Capitalism structurally requires a permanent underclass of surplus labor

Evidence

That lying takes the presumably innocent form of many white people (and even some black folks) suggesting that racism does not exist anymore, and that conditions of social equality are solidly in place that would enable any black person who works hard to achieve economic self-sufficiency. Forget about the fact that capitalism requires the existence of a mass underclass of surplus labor. … That is to say, individuals are not just presented untruths, but are told them in a manner that enables most effective communication. — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress, 70

Categorization

• DEFINE: Articulates hooks’s core definition of denial as culturally manufactured misinformation rather than mere individual wrong belief.
• SEED: Angle: why colorblind/meritocratic lies persist because they are functional for a system that needs surplus labor — could pair with current race-blind rhetoric in tech and hiring.
• XREF: connects to: Capitalism structurally requires excess for some and deprivation for others — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 1094; Capitalist expansion requires wage workers separated from their own means of production — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 611; A reserve army of unemployed workers structurally disciplines labor under capitalism — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 150 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• A reserve army of unemployed workers structurally disciplines labor under capitalism #exemplifies (0.92) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 150
• Capitalism structurally requires excess for some and deprivation for others #corroborates (0.90) — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1094
• Unemployment structurally disciplines workers and lowers labor costs in capitalism #exemplifies (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 150
• Deindustrialized regions supply surplus labor at lower wages to late capitalism #exemplifies (0.82) — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 286
• Capitalist expansion requires wage workers separated from their own means of production #expands (0.78) — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 611
• Capitalism’s total subsumption paradoxically requires unsublated exteriors to exploit #expands (0.74) — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 353