[lbo-talk] Unproductive Workers = The Best Organized in the USA

Jim Devine jdevine03 at gmail.com
Sat Jan 21 09:34:51 PST 2006


Leigh:>>>If it [unproductive labor] has no normative meaning after all this time, then perhaps it is just a source of confusion... and needs to be abandoned.


>>>[Need=Requirement] <<<

me:>> why is that? does everything have to be normative? <<

Leigh: >Hell no, at the individual. However to maintain a society of individuals, norms are very useful... cultural "glue" (or something resembling the middle of the social 'curve']. <

the (un)productive labor concept isn't supposed to hold society together. It's supposed to help us understand society.


>For people who use what would be considered technical language, the
lack of a normative (standard +-) meaning is a hinderance to communication of key concepts, which could be intentional for a variety of different reasons and innumerable motives. But I believe it would, due to causing inefficency in that *communication*, create a net negative effect on the discussion at hand [...if any mutually 'productive' [heh!] discussion of: 'productive' vs 'unproductive' was a point of interest, it would be best to have terminology that holds still for more than one debate [:>] <

I agree that the use of jargon has a cost, but sometimes the benefits are higher. Since there is a long tradition of talking about (un)productive labor in political economy, some must be familiar with it. -- Jim Devine

"The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side." -- James Baldwin

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