Odysseus is the prototypical bourgeois hobbyist whose leisure confirms his power over labor

Evidence

In every instance of true “labor,” subject is devoted to object; and regardless whether the product of labor reverts back to the subject, the action itself remains oriented toward an impersonal structure and finds its culmination in the forming of that structure, be it the shaping or reshaping of concepts in intellectual labor, the pedagogic forming of a pupil, or the working of physical substances. But this directly contradicts aristocracy’s basic ethos [Lebensgefühl], which is absolutely personal. Its center is in the being of the subject, whose value, like the value of everything that arises directly from him, is determined by the terminus a quo. However, labor is action that is eminently a means, that is oriented toward something external, that is determined by the terminus ad quem. It is on this point that Schiller distinguishes between low natures, who pay with what they do, and noble natures, who pay with what they are. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 515 (#complicates, via linked claim)

In England, organized sport had been a mass phenomenon, a spontaneous and public creation. And then, just as with land and labor, the rising bourgeoisie had expropriated it for their own purposes. Undisciplined, vulgar, and lacking self-confidence, they had sensed that their reliance on naked force in their personae as expropriators, exploiters, and imperialists would ultimately destroy them if they could not establish to their own satisfaction their right to rule: “They wanted a culture, a way of life of their own.” — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1254 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Odysseus’s cunning mirrors the irrationality of early capitalist exchange; Labor is means-oriented while aristocratic ethos centers on personal being — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 515; The bourgeoisie expropriated working-class games to legitimate its own rule — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1254

Broader Connections

• Odysseus’s cunning mirrors the irrationality of early capitalist exchange #expands (0.85)
• Labor is means-oriented while aristocratic ethos centers on personal being #complicates (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 515
• The bourgeoisie expropriated working-class games to legitimate its own rule #complicates (0.72) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1254