Capitalism is failing workers. People want a job with a decent wage – why is that so hard? | Richard Reeves

The workings of capitalism have been challenged both from the populist right and the socialist left. At the heart of the discontent in the US is faltering wages

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Before capitalism, there was work. Before markets, before even money, there was work. Our remotest ancestors, hunting and gathering, almost certainly did not see work as a separate, compartmentalized part of life in the way we do today. But we have always had to work to live. Even in the 21st century, we strive through work for the means to live, hence the campaign for a "living wage".

As a species, we like to define ourselves through our thoughts and wisdom, as Homo sapiens. But we could as easily do so through the way we consciously apply effort towards certain goals, by our work - as Homo laborans. It nonetheless took two revolutions, one agricultural, one industrial, to turn "work" into its own category.

Richard Reeves is the author of Dream Hoarders and a senior fellow at Brookings Institution

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