wage slaves

[Christ_empowered]

I think its cultural. The world says you won't have friends or be respectable without this, that and the other thing. Also, wages for many workers have fallen flat for the past couple decades. I don't blame the feminists. The feminist ideas had been floating around the affluent and well-educated classes for a while. They trickled down to the masses because of changes in the economy and society.

 

[Kathi]

I think its cultural. The world says you won't have friends or be respectable without this, that and the other thing. Also, wages for many workers have fallen flat for the past couple decades. I don't blame the feminists. The feminist ideas had been floating around the affluent and well-educated classes for a while. They trickled down to the masses because of changes in the economy and society.

Is it to get more and more "things"?

 

[Obadiah]

...The feminist ideas had been floating around the affluent and well-educated classes for a while. They trickled down to the masses because of changes in the economy and society.

Yes, they did, back in the late 60's and early 70's. That's when the kind of things I'm talking about started happening, or maybe it's more accurate to say they started occurring at exponentially higher rates.

I'm not saying that the women's liberation movement was the sole cause of these problems or that nothing good came out of it. Just that it was one of the major triggers that started a lot of this when it was taken to too much of an extreme.

 

[hallowbonnie]

Man I like what obadiah said ..all of it.Thats pretty much what happened with my ex hub and my family they all valued money and things and more money and more things.It was like they gave me a few years to catch up to what my ex was making and I just couldnt and when I tried (working 2 and 3 jobs ) it still wasnt enough and I was exhausted and miserable the whole time.It was crazy to me because our bills were less than 1/3 of what we made so bills were paid we had money to play a bit and even save a bit.To me we were extremely blessed .But what a valuable lesson for me not to ever try to be someone Im not for people who really didnt love me for me to begin with ever again.I wouldnt take it back for anything it has led to complete love and self acceptance for me.

 

[jasonc]

I can see. it hasn't gotten better. we have as a culture become way more materialistic and more into consumerism.

 

[Christ_empowered]

yeah...I mean, the 50s and 60s had their fair share of problems, but...I feel like we're living to work, and I don't think that's right, and I don't even think that's how its been historically.

 

[Obadiah]

yeah...I mean, the 50s and 60s had their fair share of problems, but...I feel like we're living to work, and I don't think that's right, and I don't even think that's how its been historically.

Nope, you're right. I grew up in the 60's and it wasn't like that. My parents were just a working class family, my dad a mechanic and automotive machinist. Yet my family and literally every other family I knew while growing up had the ability to live reasonably well on one income from one full time job with only rare overtime. I can hardly remember my dad ever working late, and never on a weekend. He never took on a 2nd job, not even temporarily. He actually enjoyed going to work until the day he retired because he didn't have to do so much of it that it burned him out. My mom didn't work until I was in high school, and then only because she wanted something to do beyond sitting at home, not because we needed the money. Yet even before my mom went to work, we had a comfortable house with no mortgage in a comfortable neighborhood. We had good food on the table every night, including steaks, roasts, and lots of other food that a lot of people today consider to be only for special occasions. Neither of my parents had any credit card debt and in fact, my dad never owned a credit card in his life and the only loan he ever took out was for a house mortgage which he paid off without even one late payment. Fpr everything else they always had enough cash to buy what they wanted. And we were happy! But it wasn't just because things were cheaper and wages were relatively higher. That was part of it. But a big part of it was that we didn't need all the fancy and expensive stuff people think they need to be happy today. We just didn't have all those things, yet we were still much happier and content than most people that I see today!

 

[Milk-Drops]

I think marketing does have a huge influence on society today and it is a key component to a lot of first world problems. For me, I think Maslow had it right when it came to the hierarchy of needs. We need shelter, food, water, people we care for and people to care about us, we need to feel fulfillment in our lives, and a sense of purpose. Marketing exploits these needs because its how we come to value a product.

When it comes to wage slavery, its a disservice compared to actual slavery but there is some weight to it. We aren't necessarily slaves to a physical master, but to our own insecurities and delusions of a need.

Marketing will take something like the need to feel love and attack our idea of self. According to marketing we are all ugly, unhealthy, unloved, and stupid. In Marketing our lives are always one burden to the next.

Innovation is amazing, but I think people get to wrapped up in having things rather than utilizing things. They want people to look at them, but don't focus on the few that actually care about them.

Wage slavery, to me is a real issue in some instances, but I think its a small issue and the real problem lies in a much bigger problem.