# Shop Class as Soulcraft  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Matthew B. Crawford]] - Full Title:: Shop Class as Soulcraft - Category: #books ## Highlights > Given the intrinsic richness of manual work—cognitively, socially, and in its broader psychic appeal—the question becomes why it has suffered such a devaluation as a component of education. ([Location 348](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=348)) > In doing so, he offers nothing less than an explanation of why we are getting more stupid with every passing year—which is to say, the degradation of work is ultimately a cognitive matter, rooted in the separation of thinking from doing. ([Location 470](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=470)) > Scientific management introduced the use of “time and motion analysis” to describe the physiological capabilities of the human body in machine terms. As Braverman writes, “the more labor is governed by classified motions which extend across the boundaries of trades and occupations, the more it dissolves its concrete forms into the general types of work motions. This mechanical exercise of human faculties according to motion types which are studied independently of the particular kind of work being done, brings to life the Marxist conception of ‘abstract labor.’”5 The clearest example of abstract labor is thus the assembly line. The activity of self-directed labor, conducted by the worker, is dissolved or abstracted into parts and then reconstituted as a process controlled by management—a labor sausage. ([Location 493](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=493)) > The trades are then a natural home for anyone who would live by his own powers, free not only of deadening abstraction but also of the insidious hopes and rising insecurities that seem to be endemic in our current economic life. ([Location 654](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=654)) > Freedom from hope and fear is the Stoic ideal. ([Location 655](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=655)) > I believe the appeal of freedomism, as a marketing hook, is due to the fact it nonetheless captures something true. It points to a paradox in our experience of agency: to be master of your own stuff entails also being mastered by it. ([Location 696](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=696)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > man ([Location 1465](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=1465)) > The result is “a growing emphasis on producing selective symbolic distinctions rather than shared substantive accomplishments.” That is, what matters is your rank among your peers; it matters not if the whole lot of you are ignorant. ([Location 1740](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=1740)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > When the point of education becomes the production of credentials rather than the cultivation of knowledge, it forfeits the motive recognized by Aristotle: “All human beings by nature desire to know.” Students become intellectually disengaged. ([Location 1742](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=1742)) > In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote that the ideal character type of the coming age will be “a man of leisure, released by technology from the regimental discipline of work so as to secure his well-being in highly refined alloplastic ways.”25 ([Location 1774](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=1774)) > In his book Real Education, Charles Murray relates a maxim attributed to Lyndon Johnson’s press secretary: “No one should be allowed to work in the West Wing of the White House who has not suffered a major disappointment in life.” Murray adds that “the responsibility of working there was too great . . . to be entrusted to people who weren’t painfully aware of how badly things can go wrong.”1 ([Location 2430](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=2430)) > Too often, the defenders of free markets forget that what we really want is free ([Location 2494](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=2494)) > It is time to dispel the long-standing confusion of private property with corporate property. Conservatives are right to extol the former as a pillar of liberty, but when they put such arguments in the service of the latter, they become apologists for the ever-greater concentration of capital. The result is that opportunities for self-employment and self-reliance are preempted by distant forces. ([Location 2496](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=2496)) - Tags: [[favorite]] # Shop Class as Soulcraft  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Matthew B. Crawford]] - Full Title:: Shop Class as Soulcraft - Category: #books ## Highlights > Given the intrinsic richness of manual work—cognitively, socially, and in its broader psychic appeal—the question becomes why it has suffered such a devaluation as a component of education. ([Location 348](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=348)) > In doing so, he offers nothing less than an explanation of why we are getting more stupid with every passing year—which is to say, the degradation of work is ultimately a cognitive matter, rooted in the separation of thinking from doing. ([Location 470](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=470)) > Scientific management introduced the use of “time and motion analysis” to describe the physiological capabilities of the human body in machine terms. As Braverman writes, “the more labor is governed by classified motions which extend across the boundaries of trades and occupations, the more it dissolves its concrete forms into the general types of work motions. This mechanical exercise of human faculties according to motion types which are studied independently of the particular kind of work being done, brings to life the Marxist conception of ‘abstract labor.’”5 The clearest example of abstract labor is thus the assembly line. The activity of self-directed labor, conducted by the worker, is dissolved or abstracted into parts and then reconstituted as a process controlled by management—a labor sausage. ([Location 493](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=493)) > The trades are then a natural home for anyone who would live by his own powers, free not only of deadening abstraction but also of the insidious hopes and rising insecurities that seem to be endemic in our current economic life. ([Location 654](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=654)) > Freedom from hope and fear is the Stoic ideal. ([Location 655](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=655)) > I believe the appeal of freedomism, as a marketing hook, is due to the fact it nonetheless captures something true. It points to a paradox in our experience of agency: to be master of your own stuff entails also being mastered by it. ([Location 696](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=696)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > man ([Location 1465](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=1465)) > The result is “a growing emphasis on producing selective symbolic distinctions rather than shared substantive accomplishments.” That is, what matters is your rank among your peers; it matters not if the whole lot of you are ignorant. ([Location 1740](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=1740)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > When the point of education becomes the production of credentials rather than the cultivation of knowledge, it forfeits the motive recognized by Aristotle: “All human beings by nature desire to know.” Students become intellectually disengaged. ([Location 1742](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=1742)) > In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote that the ideal character type of the coming age will be “a man of leisure, released by technology from the regimental discipline of work so as to secure his well-being in highly refined alloplastic ways.”25 ([Location 1774](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=1774)) > In his book Real Education, Charles Murray relates a maxim attributed to Lyndon Johnson’s press secretary: “No one should be allowed to work in the West Wing of the White House who has not suffered a major disappointment in life.” Murray adds that “the responsibility of working there was too great . . . to be entrusted to people who weren’t painfully aware of how badly things can go wrong.”1 ([Location 2430](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=2430)) > Too often, the defenders of free markets forget that what we really want is free ([Location 2494](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=2494)) > It is time to dispel the long-standing confusion of private property with corporate property. Conservatives are right to extol the former as a pillar of liberty, but when they put such arguments in the service of the latter, they become apologists for the ever-greater concentration of capital. The result is that opportunities for self-employment and self-reliance are preempted by distant forces. ([Location 2496](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00273BHPU&location=2496)) - Tags: [[favorite]]