Labor

For most people, the idea of working 40 hours a week their entire life, in a job they don’t particularly enjoy, is a hellish prospect. Yet, that is exactly what most people end up doing. In some parts of the world, the working week is even longer, with some people working as many as 80-100 hours per week. If nobody wants to work that long, in jobs they don’t like, why do we all end up doing it? In short, it is because of an unjust power imbalance. The things that we all need to live a good life – food, shelter, clothing – and all of the things needed to create and cultivate those things are owned by a tiny percentage of the population. In order for the vast majority of people to access the necessities, they need to rent themselves out to this tiny percentage, in exchange for a wage. The things we need to live are inaccessible in any other way – and this method of forced labor has spread all around the world. How did this happen? As an unchallenged hold over from feudalism, the lords and kings of the past have transformed into multi-national business owners and CEOs, forcing us, the modern day peasants, to rent ourselves to their whim in exchange for modern ‘protection,’ in almost the exact same relationship.