It seems unfair to me that some people have jobs that utilise their creativity and/or critical thinking, and others don't. But how to distribute work so that all working people get a go at these more desirable jobs? What if we made it so that everybody had to participate in a combination of occupations? One could be a lawyer on Mondays, barista on Tuesdays, business manager on Wednesdays, actor on Thursdays, and chemist on Fridays. The following week, the same person could be a potter on Mondays, toilet cleaner on Tuesdays, architect on Wednesdays, artist on Thursdays and construction worker on Fridays. Then we'd go back to being a lawyer on Monday.
Imagine if society cared enough about the human spirit to assign every person variety - the chance to participate in both interiority-enriching labour and do the necessary tasks which are considered less desirable but are nevertheless necessary for society to function. Everybody could be paid the same for their 'package' of assorted tasks. Educational institutions would flourish with everybody training (and retraining) on the regular. Everybody could have their turn being an academic, too.
Such a distribution would eliminate job-related snobbery and increase empathy, because we would all know what it's like, being a toilet cleaner. People would be conceived of as having limitless potential, and nobody would feel like they're on the dead-end track. Regular, inbuilt variety brings new ideas and more cross-disciplinary solutions to the problems of the world.
To ensure some consistency and specialisation, a worker could select which jobs they return to periodically (as long as there is a mix of them in their basket).
What I propose is radical, but it can be done. We only need to find the collective will to elevate human dignity.
Good thoughts, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea of variety - this would probably good.
As an added thought, though: I'm not sure that there are in actuality jobs that do not utilise creativity and/or critical thinking, but it's the systems we are living in that often crush those qualities and organise labour in a way that makes it hard to use such features.
Cleaning is not a bad job in and of itself, it is just too often made that way.
Not sure how much those ideas are already in your post and I'm just repeating them, but I thought it could be a useful comment.
Thank you for expanding the vision of this post :)
DeleteI wish that people like cleaners and construction workers were encouraged to bring their unique creative talents and critical thinking skills to work. It would be to the benefit of every worker to be inspired by them coming up with innovative solutions as a result. When one sector is restricted and dehumanised, we all feel it - those effects are not limited to one group but affect the entire society because we are all interconnected.