Dead Man Working by Cederstrm and Fleming - Coursework Example

? Dead Man Working Book Review [Pick the Dead Man Working Renaissance was not a revolution of art, it was a triumph of human spirit; and what renaissance gave us has been taken away by excessive capitalism. The way corporations, governments and other entities operate, has pushed us into the world of working dead. In the book Dead Man Working, Carl Cederstrom and Peter Fleming explain how capitalism has given birth to practices that result in actual workplace exploitation by institutions driven by the motives of profit making. It equates the modern labor to an already dead being with an invisible boundary chalked around them, following relentless routines and repetitive programs, procedures and activities that are supposed to make and keep them happy. Capitalism is based on accumulation of wealth by ignoring the social facets of life; it embeds in us the evils of alienation, bitterness and takes away our compassion for others. With influence of capitalism creeping in our daily lives, we intend to make every social interaction a business transaction or something that can give us value or return. The essential of a worker’s society is obsession with work and the attraction and content one finds in working for corporations is enormous these days. Children who see their parents’ working day in day out witness the financial well being of their family and an assured status in society also get obsessed with it and follow the same path while unemployed men and women also inspire to find work with no real concern for work environment or consequences to social life. The modern worker in this society is in worst situation then in the era of industrialization and Fordism; which at least assured that work would not entrench in life and weekend leisure would remain intact. In those times death was feared and work was a means to an end although these days death is not feared but welcomed in comparison to the hell a worker lives in. Hence the fear is of living a life that is not worth living. According to the book, “Entering the workforce is like entering your grave while you pretend that you are interested in the work you do (Cederstrom & Fleming, 2012)”. Organizations tactfully mixed our lives with our work and strategized new ways to keep us going through the same routine and silently encouraging worker to work all the time. The slogans of ‘be yourself’ and ‘work is fun for us’ or ‘work leisure’ have diluted our identities, deprived us of real fun and leisure, as a result workers are either working or thinking about the work all time. The so called independence at work, motivational activities, parties and team activities brought formalized informality in to action. While the whole corporation calls for informal practices, the worker who resists or finds these activities uninteresting is considered to be committing a crime. So are workers doing something about this? The authors suggest that the worker is an equal contributor to his demise by accepting such a life and responding to the ever increasing demands from the employer (Cederstrom & Fleming, 2012). A series of blunders were made by the government and later on by the organizations, the first being over reliance and obsession with the capital system which led to the exponential development of the private enterprise. What was initially controlled by government is now in hands of profiteers accumulating for themselves with amount of wealth that was not witnessed before in human history. Individual freedom that was once controlled by the government is now controlled by a more heinous motive, the motive of selfishness along with a hunger for more power and enhanced control. Poverty an evil in our society is still prevalent and capitalism has not played a role in reducing it, similar to the old days poor are still dependent on governments and private enterprises are only concerned with their own profits and sustainability, cutting back jobs and closing operations on their will without any respect given to the worker or his loyalty. According to Berardi’s argument in his book, The Soul at Work: “Breathing has become difficult, almost impossible: as a matter of fact one suffocates. One Suffocates everyday and the symptoms of suffocation are disseminated all along the paths of daily life.. Our chances of survival are few: we know it. There is no alternative to capitalism”. (as cited in Cederstrom & Fleming, 2012, p.2). The bureaucratic system was slow, it was unequal and without innovation, what corporations are doing these days under the umbrella of capitalism is even worst then bureaucracy; they are slowly taking away the creative imagination from their workers, making them work or think about work all the time and by personalization of workplace they intend to convert what was once hated by the worker in to a place where he can live a life without the need of social relationships and family encouraging a robotic or mechanic way of working without the breaks allowed in industrialization era (Brissenden, 2012). Without any concern given to the nation or workers who contributed their immense efforts in establishing the company in to a big corporation, the work is steadily outsourced to other poor labor regions only for the sake of profit making. Every worker has a boss as always but these relatively new practices have made every worker the boss of their own hence everyone is doing more with same salaries but there is more pressure for innovation, increasing efficiencies and making their jobs better themselves. One may assume that his time on work is limited but that’s a fantasy, workers are working more than they ever used