Work and Reward in Capitalism
Published on 2020-05-20
I want to talk about one aspect of capitalism. How people are managed who are stressed out by capitalism. Stressed out or threatened by the damage to our environment that capitalism has so deeply imprinted on us and the way capitalism seems to make consumption the goal, the antidote if you like for the stress of everyday life and that’s the part I want to get to.
Capitalism is a system that makes workplaces ugly, unpleasant, stressful, dangerous and attacks on our self-esteem. All wrapped together. Yes, I know, there are some workplaces that do not have these problems or at least not all of them and there are offsetting negatives about workplaces. It is important to remember, that the underlying logic of a workplace in capitalism is fundamentally stressful. A minority of people run the place. The owner, the Board of Directors, the top executives. You all know who they are, even if you do not know them very well. Underneath them, that is where we are, the workers, the people who come from 9:00 to 5:00, Monday to Friday and do the work.
We also know, or should know, that the origin of the business, the goal of the business, is to make profits for those at the top. The owner, the top executives, the major shareholders. All of that. And we know that most of us have nothing to do with those people, nor with a business where we sell our capacity to work, our brains and muscles, so that they can make a profit. They pay us a wage or a salary, we work and the name of the game is that we produce more in value by our labour, than it costs the employer to get us to come there and do the labour. That is the name of the game. We must produce more for them than they pay us because otherwise, given how capitalism works they would not hire us. They do everything in their power to maximize the difference between what we produce and the value we create by our labour relative to what they pay us to come there. Because the bigger that difference, the bigger their profit. In other words, everything about the work we do is designed to maximize the difference between what we get paid and the value of what we do. And we all know it, oh, maybe not consciously, but we know it. The name of the game is to rip us off. And we are put under a lot of pressure to work harder, work faster, spend less time in the bathroom, don’t talk to your fellow workers, don’t look on the internet for amusements, don’t, don’t, don’t and don’t, because it takes away from the fundamental purpose of the workplace in capitalism.
If that upsets you, that means you human. If it eats at you over time, it means you are human. If it is stressful, if it is demeaning, if you feel that rip off you are human. That is why bar owners across North America have a big sign in the window you see on your way home. The sign says happy hour and you know why? Because, it wants you to feel that the hour at the bar after five o’clock is when you can be happy to offset what you were the previous eight hours when you were working. That happy hour is part of a culture. You might call it the culture of capitalism. And here it is this in a nutshell.
The workplace is not where you are supposed to look for, and it is certainly not where you would find personal fulfillment, recognition, enjoyment, relaxation, conviviality, friendship, closeness. You might find those around the corner. In the corner maybe during the break, maybe over lunch, maybe if you sneak around, but it is not what you are there for. It is not what the employer wants out of you. He wants you not to do that. Once you focused on the work, produce the output. So, if the work is not an enjoyable thing, and I’ll get to in a minute, how deep in our culture that is, then what is your compensation in the first instance is your salary, your wage, what you get paid. But that is just a check, or maybe a bunch of bills, in and of itself nothing. So, here comes the compensation for the unpleasantness of work. Consumption. In capitalism, the mass of people is basically taught from an early age by their parents, by their teachers, by their minister, their priests, and so on, work is what you are condemned to do, consumption is the purpose. Consumption is the compensation for all of the frustration, of your needs, of your desires, of your creativity on the job. Feel bad on the job? Go shopping. Feel bad on the job? Compensate yourself at the mall. And that is not a surprise because the capitalists then gain twice.
Firstly, they rip you off by making you work under conditions that are not humane, that are not focused on you as a person. Because that is not their goal. Their goal is to make money for the employer. And then the employer gets you again when you go to the mall and overpay for what the employer has to sell you in the department store. They get you twice. As a worker, and then as a consumer. So here comes the punchline. In a different economic system, the workplace should be as important as consumption.
Maybe more so. Maybe the workplace is where you ought to expect to be creative, to be able to develop and apply your dreams, your imagination, your creativity, your artistry, your skill, your craft. A place where you can learn to do it better and be interactive with people who are likewise exploring their creativity. It could, you know, be an exciting attractive place to go. You might, here comes the big punchline, you might get so much satisfaction in at and around your job and your interactions with other people if the workplace were designed to do it, you might get more satisfaction there than you would on consumption.
There is nothing natural, there is nothing necessary about work being negative and consumption being the positive to compensate for the negative. Work does not have to be bad. It is for some of us the most creative thing we ever do. And workplaces could and should in a humane post-capitalist society be organized that way so consumption would not become the obsession.