Topic > Adam Smith's Philosophy of Work: A Biblical Perspective

However, from a Christian perspective, the most important of these is the idea of ​​division of labor. Division of labor is separating tasks for the people who will be able to perform them best. The division of labor can be traced back to biblical times, when special roles were assigned to certain people who were best able to perform them. For example, some people were kings, priests, prophets, farmers, merchants, . The division of labor can also be seen in great works such as the Pyramids in Egypt, the Great Wall in China and the Brooklyn Bridge in the United States (Cafferky, 2012). The example used by Adam Smith in his book The Wealth of Nations is a pin factory. He talks about how if one person in this factory tried to produce one pin without division of labor, he might be able to produce twenty to one pins a day. However, if ten people worked together, each performing a different function in the production process, they would be able to make 48,000 pins per day (Adam Smith: The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 2008). By dividing tasks among multiple parties, people gain the ability to produce in ways they could not achieve alone