Labor grows more superfluous while society grows more committed to it.
Evidence
‘A corpse is running society – the corpse of labour’ (Ein Leichnam beherrscht die Gesellschaft – der Leichnam der Arbeit). So begins the Manifesto against Labour, written by the Krisis-Group, which is based around Robert Kurz. Following the microelectronic revolution, the argument goes, the production of wealth has grown increasingly detached from human labour. Yet at the same time, society has never been so thoroughly committed to work as it is in our post-Fordist age – an epoch that, in actual fact, is only making labour more and more superfluous. … The Left does not view work itself as a scandal – only its exploitation. For this reason, the manifesto concludes, the programme of all workers’ parties has always been simply the liberation of labour, instead of liberation from labour. Labour and Capital, then, represent two sides of the same coin. — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics, 114
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines the Krisis-Group’s position distinguishing liberation of labour from liberation from labour.
- QUESTION: Worth chasing: why does capitalistic society intensify the work ethic precisely as labor becomes technologically redundant?
- XREF: connects to: Wage labour has grown more pervasive even as manufacturing employment declined — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 480; Austerity enforces the wage-labor relation that capitalism requires for growth — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 29; Capitalist growth structurally reduces rather than increases employment. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 245 (+1 more)
Related
- The Left seeks liberation of labor rather than liberation from labor. (similarity 0.80)
Broader Connections
- Wage labour has grown more pervasive even as manufacturing employment declined
#exemplifies(0.88) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 480 - Austerity enforces the wage-labor relation that capitalism requires for growth
#exemplifies(0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 29 - Technological rationality has grown stronger while society grows more irrational
#exemplifies(0.75) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 47 - Capitalist growth structurally reduces rather than increases employment.
#corroborates(0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 245