PSA: The System of the World

The title of this post refers not to the excellent book by Neal Stephenson, in particular (though it also deals with these themes), but to capitalism.

I finally figured it out. The other day, it all came together in my mind, like a perfectly formed sphere made up of infinite vicious cycles. I turned to Prince Certainpersonio and said "I understand it -- I just got it -- what people mean by 'get a real job'."

I'd been thinking about this because I had been reading through my old columns for Local City Paper, and my responses to particular (and particularly insulting) comments made on the Local City Paper website about some of those columns, by an anonymous reader who supposed I must not have accomplished anything in my life, and suspected that it could only be nepotism that got me a weekly column. (He didn't like the column, and didn't find it "useful." [Shrug.])

In reality, of course, I'm not related to anyone working at the paper, except for my 12-year-old self, who had a paper route in Local City.

Also in reality, since I had never posted my resume as one of the weekly columns, this commenter had no real evidence that I had never accomplished anything -- except my admissions, over the year I wrote the column, that I had done volunteer work, in both China and Washington, D.C.

What I couldn't understand the other night was what, exactly, the objection was to my being a full-time volunteer. I'd felt, and still felt, a vague sense of shame over this accusation when I first read it, but I'd never questioned the commenter's perspective in making it. I just took it as a given that "volunteer" meant "not a real job."

But my Cultural Production M.A. leads me to ask what the hell he's talking about, since I actually did work full-time -- as an American ambassador of sorts, in addition to teaching English, and without any government money, in China; and as a full-time teacher and sometime development/marketing, administrative, data-entering assistant, in the U.S. -- for the four years I was technically a volunteer.

So it's not that I was lazy. I'd set the goal of living and working in Asia when I was in middle school (and delivering those papers door-to-door), and I'd accomplished it in the typical single-minded-focused way you'd expect approved-of, goal-oriented people to do. The commenter suggested that there was something wrong with fundraising (for China) and "being on the government dole" (for teaching GED in DC), which is a typical argument. But the fundraising was from individual donors, which is typically how people who argue for "real jobs" would prefer nonprofits and social programs receive ALL their money, so it's hardly fair to call foul on that when it actually happens. And the "government dole" I was on for Americorps in DC was far, far less than the same government would have paid to a "real" teacher for the two years I worked there.

So the issue is not actually "not working hard," or "running from responsibility," which is often how these arguments are framed. The issue is getting paid.

Responsible living in a capitalist society means getting paid. You must get paid. A "real job" means a job that pays.

And it probably means a job that pays more than you need to live on, because of the necessities of capitalism: we must produce more than we need, and then consume more than we need, to keep the economy moving "forward" (that is, to make it larger). People who volunteer full-time and live in communal living situations don't consume enough. They're producing at the same rate -- maybe at a faster rate, since people who volunteer for things tend to do it because they're motivated -- as other civilians, but they aren't consuming at the same rate. It's the same "irresponsibility" of living like a "modern-day hippie" (which the commenter also accused me of being, based, he said, on my "appearance" -- the glasses, maybe?).

I also understand, based on this incredibly obvious and simple observation, why people who get a degree in Cultural Production don't have a career track waiting for them when they get out. I mean, if everyone who went into cultural studies programs came out understanding this principle, they would probably all do what I suspect I will do with the information, which is to specifically choose to remain "irresponsible" -- do what I care about, and earn what I need.

They're all going into Brooklyn co-ops and DIY movements instead of careers. It's probably exhausting, and I believe most of us will fail to live this way our whole lives, but at least I feel like now I know what's at issue. And I understand that I probably can't argue with people who use the phrase "real job"...because those people obviously don't have a background in cultural studies, or they'd be asking me where they could get macrame lessons instead.