Any labor is skilled labor. The only difference is training time.
this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2023
1183 points (89.0% liked)
Leftism
2108 readers
14 users here now
Our goal is to be the one stop shop for leftism here at lemmy.world! We welcome anyone with beliefs ranging from SocDemocracy to Anarchism to post, discuss, and interact with our community. We are a democratic community, and as such, welcome metaposts that seek to amend the rules through consensus. Post articles, videos, questions, analysis and more. As long as it's leftist, it's welcome here!
Rules:
- Absolutely no fascism, right wing extremism, genocide denial, etc.
- Unconditional support of authoritarians will not be tolerated
- Good faith discussion about ideologies is encouraged, but no sectarianism
- No brocialism/sexism
- No ableism
- No TERFs/ anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric
- No racism
- No trolling
- No insults, dunking, or personal attacks
- No posting of misinformation, disinformation, or fake news
- Mods have final say
Posting Expectations:
- Comics/memes/shitposts/propaganda are only allowed on weekends
- Try to avoid liberalism unless discussing electoral politics. Even then, try to focus on tactical agreement towards leftist goals
- Only one meta post seeking consensus per person per day
- Posts about a particular ideology are ok, but remember the rules above
- Remember that there is no “right way” to implement leftist theory. This rule does not prevent academic criticism.
- Try to avoid extremely sensitive topics unless approaching them with appropriate care for intersectionality. Use your best judgement, and be prepared to provide respectable sources when having these discussions. Wikipedia is not an acceptable source in these cases.
- Post titles must be meaningful and relevant, except on weekends
Sister Communities:
!abolition@slrpnk.net !antiwork@lemmy.world !antitrumpalliance@lemmy.world !breadtube@lemmy.world !climate@slrpnk.net !fuckcars@lemmy.world !iwwunion@lemmy.ml !leftymemes@lemmy.dbzer0.com !leftymusic@lemmy.world !privacy@lemmy.world !socialistra@midwest.social !solarpunk@slrpnk.net Solarpunk memes !therightcantmeme@midwest.social !thepoliceproblem@lemmy.world !vuvuzelaiphone@lemmy.world !workingclasscalendar@lemmy.world !workreform@lemmy.world
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
I think that's a far more useful way to look at it than a simple binary of skilled and unskilled.
I'm a bit fuzzy on how the continuum really relates to wage, because ultimately it's a question of supply and demand.
I guess if you have a rarer skill because it takes longer and is harder to acquire proficiency at, demand will be higher so you won't go for jobs that are easier to acquire the skill for, thus, jobs with a bigger supply of workers? And so that drives the pay offered.
If any labor were truly unskilled; you could come in day one and perform as well as those who'd been at it for 10 years. I can't think of one thing where that is the case. Does anyone still test if food has been poisoned by eating it first? Little skill, but man if so that person definitely deserves a good wage.
load more comments
(4 replies)
I have never heard of a job that required no training in order to do it. That's learning a skill. And if you've already trained yourself in how to do it, you've still learned a skill. I can't think of a job that you can do without any training whatsoever.
load more comments
(23 replies)
A serious answer: it's more about supply and demand. Unskilled is work that nearly anyone can do. Lots of supply, so wages are lower than jobs where a smaller number of people can do it. I don't think there's any conspiracy there.
Another approach is to divide unpleasant work evenly under everyone who can do it like in the novel The Dispossessed. This will be less efficient since each one needs to acquire the skill and won't reach perfection because they don't stay long enough but to hell with efficiency.
So yes, it is skilled labor and if you call it "unskilled", you have no excuse not to do it from time to time.
There's also the fact manual labor is seem by Anarresti as something to be proud of.
Also, Chevek doesn't directly mention it in the book, but in reality some people simply enjoy hard jobs and would gladily do them if they can make a good living out of them.
load more comments
(1 replies)