Thursday, July 20, 2006

In other words: When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose

John Holbo:

The thing that makes capitalism good, apparently, is not that it generates wealth more efficiently than other known economic engines. No, the thing that makes capitalism good is that, by forcing people to live precarious lives, it causes them to live in fear of losing everything and therefore to adopt – as fearful people will – a cowed and subservient posture: in a word, they behave ‘conservatively’. Of course, crouching to protect themselves and their loved ones from the eternal lash of risk precisely won’t preserve these workers from risk. But the point isn’t to induce a society-wide conformist crouch by way of making the workers safe and happy. The point is to induce a society-wide conformist crouch. Period. A solid foundaton is hereby laid for a desirable social order.


(via Ezra Klein)

2 comments:

Pops said...

The resiliency of Marxism as the basis of political thought is astounding. Change "fearful" to "alienated" and we're talking about a proposal for one of those books nobody will ever read but do win adjunct faculty positions at very prestigious junior colleges.

vikkitikkitavi said...

The jig is up, Pops.

Or should I call you "professor"?????