From: kelley
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Nunya is not duped by Walmart's machinations alone. Nunya's response illustrates what Doug means when he insists that it is at our peril we ignore or simplify "the degree to which people are complicit in their own subordination, and even come to enjoy it. Or, worse, don't even experience (work) as a compulsion or a form of subordination, but a pleasure." I think the below gets at what's at the heart of this perpetual debate over how ideology works.
^^^^ CB: Yes, ever since our Judith Butler study group on this list, the phenomenon of complicity in one's own oppression has been established as existing. Who can ignore the "happy slave" who shucks and jives, grins and smiles, "yessa massa", Sambo. House slaves. Who can doubt that many of those slaves actually experienced subjective and genuine happiness in ingratiating themselves to their masters. I imagine that Sally Hemmings really loved Thomas Jefferson.
Gramsci's theory of hegemony seems to include the notion of rule by the carrot in rows of trenches around the fort which holds the stick.
Also, "happy slaves" basically may employ a strategy of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Wal-Mart employees "join 'em"with enthusiasm. If you are going to do something, why not go all the way especially since you won't succeed if you don't ?
The slang term "wage-slave" seems to be actualized more than the average in Wal-Mart workers. Hard to blame them for taking this tactic to its logical extreme. It doesn't seem much different than "team spirit" in sports.
With all our contemplation of self-oppression, by now we want to express hypotheses on how someone can be deprogrammed from being a Wal-Mart Happy Slave. Are there any interviews or studies of ex-members of the Wal-Mart cult, who turned themselves around ? But am I being unfair in that they may be more like sports fans side than cultmembers ? And in fact more practical than sports fans even. They are not acting irrationally !
Practically speaking , people need jobs (" 2 cents in yer pocket ")and why shouldn't they become genuinely enthusiastic about becoming a wage-slave rather than a member of the relative surplus population ? Despite not consciously reducing everything to the cash nexus, one needs one's minimal nexus to cash. Few of them have allegiance to the historical achievements of the trade union movement, that would override meeting their immediate economic needs.
Perhaps some trade unions could establish networks of ex-Wal-Mart workers. There might not be a large number, but those most aggrieved might constitute a core group. Some left academic researchers might initiate it (carefully avoiding studying Walmarters like animals in a zoo !), and discover those with the most durable complaints. Then in conjunction with unions develop Wal-Mart Busters. The trouble is what is there in it pragmatically for them ? There has to be an appeal to self-interest,even if the latter is a bourgeois illusion ( see Caudwell, thanks Carrol)
Micheal Perelman might stay in touch with the current Wal-Mart zealots, because in the long run some of them might sober up. But we have to establish something for them to join when they have a change of consciousness.