Don't stop! Give it all you got!

Modern capitalism is truly astounding. It’s the absolute pinnacle of dysfunction. Its only purpose is to allocate limited resources efficiently, yet it requires an enormous number of managers; allocates wealth inequitably and irrationally; wastes resources on useless or harmful things; has unpredictable and damaging boom/bust cycles; and fuels internecine and international warfare. Its underlying theory is absurd and its implementation criminal, but somehow its evangelists have convinced the general population that this is the best possible system. I won’t belabour the point, but I’d like to share a minor epiphany I had.

I’ve tried to live in opposition to this warped system, but I realized lately that I fell into one of its traps. One of its intellectual pillars is the notion that progress comes from a Protestant work ethic. If we all work harder, we can build a better society with the fruits of our labours. Politics is then relegated to the decision of how to spend the wealth generated via capitalism—roads, weapons, schools, solar panels. This apparent flexibility explains why ideologues of all stripes support capitalism. This logic can be extended to any group or individual. There is no problem that cannot be solved through hard work.

Historically, this was largely correct: when there wasn’t enough food or clothing or firewood, someone needed to work to produce more. But with 20^th-century mechanization, our material needs were met long ago, and we have become so productive that extra work actually reduces our quality of life. These days, half of the work done is to create the demand for more work: in order to create jobs in an SUV factory, workers in marketing and sales need to create the demand for SUV’s. Overall, people work longer hours, consume more, and produce more waste, but they are not happier. This system favours disposable consumer goods or military hardware because the shorter its useful life, the more people who can work to extract, assemble, sell, and dispose of the product. This aggravates social and environmental problems beyond what the government can deal with, despite increased tax revenue.

One symptom of this perverse work ethic is that the more lucrative the work, the more damage it causes—corporate senior managers, arms dealers, or financial speculators are handsomely paid while students, parents, and artists often have no income at all. Any work that raises productivity is rewarded, yet this extra productivity causes environmental damage, invasive advertising, and curtailed leisure time without providing any lasting benefit for the citizen.

It sounds ridiculous to suggest that we can solve problems without working, but that’s just because the notion is so deeply rooted. Of course, it is not possible or desirable for everyone to stop working. We just need to sort out which work improves our quality of life and which is pointless or harmful. In fact, it isn’t difficult: if a job seems futile and soulless, it probably is. The lucrative jobs I named earlier are generally high-profile, so they are also easy to spot. Failing that, we can be proactive and enumerate which work does provide benefits.

But what can we actually do? There is no way to stop someone from working a certain job. First we can stop treating paid work as a virtue in and of itself. If there is less status associated with a job, perhaps people will be more mindful of whether the work brings them wellbeing and fulfillment. Collectively, we should provide a living wage to the unemployed and limit very high incomes in order to deter those who enter destructive careers for the money.

I don’t claim to understand the cause and effect of this yet, but it’s something I’ll keep an eye on now that I’ve noticed it.