[lbo-talk] Harry Potter, Metritocracy, and Reward

Marvin Gandall marvgandall at videotron.ca
Sat Aug 25 08:43:31 PDT 2007


Bitch wrote:


> Why can't there be both? I'm a social being and I enjoy knowing whether or
> not what I do is appreciated by others.
========================== Precisely the point. We enjoy both crafting our responses to this list and that our contributions will be appreciated by others. It's hard to disentangle or to assign priority to one over the other. If either condition was absent, the work would be alienating, as involuntary and unrewarded labour always is. Some may emphasize the instrinsic worth of satisfying labour, others the respect and recognition accorded their effort by the community, but they're not in contradiction to each other and you need both. Artists, acholars, and political activists may regard their work as important and meaningful, but become discouraged when they're ignored or rejected by those they're trying to reach. The famous and wealthy are celebrated by the community, but the frequent loneliness, depression, and dysfunctional behaviour arising out of the often alienated nature of their activity is a familiar trope.



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