to and winning back the time is made impossible and that’s exactly what neoliberals want (Fisher, 2012). The book is moderately entertaining as it combines a controversial subject with challenging views and relevant examples like Stephen King’s created character of Danny from The Shinning and Charlie from Fire Starter and other interesting examples from call centers and related examples of outsourcing practices along with real experiences of authors from their academic background and individual work experiences from corporate world. It is a wakeup call for those who seek everything in their work and try to alienate themselves from real relationships or establish relationships based on capital. Furthermore it enlightens those who have been exploited by these post capitalist institutions, endlessly participating in useless team building and leisure activities at work trying to compensate for missed fun at home with their families or trying to work continuously whether at work or at home. The core of this book argues not against the phenomenon of work itself but how work and environment created around us has limited our concerns for society and for self. In the end the book calls for an escape from these atrocities but fails to convert its disturbing philosophies and symbolic acts of suicide, adult babies and demonic children in to real action plans or a political solution that can change the way corporations exploit us. Leaving the readers with a dead end the authors emphasizes that the dead man at work remains until workers are swept away by a new wave that can relieve them of the unrelenting pressures of work. The authors goes on to say that the fault-line is not between capital and labor rather it’s between capital and life, after completely exploiting labor it is the very life that is now been exploited and plundered by corporations driven by the carefree ideology of capitalism (Cederstrom & Fleming, 2012). The strategic decisions due from all parties to correct this exploitation of workers can come in form of enhanced equality, stronger regulations by government and a more effective balance between market and government. The corporations need to discourage the work from home phenomenon, redesign their policies based on work and life separation and reestablish the informal culture with more autonomy given to the worker. Marxism or communism is not the answer but capitalism in current form has resulted in selfishness, declining incomes, high tax rates, deteriorating healthcare benefits and social classes along with wealth being accumulated by some while majority suffers with minimum pay rates (Stiglitz, 2011). In my assessment I found the book convincing enough for the workers to realize the new mode of exploitation forced upon them by corporations and in turn corporation’s should not devise means to keep the worker interested in his work only. Furthermore instead of trying to look good by claiming that they are the best employers or their environment or corporate social responsibility programs are helping the society, corporations should adopt practical ways to give relief to the workers and clear dichotomy should exist between work and life. The evils of communism make capitalism look good, although a lot can be done by government in order to introduce new measures within a capital system, practical steps like inquiring how private or multinational enterprises tend to exploit their workforce by these hidden or informal ways. In the name of independence given to an employee over his work, the tasks performed by an average worker has increased many folds with an additional responsibilities of self help, self development and on the job learning without organizations investing on training and development programs. In the name of capitalism our society is deteriorating, with much emphasis given on informal relationships within teams the society is losing the traditional activities away from work. Nowadays a worker goes to picnic with his work colleagues, enjoys outbreak journeys with them and parties with them, with a conscious or unconscious contribution being made to the work and job responsibilities hence going to home just for sleeping purpose while spending time with children and other family members has become a burden. The increasing debt and mortgages justify our long hours at work with retirement age pushed further back to 65, the worker has no relief beside the relief at work. The whole working class lies in a hurrying busyness, something made sure we can’t escape from. Like the book says party poopers in this formalized informality are seen as committing a crime in the corporate entities, similarly with increasing opposition against capitalism due to evident failures in our social structures and economic conditions it would not be a surprise if common sense is labeled as fascism by these big corporations and governments that are running under their umbrellas as most election campaigns are still supported by these big profiteers. The book is a great piece of work as it keeps the reader engaged with its arguments against the prevailing norms in our work culture, arguments that can alter our thinking about the work-life balance phenomena and reveals the fantasy world created around us by these huge enterprises and corporations. References Berardi, F. B. 2009. The Soul at Work: From Alienation to Autonomy, Semiotext(e). Brissenden, J. 2012. No Fun: Living Death in Emotional Capitalism, Viewed 4 November 2012 Carl Cederstrom and Peter Fleming, Dead Man Working, Zero Books, 2012 Fisher, M. 2012.Time Wars, Viewed 4 November 2012 Stiglitz, J. 2011. The Evils of Unregulated Capitalism, Viewed 4 November 2012 Read More