I'm guessing this is a historic first yes? I mean no previous civilization has consciously sought mass idiocy.
Joanna
----- Original Message ----- Braverman an has a chapter on the deskilling of white collar work in Labor and Monopoly Capital. Taylor himself worked on deskilling office labor.
When I taught this stuff large Midwestern State universities also 29-30 years a ago, the students were interested, as I recall, but did find it remote from their concerns. Except the premeds. The HMO was advanced enough that they could see what was happening there.
The unpaid internships seem less deskilling to me than a blatant effort at getting not-necessarily-Taylorized labor for free, super exploitation. It's not just young people either.
Sent from my iPad
On May 19, 2013, at 10:37 AM, 123hop at comcast.net wrote:
> I don't see how internships are deskilling...
>
> But deskilling teachers is exactly what the privatizers are trying to do.
>
> Common core, eliminate what can't be tested, create scripted lesson plans, and it's done.
>
> Won't work, but ....
>
> Joanna
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> Could not agree more. Deskilling of "manual" jobs aka taylorism was a
> strategy to control labor. I remember teaching this stuff at Rutgers some
> 20 years ago, and struggling to get the students interested. They thought
> it didn't apply to white collar jobs. I tried to tell them they are next,
> but they laughed. Today I hear that unpaid internship I.e. doing menial
> white collar jobs for free is virtually a requirement for most college
> graduates. It is hard not to laugh, even though it is so fucking sad.
>
> Wojtek
> Sent from my Droid
> On May 19, 2013 10:36 AM, "Andy" <andy274 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Found this cleaning out the starred posts in Google reader:
>>
>>
>> http://underbelly-buce.blogspot.com/2012/06/there-are-no-unskilled-jobs-bike-shop.html
>>
>> [...]
>>
>> There Are No Unskilled Jobs: The Bike Shop
>>
>> I pushed my old beater-bike into the bikeshop he other day and asked
>> the guy with the wrench if he had any rubber handlebar grips.
>>
>> --Oh sure, they're right over there.
>>
>> I found a wall of grips. Flailing wildly, I picked something that
>> looked plausible and took it back to the counter.
>>
>> --Okay, you want me to install that, or will you?
>>
>> --Way above my paygrade. You do it.
>>
>> --It'll be five bucks extra. I'm sure you could do it yourself.
>>
>> --No, that's all right, you do it.
>>
>> The techie rolled the bike into the backshop and deftly removed the old
>> handles.
>>
>> --You know, these new ones you picked, they're actually a bit long for
>> your frame. I could cut them off, but I can just sell you the smaller
>> size. It'll be five bucks cheaper.
>>
>> --Uh, sure, I'll take the smaller size.
>>
>> He switched products. Then I watched him spray the bars with glass
>> cleaner. Then he pulled out a different spray can and administered a
>> dose of something I didn't recognize.
>>
>> --Special formula?
>>
>> --Secret formula!
>>
>> He showed me the can. Hairspray. He told me it nicely seals the
>> grips to the bars.
>>
>> So he (a) corrected my mistake in product choice; (b) cleaned the bars
>> (I wouldn't have thought to do that; and (c) sealed the grips to the
>> bar (I didn't even know you could do that).
>>
>> And charged me five bucks. And saved me five bucks.
>>
>> There are no unskilled jobs.
>>
>> --
>> Andy
>> "It's a testament to ketchup that there can be no confusion."
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