Have you noticed how within our society there is a need to prioritize the good over the workers, to quote Marx, 'The worker sinks to the level of commodity and becomes indeed the most wretched of commodities. And how true? With the development of the Capitalist attitude which has become very nearly inherent in our society, and which we need to unlearn, the need to own everything is dehumanising us and elevating the commodities we produce.
Humans ARE not machines, but the work ethic our society demands suggests so.
Our society is centred towards the production of goods to trade within the economy. That has become the fundamental base of our society. Our economy. Screw morals and emotion and the things which as humans, should drive us fully towards a way of living that reflects our intellect, but everything we are is reduced to a commodity.
Our education system is a system which reproduces the expectations of us in a work place, that of production, and a production which we feel alienated from.
The origins of Capitalism are arguably Calvinist (according to Weber), it is concerned with hard work and the idea of living a 'good' life. (Not getting tied up in their beliefs of predestination.) Yet this idea has mutated, from the key to Calvinist beliefs of a moral life or in this case a human life, to what has become modern day society. In which people are not valued unless they can produce commodity in the form of labour or in the form of production of commodity.
For example, we see a person living on benefits, specifically those who do not deserve them, as a drain on the economy, and they are, of course they shouldn't be living off of other people's hard work if they CAN work, however, no one sees the person behind it, who is desperate to feed their family, or cares for the community, because many do not value the individual, they only see the heard.
Or someone, who works hard cleaning, making pittance, and is not well regarded by her 'superiors' , but this person could be the one person who could make a difference, to her work place or to the world because of who they are, but they are ignored because they are judged purely by what they contribute to their society.
And consider the person who always has his ideas heard because he is top dog, he earns £150,000 a year, wears the suit and presents himself in a way as to suggest success within the finiancial sector, a contriibutor to the economy, but he is a horrific person, he lies and cheats, evades his tax (which costs the government a ridiculous amount more than benefit fraud) and stamps on other people to get what he wants. But no one cares because he is doing good for the economy.
What I want to contest isn't so much the place of Capitalism, but the desire of it to remove the people, to undervalue humanity because of money. Surely, financial gain shouldn't be the driving force. And I realise as I write this, that I have too been conditioned, I will leave uni and go into the 'market place', I will be bought, sold and sell myself (in a non prostitute way) because that is the driving force behind our society.
(Ok yes I sound like a crazy Marxist (but im not, honest!!)
Xxx
