53: Alienated Labor

Introduction: Alienated Nation

Charlie Bertsch and Joe Lockard
Alienated Labor is an issue directed at a specific and classical Marxist concept -- alienation of labor -- in order to illuminate its relevance and uses within contemporary analysis.

Welfare, Workfare, Alienation: Early Marx and Late Capitalism

Nora Connor
This essay examines the new work requirements and the expansion of the "workfare" program resulting from the 1996 legislation as cases of alienated labor.

Alienated Labor and the Verizon Strike

Alexander Urbelis
One of the most recent public examples and revolts against the alienation of labor was the strike, orchestrated by members of the Communications Workers of America Union and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, against the Verizon Corporation.

The 1984-1987 Battle Over Computer Classes at the Ford Rouge Factory: A Dossier

Editors of The Amateur Computerist
This is an historical account of the fight that developed over worker access to computer programming classes at a large auto company in Michigan in 1983-1987. This story contains valuable lessons about the problem US workers face in trying to obtain education in the workplace.

The Idea of Border at Eagle Pass

Lindsey Eck
There is not a single border but a series of frontiers, not a line so much as an ill-defined tissue where Mexico and the United States mesh together.

Homily for a Labor of Meaning

Tim Jackson
Given what humans have been prepared for physically and mentally, it is important to recognize what a unique time this is and how our labors are radically different in light of our individual and collective experiences throughout our histor(ies).

Artist!

Mike Mosher
When you enjoy a stretch of supporting yourself in a position that makes the best use of your technical, political and even moral energies, it makes subsequent moments of its absence even more acute.

Mortgaged for Life

Amy Halloran
I am terrified that signing a mortgage will make me sacrifice my time to pay for a shell to house my life.

Down and Out in the Eighties

JC Myers
Only one memory remains vivid: The sudden joy I experienced, arriving at work one afternoon to find an ominous white smoke pouring from the great broiler and the manager's polyester ass emerging from its open top.

Downwardly Immobile: Looking for Work in All the Wrong Places

Kim Nicolini
So now, as I try to reach a compromise between our financial needs and the needs of my daughter, I've decided the best option is downward mobility.