Workmanship

In the opinion of the economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen, the sense of workmanship is the single most important attribute governing the material well-being of a people, with the parental instinct coming a close second.

The era began as workmanship flourished in response to the relative peace and security of property rights that Europe had achieved by the Late Middle Ages.

[8] When workers accustomed to practicing high standards of workmanship were first recruited to work on production lines in factories, it was common for them to walk out, as the new roles were relatively monotonous, giving them little scope to use their skills.

Founders of the movement like William Morris, John Ruskin and Charles Eliot Norton argued that the opportunity to engage in workmanship used to be a great source of fulfillment for the working class.

Crawford calls for a revaluing of workmanship, saying that certain manual roles like mechanics, plumbers, and carpenters have been resistant to further automation, and are among the most likely to continue offering the worker the chance for independent thought.

[9] Writers like Alain de Botton and Jane McGonigal argued that the world of work needs to be reformed to make it more fulfilling and less stressful.

McGonigal argues that computer games can be a source of ideas for doing this; she says the primary reason for World of Warcraft being so popular is the sense of "blissful productivity" that its players enjoy.

Therefore, the electronics manufacturing industry has developed several voluntary consensus standards to provide guidance on how products should be designed, built, inspected, and tested.

Christianity is generally approving of workmanship, though certain Bible passages such as Genesis 3:17 ("...Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.")

[15][10] Psychologist Pernille Rasmussen believes that the tendency to value work can become so strong that it stops being a positive source of motivation, contributing instead to some people losing balance and becoming workaholics.