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Lazy Politics: Lafargue, Nietzsche, and Bataille Against the Grind

Jul 25, 2023
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INSIGHT

Work As A Bourgeois Religion

  • Paul Lafargue argues that 19th-century workers internalized a bourgeois 'religion of work' that exhausts vital forces.
  • This acceptance turned workers into willing builders of the capitalist edifice rather than reclaimers of leisure and surplus.
INSIGHT

Surplus Destroyed To Preserve Wage Dependence

  • Capitalists destroy surplus goods to create artificial scarcity and keep workers dependent on wages.
  • Workers, instead of claiming surplus or time, often demand more work and remain trapped in wage dependency.
INSIGHT

Bad Conscience Fuels The Grind

  • Nietzsche diagnoses a 'bad conscience' that makes people feel guilty for idleness and chase constant productivity.
  • This morale turns leisure into a mere reward and traps enjoyment behind continued self-improvement.
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