I am just wondering what people think about an anarchist taking a supervisory/managerial job. I am thinking of especially of office based jobs where junior staff are on very low pay (12-14k). I think in something like teaching or medicine its easy to stay on the bottom rung of the ladder because you are getting a decent whack to start with but in something like office admin getting a promotion might be one way of getting off poverty wages. What do people think?
Is it wrong for an anarchist to take a supervisory/managerial job
- Thread starter Shevek
- Start date
I am just thinking because I graduated with a degree in social anthropology. I am not really 'qualified' to do any particular job and a lot of the jobs I can do are of the office admin type. Most of these roles pay between 12-14k. Although I am an anarchist I dont neccesarily want to be stuck on poverty wages for the rest of my life. It seems a hard conundrum. If I was a doctor or a teacher I could quite happily sit at the bottom of the ladder on about 20-25k but its pretty uncomfortable when the pay you bring home is £700/month after tax. Is there anything wrong with rising up the ranks of an organisation?
strung out
💩 🤣 🍆 💦 🧐 👻 🐝 🐈⬛
as long as you dont have the power to hire and fire its ok imo.
i'm a supervisor but all that means really is having to lock up the place every night.
i'm a supervisor but all that means really is having to lock up the place every night.
YouSir
Retired from Urban
Might be hard given that a lot of what you might be asked to do will, in theory, go against your beliefs but if you think you could do it without either giving up your beliefs or being sacked after ten minutes for not giving them up then I don't see why you shouldn't go for it.
bluestreak
HomosexualityIsStalin’sAtomBombtoDestroyAmerica
I disagree, I think it depends on how you manage, and the rules upon which you are expected to manage. I see no reason why an anarchist couldn't be a manager - after all, after the revolution we will all be both managers and managed!
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Ideals are great until you have to eat.
cesare
shady's dreams ♥
strung out
💩 🤣 🍆 💦 🧐 👻 🐝 🐈⬛
maybe we need to draw up a list of jobs which are ok for an anarchist to do and ones which aren't...
In reality, you should just ask yourself whether the job you are doing compromises your beliefs and ethical values. if it does then don't do it, if it doesn't then who cares what other people think. it sounds like you need to figure out what you believe in before you try figuring out whether it's ok to do certain jobs or not.
In reality, you should just ask yourself whether the job you are doing compromises your beliefs and ethical values. if it does then don't do it, if it doesn't then who cares what other people think. it sounds like you need to figure out what you believe in before you try figuring out whether it's ok to do certain jobs or not.
Kid_Eternity
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Indeed.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
The moment you think "I'm going to change the system from the inside" is the point at which you've gone wrong.
bluestreak
HomosexualityIsStalin’sAtomBombtoDestroyAmerica
EXACTLY THIS! I've done it all my life, and suffered awfully in the first years after graduation because it was so hard to get a job in a field that didn't compromise my ethics. These days though I've got enough experience that I don't seem to have much trouble working for organisations that make lives better.
bluestreak
HomosexualityIsStalin’sAtomBombtoDestroyAmerica
Haha, this is also true!
ymu
Niall Ferguson's deep-cover sock-puppet
You can get to an OK pay level in the civil service without becoming a manager.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
The bastards will grind you down, try as you might. Non Servium
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
More seriously though: I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with doing an organisational job, as long as the decisions that are made are fairly reached. In a group you're just playing a record-keeping and co-ordinating role, and that's handy - it means people know what's going on and how whatever project you're all working on is developing.
But in terms of real jobs, management roles are pretty much universally tied to hierarchy and involve a big slice of you telling people what to do. Even if you try to avoid that, they still know that if it comes down to it you can say "do this" and if they don't, you can get them sacked.
N.B. I am not a Proper Anarchist, I'm waffling.
But in terms of real jobs, management roles are pretty much universally tied to hierarchy and involve a big slice of you telling people what to do. Even if you try to avoid that, they still know that if it comes down to it you can say "do this" and if they don't, you can get them sacked.
N.B. I am not a Proper Anarchist, I'm waffling.
cesare
shady's dreams ♥
Nah
It's the point where you recognise that you could go very badly wrong indeed, and not even realise it.
toblerone3
Grrrrr
This thead kind of sums up why I find Anarchism as a belief system a little bit naive. Unless you are willing to deprive yourself of a lot, it doesn't add up.
cesare
shady's dreams ♥
Yeah, that put me off too (not just AFED, any political left wing group). But, to be fair, there's not that many demos and no-one makes you go on them.
cesare
shady's dreams ♥
I think you have to separate Anarchism from anarchist principles/beliefs here.
dennisr
the acceptable face
traitor
Similar threads
