On Tue, 1 Oct 2002, Carrol Cox wrote:
> I've always thought that Arendt's distinction between work and labor has
> a lot to recommend it. (Actually, Engels made the distinction when he
> noted that in English there is always a tendency to give the concrete
> thing a germanic name and the abstraction a latin name.) It's also
> implicit in both the labor theory of value and in Marx's comparison of
> bee and architect.
>
> Carrol
The problem with the distinction is that everyday discourse tends to valorize "work". Yeah, it's a cliche, but every mom's a working mom. To label wage labor "real work" is an effective strategy for trivializing a lot of the human activity that makes even a supposedly capitalist society function.
--I think a general nonwage labor strike would be very interesting: our supposedly capitalist society would grind to a halt without the diligent, unpaid work--yes, work!--that we do in our homes and communities.
Miles