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plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
Oct. 11th, 2016 05:54 pmThis is a somewhat belated post, but not really, because it's about history. Awhile back—centuries in internet time, meaning a few weeks ago—I came upon one of the many articles on the gig economy/sharing economy/on-demand employment on BoingBoing. It's a link to a small study profiling people who pick up casual jobs here and there through the internet without steady wages or benefits.
The comments were what I found most interesting. Despite BB skewing white, male, and techie, most commenters were sympathetic. This was horrible, they realized, because hardly any of them were working casual jobs by choice. Most people would prefer steady jobs with predictable hours and benefits. But the technology had outpaced the socio-economic structures we put in place to deal with them. Cue throwing up of hands—capitalists, you win this round.
What got me, though, is that nearly everyone was focused on the technology—as if the technology somehow sprang into being spontaneously without human invention or ideology, as if we were merely automatons ourselves, conforming to the technology's wishes. As if, without technology, this situation could never have occurred, and in fact is historically unprecedented.
Which brings me to the concert I went to last week: Billy Bragg and Joe Henry's Shine a Light tour. If you haven't heard about it, they did an album about train songs. It's quite good. I suspect I'll prefer the live show, though, because the songs were interspersed with Billy and Joe talking about the context of all the songs, where they come from, why they chose them, where on their train travels they were when they recorded them. Towards the end, Billy talked about the romanticization of the historical/mythic hobo character, and related him to the presently reviled figure of the refugee. Old railroad songs still resonate because it's still the same story. The skin colour and circumstances may have changed, but the social attitudes and struggle have not.
(As you might imagine, I had a really excellent night, though Billy Bragg's solo set remained the highlight.)
Whenever I read people throwing up their hands, helpless, in the face of the Uberization of labour, I cringe. Because it's not like this hasn't happened before. Read your Marx, people! lIt's not like this isn't capital's ideal, natural state; the stable economy and high living conditions is largely a mid-20th century aberration.
The gig economy, circa 1930. Source/more pictures.
Anyway, two things tend to reverse a trend like this, and neither are whining about it on the internet. One is a really big war, preferably one that kills off a large segment of the working population, but mainly because that stimulates the economy if you do it right. We seem to be headed down that road, so hey, maybe things will improve. The other, far better way to do it, is unionization. That's right, back in the day people didn't just stand for having no job security, steady wages, or benefits—they actually got their shit together and collectively fought.
Maybe that time capsule unearthed in Haymarket will hold some clues as to how we can remember our history, and thus, improve our lot.
The comments were what I found most interesting. Despite BB skewing white, male, and techie, most commenters were sympathetic. This was horrible, they realized, because hardly any of them were working casual jobs by choice. Most people would prefer steady jobs with predictable hours and benefits. But the technology had outpaced the socio-economic structures we put in place to deal with them. Cue throwing up of hands—capitalists, you win this round.
What got me, though, is that nearly everyone was focused on the technology—as if the technology somehow sprang into being spontaneously without human invention or ideology, as if we were merely automatons ourselves, conforming to the technology's wishes. As if, without technology, this situation could never have occurred, and in fact is historically unprecedented.
Which brings me to the concert I went to last week: Billy Bragg and Joe Henry's Shine a Light tour. If you haven't heard about it, they did an album about train songs. It's quite good. I suspect I'll prefer the live show, though, because the songs were interspersed with Billy and Joe talking about the context of all the songs, where they come from, why they chose them, where on their train travels they were when they recorded them. Towards the end, Billy talked about the romanticization of the historical/mythic hobo character, and related him to the presently reviled figure of the refugee. Old railroad songs still resonate because it's still the same story. The skin colour and circumstances may have changed, but the social attitudes and struggle have not.
(As you might imagine, I had a really excellent night, though Billy Bragg's solo set remained the highlight.)
Whenever I read people throwing up their hands, helpless, in the face of the Uberization of labour, I cringe. Because it's not like this hasn't happened before. Read your Marx, people! lIt's not like this isn't capital's ideal, natural state; the stable economy and high living conditions is largely a mid-20th century aberration.
The gig economy, circa 1930. Source/more pictures.
Anyway, two things tend to reverse a trend like this, and neither are whining about it on the internet. One is a really big war, preferably one that kills off a large segment of the working population, but mainly because that stimulates the economy if you do it right. We seem to be headed down that road, so hey, maybe things will improve. The other, far better way to do it, is unionization. That's right, back in the day people didn't just stand for having no job security, steady wages, or benefits—they actually got their shit together and collectively fought.
Maybe that time capsule unearthed in Haymarket will hold some clues as to how we can remember our history, and thus, improve our lot.
