Why Can’t I Find a Good Job? (Guy Standing, The Precariat 3-Video)

May 3, 2021

I discuss some of the many important points made in Ch. 2 of Guy Standing’s The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, entitled “Why the Precariat is Growing.” Standing details what happened in OECD countries when emerging market countries started to out-compete them in terms of production and availability of low-cost labor. He shows how globalization, smoothed by government policies, led to the ultimate “flexible” labor force, with subsequent insecurity and strain on individuals, families and communities. Being ultimately flexible means not having any hope for a career, not identifying with an employer, and not being rewarded for the development of skills, among many other effects. People are most often blamed (and blame themselves) for their difficulty in finding a good job, but the deck is stacked against them like never before, and Standing does not think there is any way to turn back the clock. … More Why Can’t I Find a Good Job? (Guy Standing, The Precariat 3-Video)

‘Just in Time’ Humans? The Precariat (Guy Standing, 2-Audio)

April 25, 2021

In the first chapter of Guy Standing’s The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, we learn his definition of the precariat and how this class fits into the overall class picture. Flexibility (any time, anywhere, any job, for any length of time) turns out to be a prominent feature of the precariat experience. With no incentive to identify with their work, they are anxious and alienated, and especially since they are not a unified class, they are susceptible to propaganda that seeks to point the finger at other vulnerable groups, blaming them rather than the economic system that is using them as “human capital.” … More ‘Just in Time’ Humans? The Precariat (Guy Standing, 2-Audio)

‘Just in Time’ Humans? The Precariat (Guy Standing, 2)

April 25, 2021

In the first chapter of Guy Standing’s The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, we learn his definition of the precariat and how this class fits into the overall class picture. Flexibility (any time, anywhere, any job, for any length of time) turns out to be a prominent feature of the precariat experience. With no incentive to identify with their work, they are anxious and alienated, and especially since they are not a unified class, they are susceptible to propaganda that seeks to point the finger at other vulnerable groups, blaming them rather than the economic system that is using them as “human capital.” … More ‘Just in Time’ Humans? The Precariat (Guy Standing, 2)

How to Read Theory

April 21, 2021

After all, when we’re reading theory, surely we’re not looking for that golden unicorn–the one thinker who can give us the answers to everything already formed. Surely we’re reading theory because that comprehensive answer is still lacking, and we’re trying our best to put the comprehensive answer together. No one has yet provided the comprehensive answer, and maybe no one ever will, but one thing I know is, that unicorn has yet to be born. … More How to Read Theory

Intro to The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class by Guy Standing (Audio)

April 17, 2021

To start this series, I introduce the author Guy Standing and discuss a few prominent themes in his book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. Standing writes in the 2017 preface: “Those in the precariat have lives dominated by insecurity, uncertainty, debt and humiliation. They are denizens rather than citizens, losing cultural, civil, social, political and economic rights built upper generations. The precariat is the first class in history to labour and work at a lower level than the schooling it typically acquires.” … More Intro to The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class by Guy Standing (Audio)

Intro to The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class by Guy Standing (Video)

April 17, 2021

To start this series, I introduce the author Guy Standing and discuss a few prominent themes in his book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. Standing writes in the 2017 preface: “Those in the precariat have lives dominated by insecurity, uncertainty, debt and humiliation. They are denizens rather than citizens, losing cultural, civil, social, political and economic rights built upper generations. The precariat is the first class in history to labour and work at a lower level than the schooling it typically acquires.” … More Intro to The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class by Guy Standing (Video)

G.K. Chesterton on Work, Play and Empire (6-Audio)

April 11, 2021

In this concluding video in the series on The Outline of Sanity, I hit on some big themes in the last few chapters including the shallowness of mass entertainment and what makes work worthwhile. He again defends the peasant, this time as the true “settler” unlike the British colonialists who dominated parts of the world but never really settled down and cherished where they were. Writing not long before the collapse of the Empire, Chesterton mounts an argument for staying home and creating (or re-creating) tradition based on a occupation of space considered sacred. … More G.K. Chesterton on Work, Play and Empire (6-Audio)

G.K. Chesterton on Work, Play & Empire (6-Video)

April 11, 2021

In this concluding video in the series on The Outline of Sanity, I hit on some big themes in the last few chapters including the shallowness of mass entertainment and what makes work worthwhile. He again defends the peasant, this time as the true “settler” unlike the British colonialists who dominated parts of the world but never really settled down and cherished where they were. Writing not long before the collapse of the Empire, Chesterton mounts an argument for staying home and creating (or re-creating) tradition based on a occupation of space considered sacred. … More G.K. Chesterton on Work, Play & Empire (6-Video)

Summer Seminar Plans

April 10, 2021

Here’s what I’ve got so far on the Summer Seminar on Distributism. I’m still working on the plan, so this isn’t written in stone. I plan on charging $50 for the five sessions, and the proceeds for this one will benefit my favorite urban farm. I’m thinking about Saturdays in the early afternoon–trying to come … More Summer Seminar Plans

Distribute the Machinery (GK Chesterton 6-Audio)

April 4, 2021

In the fourth part of The Outline of Sanity, GK Chesterton deals with “Some Aspects of Machinery” in his usual ironic and witty way, making some solid points. I try to update his points and apply them to our current state of technology, noticing with Chesterton along the way that capitalist practices are not the most efficient or equitable way to go. Chesterton proffers his ideas on when to let go of technology and how the machinery we do want (or more accurately the fruits thereof) could be distributed. … More Distribute the Machinery (GK Chesterton 6-Audio)