Professional Poison: How Professionals Sabotage Social Movements

[Hannah Bell]

Introduction

Have you lost your job or your home, or do you fear losing
them? Are you drowning in debt? Do you fear for your future and
your children’s future?

This deepening crisis is squeezing millions of people beyond
their ability to cope. Yet policy makers are more concerned with
“restoring profitability” than with helping human beings.

What we need is a groundswell of anger that rejects “business
first” policies. Yet what we have are thousands of organizations
that are too small to make a difference. Why aren’t they bigger?
Why aren’t they united? Where is the mighty roar of protest that
we need?

While the policy-makers and the professionals who created this
crisis have been discredited, most social change organizations are
also led by professionals who think they can manage the system
better. That’s no solution when the problem is the system itself –
a system that puts profits before people.

This pamphlet explains why professionals refuse to challenge
capitalism, how they promote pessimism and passivity, and why
we need workers to lead the fight for a better life and a better
world.

Read on...

http://rustbeltradical.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/professional-poison-new-book-by-susan-rosenthal/

[anonymous171]

1. K&R. nt

[Hannah Bell]

2. DISCIPLINED MINDS: Who are you going to be? That is the question.

In this riveting book about the world of professional work, Jeff Schmidt demonstrates that the workplace is a battleground for the very identity of the individual, as is graduate school, where professionals are trained. He shows that professional work is inherently political, and that professionals are hired to subordinate their own vision and maintain strict “ideological discipline.”

The hidden root of much career dissatisfaction, argues Schmidt, is the professional’s lack of control over the political component of his or her creative work. Many professionals set out to make a contribution to society and add meaning to their lives. Yet our system of professional education and employment abusively inculcates an acceptance of politically subordinate roles in which professionals typically do not make a significant difference, undermining the creative potential of individuals, organizations and even democracy.

Schmidt details the battle one must fight to be an independent thinker and to pursue one’s own social vision in today’s corporate society. He shows how an honest reassessment of what it really means to be a professional employee can be remarkably liberating. After reading this brutally frank book, no one who works for a living will ever think the same way about his or her job.

http://disciplinedminds.tripod.com/

About the author

Jeff Schmidt was an editor at Physics Today magazine for 19 years,
until he was fired for writing this provocative book. He has a PhD
in physics from the University of California, Irvine, and has taught
in the United States, Central America and Africa. Born and raised
in Los Angeles, he now lives in Washington, D.C.

[bvar22]

3. K&R

Now @ +5

[abumbyanyothername]

4. Liberal Professionals Play an Important Role in Preserving Capitalism

When people turn against the conservative Republican Party, the liberal Democratic Party steps in to advocate evolution, not revolution.

[abumbyanyothername]

5. We don't need to educate politicians

about the waste in the system. We need to reject their pro-business agenda and demand that people's needs come first.

[abumbyanyothername]

6. Genuine democracy is alien to capitalism. . . .nt

[abumbyanyothername]

7. The opposite [of freedom] happens under capitalism.

(Economic) Exploitation and oppression are practiced freely, while individual behavior is micromanaged.

[leftstreet]

8. Oh that is well worth the read!

Thanks for posting.

K&R

I wish I knew how to copy that graphic from the pdf file. The two guys knocking over the pedastal dollar sign. Nice.

[abumbyanyothername]

9. Using working class tactics,

we can begin to win small victories. Each victory will make it easier to win the next one as we gain skill and confidence. Each setback will force us to clarify what we are up against and what we need to do differently.

[Hannah Bell]

10. k

[Romulox]

11. "Professionals" = doctors, lawyers, accountants.

members of SELF regulating and learned professions.

Stock brokers, bank managers and CEOs are not members of a self-regulating, learned profession, and are therefore not "Professionals", though you can call them "professionals" (i.e. whores) if you wish.

[Hannah Bell]

13. What’s a Professional? (from text)

The term “professional” is often used to describe work that is
done well, for example, “that was a professional repair job.” The
term also refers to those who are paid for their work, like
professional writers and athletes.

In this discussion, the term “professional” refers to people
who are specially trained to serve employers and other authorities
– to help them make profits and maintain social control.
Professionals may manage the working class directly, as
workplace managers and supervisors, or indirectly, as doctors,
lawyers, engineers, scientists, journalists, bankers, bureaucrats,
professors, psychologists, psychiatrists and police.

At work and in society, professionals have authority over
working people and make decisions that affect their lives.
Professionals think of themselves as natural leaders because
they have more education than the average person and more
confidence due to their social status. As a result, professionals
often head social change organizations.

However, as we shall see, professional qualities and
characteristics are the opposite of those needed to change society.
In Disciplined Minds, author Jeff Schmidt explains that
professional education has a dual purpose: to teach specific skills;
and to mold a managerial class to serve capitalism.

“When the professional training system does not malfunction, it
selects and produces people who are comfortable surrendering
political control over their work, people who are not deeply
troubled by the status quo and are willing and able to do work
that supports it.” (DM, p.144)1

[Romulox]

15. So allergic to calling class by its name, they mangle the definition of "Professional"

Sorry, but "Professional" is not a synonym for "manager". Small 'p' professional can mean a lot of things (my favorite being the aforementioned prostitute.) Big 'P' Professional means a member of a learned and self-regulating profession.

[Hannah Bell]

16. The writer is certainly not allergic to calling class by its name & defines the word as it's used in

the pamphlet. She didn't say "manager," she said people who "manage the working class" on behalf of owners & authorities (i.e. on behalf of elite/ruling class). They're not synonymous.


"In this discussion, the term “professional” refers to people
who are specially trained to serve employers and other authorities
– to help them make profits and maintain social control.

Professionals may manage the working class directly, as
workplace managers and supervisors, or indirectly, as doctors,
lawyers, engineers, scientists, journalists, bankers, bureaucrats,
professors, psychologists, psychiatrists and police."

[Echo In Light]

12. Rec'd. For decades Chomsky has cited the indoctrinated professional class as a deterrent to progress

...which speaks volumes about the lack of left-leaning views, ideas and values within the Name Brand party.

[fascisthunter]

14. .

[Hannah Bell]

17. k