What role does the organisation of labour relations play in the health of a democratic society? Axel Honneth-s major new work is devoted to answering this question. His central thesis is that participation in democratic will formation can only proceed from a transparent and fairly regulated division of labour. The social world of work - where we spend so much of our time - is almost unique in being a space in which we have experiences and learn lessons that we can use to influence the attitudes of a political community. Therefore, by shaping working conditions in a particular way, we have a prime opportunity to foster cooperative forms of behaviour that benefit democracy, both by making mental room for these to flourish and by using the workplace as a rehearsal for democratic interaction in wider society. A job cannot be so tiring that a worker cannot think about political events; a job cannot pay so little that one cannot engage in political activity in his or her free time; a job can
