“the Reproduction of Everyday Life” by Perlman

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Connections

It could be argued that history has made one single amendment to the concept of alienation of Perlman. He thought that the working class is the most alienated and, therefore, the liberation of men from the power of commodities must necessarily begin with the workers. Similarly to Marx, referred to throughout Perlman’s article, at the time, the author could not have foreseen the extent of mass alienation, which now covered a large part of humanity. Moreover, he could not have predicted that one day the increasing proportion of the world population would get dependent not on things and production machines, but become a subject to manipulation by other people and their symbols. For example, today’s employees, mediators, representatives of the companies, and managers are even more alienated than a professional worker. The activity of the latter is, at least to some extent, an expression of one’s personal abilities (such as agility, reliability, etc.). A worker does not need to sell his/her personality including one’s smile and opinion, etc.

People rigged by the symbols are employed based on their “attractive appearance”, malleability, sociability, and ease to manipulate. They literally can be identified by the word “a human-system organized person.” Their ideal is their business. As for consumption, there is no difference between a laborer and a representative of the modern bureaucracy. They are obsessed with one passion for new things and an urge to acquire and consume. They are all substantially passive consumers, exhausted by and tied to the very things that are unnatural to meet their needs. People today are not in a creative relationship with the world. They worship things and machines that produce them.

The author could hardly have foreseen the extent to which people have become slaves of things and circumstances created by their own hands. However, his prophecy came true today. Entirely undeniable proof of this is the fact that all humanity has been taken prisoners of nuclear weapons, which also was once the product of human hands and thoughts. Men also became captives of political institutions, which they themselves created. Currently, frightened humanity is yet to find out whether it can be saved or must completely fall under the yoke of men-made things. It also becomes a victim of blind and mindless bureaucracy that people put in power above themselves.

References

Perlman, F. (1969). The reproduction of everyday life. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/perlman-fredy/1969/misc/reproduction-daily-life.htm