Thank you, Laura, for posting this informative view into the work of an innovative thinker. Lately, I have heard or seen mention of this Foucault from several speakers, so I will peer into this reference.

As for the question of work and its relationship to formerly Christian society, here's a comment from the founder of christianity, the progenitor, as it were, of pre-19th-century European life and culture:

" . . . do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sew, nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they?"

This teaching of Jesus is conveniently ignored by many important persons and their institutions who, throughout history, and currently, pass hasty judgement on the poor down-and-outers among us.

We cannot assume, upon seeing unfortunates on the street or whatever, that we know their stories.