| This question <69|73> overall <69|71> Prudon: <17|82>. |
| Question 90: Is it a character flaw to be lazy in an exploitive system? |
| [70] Prudon: My answer would be different from the one given in [57]. I think it is not a character flaw but an attitude of the worker towards his job. Because he is not the owner of the production, he becomes alienated (entfremdung) from his labor. In Capital Marx averts from moral, ideological and psychological factors of the laborer. His analysis is aimed on the demonstration of the fact that the above mentioned elements are variables of the form of ownership. |
| Marx wrote Capital in the middle of the 19th century, a period when exploitive nature of capitalism was obvious. However, capitalism took a somewhat different form in the 20th century after a Great Depression. Sociology, as science, influenced reformation of capitalist mode of production. It developed a special scale that measured different features of human factor in labor process. It was understood that to make maximum profit all positive features of human nature have to be used. But how can one make an individual perform his best? Illusion has to be created: have him believe that he too is the owner of the production. By different means (for example, granting workers the stock options, letting employees make decisions together with the authorities of the business) an illusion of public capitalism is created. |
| Hans: You are bringing some excellent new ideas to the table: it is not a matter of character flaws but of alienation, and the difficulty of having a genuine and true attitude about things if the entire system is based on illusions. |
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