Following our session on Thursday, I've noticed a certain amount of replies revolving around fear of loss of technology. Students express concern over humanities laziness revealing itself. These are not unfounded concerns, and have certainly been evident in our society for a while.
My family has been a part of the medical field for a long time. My mother worked in a cancer center, my grandmother for the OR, and my grandfather in the ER. All have individually expressed concerns and fears for communist or even socialist ideals.
My mother once told me "No one would ever want to become a doctor. Why go to school for 10 years of hell, just so you can get the same reward as your neighbor who works on cars?"
My Grandmother explained to me that there was a possibility that invention would subside or cease. Again, if no reward existed, why do it?
However, I do believe that their arguments are based in a fear of communism - created by the Red Scare. They rely on money as the sole motivation for work, and disregard the contributions that theoretically would occur in a naturally arising communist society.
Basically - people do this for more than money. Does no one remember the stories of lawyers and nurses who took food as payment in the Great Depression? Veterinarians and Car Technicians who exchanged services in return for meager payments? Does no one remember children who wanted to become doctors and astronauts before they even fully realized what money is?
Yes, these are all idealistic principles - but they are only termed "idealistic" due to jargon created in a capitalist society. Would they still be idealistic outside of this society? Further more, doesn't the term "idealist" point to some sort of truth in the matter?
Though this is enough to convince me to not totally disregard communism, I understand firmer arguments must be made. For those that require it - look towards popular news. Reporters and journalists reveal hidden truths in medical science. It's more economically beneficial for the pharmaceutical companies to provide relief for diseases rather than cures for it. Why sell a cure for $100 dollars when you can sell monthly pills for $20? The benefits are seen within half a year.
Conspiracy theories exist revolving around these ideas, some more crazy than others. However, there is some truth in the matter. Economically - it is more beneficial to the companies, the doctors, the insurance providers. The only one who suffers is the person who's already sick anyways. In a capitalist society, where so much focus is on money, what's the benefit for providing a cure? Why in the world would someone work so hard to discover something that would make them less money than if they kept their mouth shut?
Unless, of course, you're willing to say that there's more to motivation that just money...
Great post, Victoria - especially that last line! I agree with you that rigorous argumentation is required to demonstrate that people would still feel an incentive to work in a communist society, but I think you're off to a promising start. You make an excellent point that for most of us our first career dreams are born out of genuine fascination, rather than economic calculation. Perhaps it really is the capitalist paradigm that causes us to eventually value money over our interests and dreams.
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ReplyDeleteI really like your post. You've made an excellent distinction between working in a communist society and working in a capitalist society. Your example about children who wanted to become doctors and astronauts before they even fully realized what money is more or less true today since, as Colin aptly stated, "most of our first career dreams are born out of genuine fascination, rather than economic calculation. I don't think it would be wrong to assume that in most cases, under capitalism, the value for money outweighs individual interests and dreams.
While I do agree that money, under capitalism, does usually outweigh other priorities, but that still does not take away from the original dreams and goals that children had when they were little out of pure desire to have a certain job. Also, in a capitalist society, there is incentive to work, and I feel like a communist society, depending on how the labor is distributed, will take away from this incentive to work, if work is randomly assigned or you are not able to choose your job.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Matthew; capitalism does not or actually, should not affect the dreams of children and that a communist society does take away from the incentive to work because everyone would be treated as an equal, so why persevere to do better than your neighbor?
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