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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
30+ years later, Illich is still spot on about our society's inability to value unpaid or unorganized labor. As technology and automation continue to obsolete jobs, this is something we will have to deal with in a big way. However, I can't agree with his position on professionals being the enemy of freedom and happiness. For example, he specifically cites electricians and building codes that require licensed electricians to do wiring, and says this robs people of their ability and freedom to handle their own wiring.
Sorry, but I'd rather require licensed electricians than let J. Random Homeowner wire up a fire hazard in the house next door. Similar arguments would extend to most professionals that he targets.
Overall, a short and worthy read despite my disagreement with half of Illich's premise.
Sorry, but I'd rather require licensed electricians than let J. Random Homeowner wire up a fire hazard in the house next door. Similar arguments would extend to most professionals that he targets.
Overall, a short and worthy read despite my disagreement with half of Illich's premise.
from citizen to consumer-client, from folk to professional knowledges
overt critique of the post-industrial state as a tool that disempowers workers from their own creativity — captured by market relations (the commodification of life) and ossification through technocratic metrics (the professionalisation of knowledge)
the last man sighing at their objectified imago returned as an eternally recurring audit (rate me! owo)
very foucauldian, very marcusian
hints of the neoliberal revolution to come: from professional-client relations (state-domination) to the entrepreneurial subject (self-discipline) — proliferation of the self-help industry
the oedipal project culminate: become your own daddy, discipline your own body!
what is lost? useful labour that's worthless to the market — labour that does not measure itself through productivity quotas and technical standards, but is, rather, an expression of a singular need (my desire, and my power to realise it — materially, aesthetically, politically — subsistence and joy, intertwined)
in other words, the survival of the body and the spirit beyond the flattening of exchange — the impossible exchange of incomparable things
overt critique of the post-industrial state as a tool that disempowers workers from their own creativity — captured by market relations (the commodification of life) and ossification through technocratic metrics (the professionalisation of knowledge)
the last man sighing at their objectified imago returned as an eternally recurring audit (rate me! owo)
very foucauldian, very marcusian
hints of the neoliberal revolution to come: from professional-client relations (state-domination) to the entrepreneurial subject (self-discipline) — proliferation of the self-help industry
the oedipal project culminate: become your own daddy, discipline your own body!
what is lost? useful labour that's worthless to the market — labour that does not measure itself through productivity quotas and technical standards, but is, rather, an expression of a singular need (my desire, and my power to realise it — materially, aesthetically, politically — subsistence and joy, intertwined)
in other words, the survival of the body and the spirit beyond the flattening of exchange — the impossible exchange of incomparable things
While I didn't necessarily reach the same conclusions Illich argues here, I do appreciate the criticisms he provides to things I've never questioned before. No idea why he felt the need to crap on sex workers in the making of some of those points, those sections were really weird.
How did I hear of this book? ::sigh:: Wasn't that long ago: ~2 months ago.
I need to put this on pause since my ILL is due shortly. It is tough going but seemingly brilliant so far.
I need to put this on pause since my ILL is due shortly. It is tough going but seemingly brilliant so far.
