Joanne FisherJul 17, 2023
#capitalism #stress
Show threadWolfgang FeistJul 17, 2023

@Jedigirl

True.

Has to be said from time to time.

Please also note:

Work could be self-realization. It is for most artists, for basket makers I know, for me as a scientist, for people doing straw-insulation (I know), for my friend, the cobbler, for our self delivering eco-farmer...

Most of what we need could be realized in such a way, nowadays.

It's mainly not whether you work 6 or 8 h. It's what you do and how it's been done, because this is an important and long part of our life.

Show threadJulianoëJul 18, 2023

@WolfgangFeist @Jedigirl I think the difference between "work" as defined as "a task one does as a craft" and "work" as defined as "a task someone has to do in exchange of money if they want to fulfill their needs of food, shelter, social status etc"

I don't think we talk about the same things. The two can interlace. But when we talk about work under capitalism it is the later. When I'm tending to my garden, I'm effectively working too. But that's not what it's about.

Show threadWolfgang FeistJul 18, 2023

@Julianoe @Jedigirl

True. Almost:
food, shelter, ....

social status??? etc(what?)

See, thats 'the problem', that stabilises the system.

And it's not just that phrase "capitalism"; an old classification. Conditions changed a lot since 1867!

Nowadays we are able to organize almost all work the way "a task one does as a craft". And if we really think about it, even the "rest" won't be that stressful. I do not fear to do my (rest-)part of cleaning the streets.

Show threadJulianoë
@WolfgangFeist I have no doubt that we could « organize almost all work the way "a task one does as a craft" » that would require to change our needs and expectations in this society.
I don't think the current level of consumption is possible this way. It requires cheap labor, cheap materials, cheap transport. That means people being badly paid and work being an alienation for a lot of people.
Jul 18, 2023 at 10:52amWeb
Show threadJulianoëJul 18, 2023
@WolfgangFeist you can't mass produce sneakers sold 50$ across the world without having people assembling sneakers all day long 6 days a week. And I don't consider this "a task done as a craft".
This system has most of its roots in the origin of capitalism.
Show threadWolfgang FeistJul 18, 2023

@Julianoe

I just dont agree

These "sneakers" can easily be produced a way, that they last 24 months rather than 6 and be repaired (task done as a craft) to last another 24 months. (That would also be an enviromentally suitable solution), and it can be done NOW.
The other extreme: The sneakers can be produced almost fully automatized. Only human control needed;which can be well paying & a task done "like a craft"(Thats a future option, but not so far future. Still, they must last longer) ->2

Show threadJulianoëJul 18, 2023
@WolfgangFeist that's why some people argue, and I agree with them, that capitalism is a belief system: you believe you have faith it could be better, or in the fact that it could automatized. Yet cheap labor (even sometimes slave labor and/or children labor) are what lies in the bases of this system. Nothing indicates, other than belief from people in first world countries, that it will get better
Show threadJulianoëJul 18, 2023

@WolfgangFeist yet capitalism always finds new ways to exploit the earth and people for growth and profit. Because it's its essence. And alienating work is a necessary condition for that to continue.

Other relationships to work is possible. Outside of capitalism. Capitalism has proven so well that it can't be reformed that it ended up destroying living conditions favorable to humanity on Earth before we could manage to do it.