Journal Entry #6: Man’s refamiliarization with the product of his labour

This is the sixth in a series of ruminations of who/what/where/why I currently am. You can find part one here.

Hi everyone, been a while since I checked in. Haven’t you heard? The pandemic is over. Or so it was until the omicron variant reared its ugly microscopic head. But despite that, things have been in a nice sustained state of normal for some time now. Fortunately or not, the predictions of my previous journal entry seem to have rung true: with everything open, my life has only gotten busier, leaving me even less time for introspection.

One of Marx’s most famous quotes sounds something like: “capitalism bad because it alienates man from the product of his labour.” What he meant by this is that the assembly line and manufacturing system forced each worker to focus on a specific part of the final product; though effective, this is substantially less fulfilling than being able to lay claim to an entire product. It is much more satisfying to be a carpenter who makes three chairs a week than a line worker who varnishes three thousand armrests in a day.

During Marx’s day, there was no middle management, very few petite bourgeoise, just workers and capitalists. The workers laboured, and the capitalists profited. Without getting too political, the system used to be very easy to understand, pitting the haves against the have-nots. Things are a little less clear with a middle-class who labours for most of their productive life, for two days of leisure out of seven, and get time off when they’re infirm and invalid, yet have no class consciousness. Okay, that was a little political. The point being, the only difference between the office worker of today and the factory worker of yesteryear is living conditions and pay — what office worker can afford to raise a family on what a unionized labourer in the sixties could? Whether they’re a spreadsheet, slide, or SQL monkey, both office workers and factory workers have little relation with the product of their labours.

Some people have no problem with that, as they’re soothed by high monetary compensation, corporate off-sites, and free snacks. Others simply feel trapped within the system which they have been led to be the best; they have an easier time imagining the end of the world than the end of capitalism, as our favourite lispy philosopher would say. Despite this, that modern capitalism has managed to avoid significant disruption to the neoliberal new world order is a testament to the viability and effectiveness of the ideology. However, as I’ve moved up the ranks of middle management, I have realized that that I have become more and more content with the job.

Now, corporate Kool-Aid is one thing, and to be honest, I am certainly sipping on it. However, my improved job satisfaction is only a small part to do with the praise from my superiors and fraternizing with my colleagues. No, it’s mostly because I’ve been given more responsibility at work. Don’t choke on your coffee though I did just repeat a line worthy of the most brainwashed corporate slave, but it’s true! There is a distinction to be made between receiving more responsibilities and more responsibility. One is just more work, where I am once again alienated from end product: sanding the armrests and making felt covers. More responsibility allows me to have a bigger part of the end product: I am now the person who is in charge of the armrests in their entirety.

This all came to a head recently when one of my friends suggested that I apply for a job that he found, as he often did. My friends mean the best for me, even the one in tech who once suggested I apply for a community manager role, because it was in tech. This most recent suggestion was in good faith and I did ultimately toss in an application. Sure, the pay would have been materially better than my current job and the people younger than my current colleagues. But I have never felt less excited about a job prospect. At the time, I thought it was because of the perks of my current job, the strong network I had already built there, or the risk of starting a new job.

But in hindsight, it’s because I feel fulfilled at my current job more than I every have. Yes, the pay could be better. Yes, the organization can be quite stodgy even though the team is good. Yes, it’s annoying to have to field my friends’ messages and complaints when one of our services invariably goes awry. But with the responsibility entrusted to me, when I see the chair sitting in a showroom, I know that the entire arm was me. I have become more familiarized with the product of my travails, and now that I have, I no longer want to go back to working somewhere where I am not. And the ladder is tantalizing. Soon I can own the entire chair, or even the whole seating department. It’s not the power, prestige, or pay that keeps me in my current role or looking upwards at bigger roles, it’s the feeling of connection between what I do, and its results. To clarify, I decided to run with the chair analogy, but I don’t actually work at a furniture manufacturing plant.

With this new role and the time I’ve since invested in it, combined with barhopping, friends, and family, I’ve managed to have very little time to reflect on things. But I’ve been happy. Though Socrates did have something to say about an unexamined life, sometimes overthinking can ruin a good thing. To a certain extent, I am worried that I might devolve into an unthinking drone, mindlessly fulfilling my role in society. At the same time, I think that there’s a difference between going through this thought process and deciding that work is fulfilling and it’s acceptable to enjoy it, and enjoying work without this consideration.

I’m quite content with my work, life, and work-life balance right now. Perhaps more content with my work than I have been in a while since I’ve thought seriously about it. My life hasn’t changed too much, despite a decrease the in amount of time I’m committing to writing. But as long as I’m still writing, I haven’t given up on any dreams yet. See you, space cowboy.