[D66] The Right to Useful Unemployment

[R.O.]

https://sustainabilitypopulareducation.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/the-right-to-useful-unemployment/


    The Right To Useful Unemployment
    <https://sustainabilitypopulareducation.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/the-right-to-useful-unemployment/>

Posted on June 28, 2014 
<https://sustainabilitypopulareducation.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/the-right-to-useful-unemployment/> 
by mfinck311 
<https://sustainabilitypopulareducation.wordpress.com/author/mfinck311/>

the-right-to-useful-unemployment 
<https://sustainabilitypopulareducation.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/the-right-to-useful-unemployment.jpg>

In The Right to Useful Unemployment, Ivan Illich suggests that we need 
to break the association of the definition of work with that of the 
coupling of labor force and capital. For him, we must replace the status 
of the social relationship that commands production with the beneficial 
outcomes of effort; the achievement of satisfaction which flows from action.

He suggests 3 principle ideas: that in commodity based societies the 
sheer abundance of commodities paralyzes the autonomous determination of 
use-value, that professions play a hidden role in society by shaping its 
needs, and that we must illuminate the illusions and break the 
professional power that perpetuates market dependance. Essentially, the 
power of professions to measure what is good, right, and done warps the 
desire, willingness, and ability of the “common person” to live within 
their means.

Unemployment means idleness, rather than the freedom to do things which 
are useful for oneself or ones neighbor. An active person who maintains 
a household and raises children while taking in those of others is 
distinguished from one who “works” no matter how damaging or useless the 
product of that work may be. Housework, handicrafts, subsistence 
agriculture, radical technology, learning exchanges, and the like are 
degraded as fringe activities for the idle, the unproductive, the very 
rich, or very poor.

The quality of a society and it’s culture depends on the status of it’s 
unemployed. We must protect the freedom of people to be useful outside 
the activities that result in the production of commodities. This 
depends on the rational and cynical competence of the common person when 
faced with the professional imputation of needs.

Ultimately, Illich says we need to destroy the symbolic power of 
expertise, and that professional establishments protect their legitimacy 
in 3 principle ways: Professional self policing, professional alliances, 
and the professionalization of clients, often in the form of “self-help.”

Illich suggests we must shift towards a participative conception of 
justice, and resist training for extreme specialization.



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