EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
Author: Alexander Mihaylov
I recently came across an article on the website "Barricade" entitled "Why Capitalism Creates Meaningless Jobs". The author of the article believes that people are still not completely free from the need to work, for no other reason than because the corporate elites who actually rule us cannot allow us to have free time, because otherwise we would have overthrown them from power (or something like that). Therefore, the elites created meaningless jobs to keep us busy, and knowing that the jobs we hold are meaningless breaks our spirit and makes us feel humiliated and helpless in a world that is under the rule of the rich.
The Left's Myth of Meaningless Corporate Slavery
The idea that capitalism keeps us in labor slavery is very popular among leftists, instead of allowing us to enjoy the freedom created by scientific and technological progress. Some time ago, I came across another article entitled Why 'Malcolm in the Middle' Is Actually a Socialist Masterpiece about the popular series "Malcolm", which mentions that the father, Hal, works in some completely useless position, and in fact, for years, every Friday he secretly takes time off from work and goes somewhere to have fun. According to the author, this was his form of rebellion against the meaninglessness of jobs in the capitalist system and the crushing of the human spirit as a result of this feeling of his own uselessness, which the corporate world tries to impose on the worker by keeping him in a job that no one needs.
I once believed that scientific and technological progress would eliminate the need for labor and work. 9 years ago. At 19. When you're that young, it's normal to have leftist beliefs. And naive.
The article in "Barricade" reminds us that John Maynard Keynes predicted that by the end of the 20th century, scientific and technological progress would have reached the point where the need for human labor would have decreased to such an extent that the working week in the developed world would be 15 hours. However, as we see, we, the working people, the middle class, instead of preferring more time for ourselves, have clearly preferred to work more so that we can buy more toys.
But what would we do with our free time if we didn't work? People need to express themselves in some way, to do something, to create something. Do you think the richest people in the world just sit around all day? No, they're constantly wondering how to get richer, i.e. they work.
Perhaps the authors of such articles imagine that it is right to engage in hobbies, arts, crafts. But we are already in an era in which hobbies quite often turn into businesses. In reality, the only thing that gives value to all the goods and services you use is the labor invested in them. No one owns the raw materials, we do not buy them from nature with money, we buy them directly with the investment of labor and knowledge. People are increasingly falling for handmade things, precisely because their own labor and time are the most valuable thing a person can invest in something. And consumers appreciate this.
No one is obligated to do something they find meaningless.
The author mentions an acquaintance of his who played in a band that failed to make it and had to start working as a lawyer for a large corporation, and complains that he feels that his work is useless. I have been in this situation, not once, but twice, but you may be surprised to learn that there is a way out of this situation. And it is very simple. I left both of these places precisely because I felt that I was doing nothing there - I was not useful, and I was costing people money.
I doubt anyone in the corporate world would want to spend money on you staying in a dead-end job that has no use or meaning, just to keep you in a subordinate and desperate state. The idea is absolutely crazy. The person who sits in such a position keeps themselves there. No one is forcing you to stay, no one is forbidding you to look for a more satisfying and meaningful job, to take up some freelance profession, to start a business, to follow your dreams. No one is interested in that.
And why do you think people don't feel good in jobs they find meaningless? Because they need to feel like they're doing something meaningful. Certain jobs may not be meaningful, but that would be immediately apparent to the employer if the incumbent decided to leave, and the employer discovered that they didn't really need the person in that position. The employer then realizes that the position is an unnecessary expense.
There is always meaningful work.
Meaningful, satisfying, creative, profitable work is available to everyone - human needs are inexhaustible. As a person's capabilities grow, so do their needs. Nowadays, human needs must be satisfied by things like sushi, branded sneakers, iPhones, and other various toys that previously did not exist, or at least were not known on the market in the Western world. And that was until someone decided that they could make money by bringing them in, or creating them, and in this way they in turn increased their own capabilities and needs, which need to be satisfied by the meaningful work of other people.
Capitalism does not create unnecessary jobs, on the contrary, it eliminates them. Because it always strives to optimize resources and eliminate waste.
And even if there are unnecessary jobs, no one is forcing you to take them. It is entirely within your power to walk out the door, never come back, and do something that is meaningful and fulfilling to you.
Even the author of the article published in "Barricade" says that "there can be no objective measure of the social contribution of a given activity", and he is a social anthropologist by profession. And at a university supported by the state from taxes on money earned under capitalism, which he himself admits can be called a waste of state funds.
Ultimately, the author fails to argue the thesis that capitalism creates meaningless jobs. Rather, he complains about the existence of jobs that he doesn't like. But in the free market, if a job exists, then someone clearly needs it. No matter how meaningless it may seem to some left-wing intellectual.
The misunderstanding with the criticized article comes from the term "capitalism", which inaccurately characterizes today's economic system. In which, it is true, there are elements of capitalism, but there are also many other elements such as statism, socialism and even communism (the latter is found in healthcare).