Why does "menial" work have to be necessarily physical (and why does physical work have to be menial?) -raghu.
It doesn't, but I do think that there is a popular perception that it is true. No doubt this perception is class-based. For example, there seems to be a popular perception that white collar employment, which is often more closely associated with educational attainment (those who went on to college) and those who get paid for thinking, is a superior form of employment than more physical blue collar employment (those who get paid for their physical labor). That seems clearly a poignant stereotype in most historical class relations. My point was to emphasize that there are indeed other forms of labor that add value other than just physical OR menial labor - labor that is associated with white collar jobs also produce value and therefore we should recognize financial services as producing some value. Jayson Funke Graduate School of Geography Clark University 950 Main Street Worcester, MA 01610 -----Original Message----- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of raghu Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2007 7:07 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Queery about Greenspan and productivity On 9/22/07, Jayson Funke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Might part of the problem lie in a static view of finance as inherently > incapable of value-production? Surely finance, in the same way that industry > has become more financial (by expanding credit provisioning and financial > investing etc), has also expanded its range of operations into > value-producing activities. For example, when I worked at Mellon Financial > we produced tax returns, investment reports, and many custodial services in > which my labor added value to a product sold to clients. Is menial physical > labor the only labor that adds value? Why does "menial" work have to be necessarily physical (and why does physical work have to be menial?) Surely WalMart checkout desks and McDonald drive-through windows do not involve burning a lot of calories but it is about as menial as it gets right? -raghu.
