>From another list I'm on, a discussion of education:
From: Ideology and Ideological State
Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation),
Louis Althusser speaks �On the Reproduction of
the Conditions of Production� and �On the
Function of Education in the Capitalist Mode of
Production� (the following is an extended quote
from pages 130-132 of the referenced book):
We have discussed the reproduction of the means
of production � but not the reproduction of the
productive forces. We have therefore ignored
the reproduction of what distinguishes the
productive forces from the means of production,
i.e. the reproduction of labour power.
>From the observation of what takes place in the
firm, in particular from the examination of the
financial accounting practice which predicts
amortization and investment, we have been able
to obtain an approximate idea of the existence
of the material process of production, but we
are now entering a domain in which the observation
of what happens in the firm is, if not totally
blind, at least almost entirely so, and for good
reason: the reproduction of labour power takes
place essentially outside the firm.
How is the reproduction of labour power ensured?
It is ensured by giving labour power the material
means with which to reproduce itself: by wages.
Wages feature in the accounting of each enterprise,
but as �wage capital� [Marx gave it its scientific
concept: variable capital] not at all as a
condition of the material reproduction of labour
power.
However, that is in fact how it �works,� since wages
represents only that part of the value produced by
the expenditure of labour power which is
indispensable for its reproduction: sc.
Indispensable to the reconstitution of the labour
power of the wage-earner (the wherewithal to pay
for housing, food and clothing, in short to enable
the wage-earner to present himself again at the
factory gate the next day � and every further day
God grants him); and we should add: indispensable
for raising and educating the children in whom the
proletarian reproduces himself (in n models where
n = 0,1,2,&c. ..) as labour power.
Remember that this quantity of value (wages)
necessary for the reproduction of labour power
is determined not by the needs of a �biological�
Guaranteed Minimum Wage (Salaire Minimum
Interprofessionnel Garanti) alone, but by the
needs of a historical minimum (Marx noted that
English workers need beer while French proletarians
need wine) � i.e. a historically variable minimum.
I should also like to point out that this minimum
is doubly historical in that it not defined by
the historical needs of the working class
�recognized� by the capitalist class, but by the
historical needs imposed by the proletarian class
struggle (a double class struggle: against the
lengthening of the working day and against the
reduction of wages).
However, it is not enough to ensure for labour
power the material conditions of its reproduction
if it is to be reproduced as labour power. I
have said that the available labour power must
be �competent,� i.e. suitable [read: trained,
pliant, �educated,� respectful of authority,
disciplined, pragmatic, obedient, &c. so] �to
be set to work in the complex system of the process
of production. The development of the productive
forces and the type of unity historically
constitutive of the productive forces at a given
moment produce the result that the labour power
has to be (diversity): skilled and therefore
reproduced as such. Diversity: according to the
requirements of the socio-technical division of
labour, its different �jobs� and �posts.�
How is this reproduction of (the diversified)
skills of labour power provided for in a
capitalist regime? Here, unlike social
formations characterized by slavery or serfdom,
this reproduction of the skills of labour power
tends (this is a tendential law) decreasingly
to be provided for �on the spot� (apprenticeship
within production itself), but is achieved more
and more outside production: by the capitalist
education system, and by other instances and
institutions.
What do children learn at school? They go varying
distances in their studies, but at any rate they
learn to read, to write and to add -- i.e. a
number of techniques, and a number of other things
as well, including elements (which may be
rudimentary or on the contrary thoroughgoing) of
�scientific� of �literary culture,� Which are
directly useful in the different jobs in production
(one instruction for manual workers, another for
technicians, a third for engineers, a final one
for higher management, etc.) Thus they learn
�know-how.�
But besides these techniques and knowledge, and
in learning them, children at school also learn
the �rules� of good behavior, i.e. the attitude
that should be observed by every agent in the
division of labor, according to the job he is
�destined� for: rules of morality, civic and
professional conscience, which actually means
rules of respect for the socio-technical division
of labour and ultimately the rules of the order
established by class domination. They also
learn to �speak proper French,� to �handle� the
workers correctly, i.e. actually (for the future
capitalists and their servants) to �order them
about� properly, i.e. (ideally) to �speak to them�
in the right way, etc.
To put this more scientifically, I shall say that
the reproduction of labour power requires not
only a reproduction of it�s skills, but also, at
the same time, a reproduction of its submission
to the rules of the established order, i.e. a
reproduction of submission to the ruling ideology
for the workers, and a reproduction of the ability
to manipulate the ruling ideology correctly for
the agents of exploitation and repression, so
that they, too, will provide for the domination
of the ruling class �in words.�
perry arnett wrote:
> > If I'm on the right track, our job here is to do one, or more, of three
> > things.
>
> Aaron,
>
> great points!
>
> however, (not to be facetious), you forgot to mention the 'other'
> alternative :
>
> - - - monkey-wrenching the system to help bring about the crash sooner...
>
> the rest is accurate and correct and should be discussed
>
> Perry
>
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