He spent most of his academic career at the University of Michigan, where he was a professor and visible political activist.

Among his more notable PhD students at the University of Michigan were Robert C. Solomon and Anthony Weston.

In this book,[6] Bergmann argues against the standard views of freedom as the lack of external obstacles or as an irrational, unencumbered act that rejects all order.

Both of these leave us with nothing substantial for a self at all—and thus, he suggests, constitute virtually a reductio ad absurdum of modern ideals of education, society, and the family.

In the years between 1976 and 1979 he undertook trips to the former countries of the Eastern Bloc and began to question capitalism and communism.

The term was coined by Bergmann and is based on his research on the notion of freedom and the assumption that the previous work system was outdated.

New Work should offer new ways of creativity and personal development, thus contributing something really important to the job market.

By self-supply and smart consumption, people can maintain a good standard of living even though only one-third of the entire capacity is used for wage labor.

According to Bergmann, every human being can find work that is aligned with the own values, desires, dreams, hope, and skills.

By the process of trying to identify what a person really, really wants to do, a general movement could begin that changes one's life so that people feel 'more alive'.