Is It Possible To Build An Economy Without Jobs? [View all]
AlterNet /
By Frank Joyce
Is It Possible To Build An Economy Without Jobs?
Humans will always work. But that whole employee-employer thing is optional. It's time to start looking for another model.
April 29, 2012 |
Suppose that something caused iTunes, Sony Music, "American Idol," SiriusXM and every other commercial music entity to disappear. Would humans still make music? Of course we would.
Although capitalists would prefer we think otherwise, human ingenuity created capitalismnot the other way around. And work long precedes the existence of the capitalist system of jobs. Like music and art, work is intrinsic to the human condition. It is essential not just to our survival but to our progress as a species. It is something we do naturally, regardless of the economic and political systems in place at any given time or place in human history.
Of all the systems that contain and define our lives, perhaps the most opaque is the job system. While it is common for us to think about our individual jobor the lack thereofit is rare that we consider the job system itself. It seems to us that humans have always been either employers or employees -- and we always will be. Its the ultimate TINA (There Is No Alternative).
Who do you work for and what do you do are interchangeable questions in daily social discourse. Parents spend many of their waking hours thinking about how to best raise and position their children so they will be attractive to the person or entity that will hire them. From Dlibert to National Secretaries Day, we assume that the job-based system of organizing what gets done, who does what and how our effort is compensated is an immutable component of human existencealmost like air, water and food. .......................(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.alternet.org/visions/155186/is_it_possible_to_build_an_economy_without_jobs_/