity at his ownparticular trade seems, in this manner, to be acquired at the expence of his intellectual,social, and martial virtues. But in every improved and civilized society this is the stateinto which the labouring poor, that is, the great body of the people, must necessarilyfall, unless government takes some pains to prevent it.
