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by Jtsummers 4818 days ago
> The people who control the means of production (in a university, that's the administrators who control resources and staffing) are more important than everyone else and will eat as large a portion of the pie as they can grab.

This reminds me of my current place of employment. A minor perk at many offices is a reserved parking space. Before my time (90s, early 00s) the head of the organization had a reserved spot, the rest were for the top engineers with some spots rotating out based on quarterly or annual awards. In the early 00s the other managers began whining and eventually got their own reserved spots. With 100+ reserved spaces at the front of the lot someone realized they'd gone overboard. So they removed the engineers' reserved spots.
1 comments
eli_gottlieb 4818 days ago
This reminds me of my current place of employment.

It's the Marxist description of capitalist employment, so you're supposed to be reminded of your day-job.

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Jtsummers 4818 days ago
Good point. Interestingly, I work for the government[1]. It wasn't until this facility started operating 'like a business' that a lot of the promanagement, antilabor activities took off[2]. I'm always amused by my small government libertarian colleagues that keep moaning about the government cutting spending on us, but also want all food aid and social welfare gone. One day they'll realize that we're on the government dole. Fortunately, I've developed a good poker face.

EDIT:

[1] US since I shouldn't assume anything about my audience.

[2] I'm speaking about this facility, can't speak to government operations in general.

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eli_gottlieb 4818 days ago
An additional point: contrary to a lot of orthodox left-wing views, it is possible for major enterprises, especially public or nonprofit ones like government agencies and universities, to run like something other than a capitalist business. A good summary of the 30-year ideological project known as neoliberalism is, "The project to make everything run like a capitalist business, whether that works well or not."
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Jtsummers 4818 days ago
I think I'd enjoy having more discussions with you, and maybe when I'm less distracted my input will be more than anecdotal observations. Look forward to seeing you around the discussion board.
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