Status & Work

Nothing new here but it has become very clear to me now the nature of this state of existence.

Social structure is a very huge force in our lives. People adhere, reinforce and think in terms of social structure instinctively. What is odd however is that it is never formally expressed. How often does a "boss" say "Do this because I am boss?". Normally when a boss is wrong they realise that the company will benefit if they "manage" a correct solution. But in reality social structure is the reality and the boss of sufficient social standing will lose nothing even if the maintain a wrong course! Suprising given the popular rhetoric about democracy and free markets etc etc.

Where I get stuck is that my view point is more practical. A job exists because something needs to be done. If you can do the job and you do a good job at a good price then you are the right person for the job.

Such a view leads in the n-degree to the question what will there be to do when everything has been done? Questions raised in the sci-fi realm when robots and machines do all our work.

The direction of the huge thread in this blog has been to realise that while supply/demand drives the creation of "work", labour is mediated by social structure. Once social structure was aligned with "class" but now it is aligned with capital (which are essentially the same, except the capital 'class' now is devoid of 'class' in the sense of aryan manners and gentlemanly behaviour).

If work dried up the world would be faced with a huge problem, namely how to reinforce the social structure. How can people be in charge, rule or be superior to others if there is no labour structure? It was once done by a class system. What will exist in the post economic world (when the jobs have all been replaced by machines) to reinforce social inequality?