Against Precarity, Against Employability - Ivor Southwood
Is the practice of free labour not illegal when it comes to internships? You are providing work for free in the hopes of being noticed, as an act of selfless dedication, but when everyone does the same, is it not meaningless?
Why are interns so badly mistreated? Are brands not grateful for the work of the individual, instead seeing them as an exploitable free work force?
Why is this now such an accepted part of culture that we are expected to work for free before even being considered for employment?
'pressurising the individual to the point of despair or death is regarded simply as ‘the way things are’'
If this is the way things are, things need to change. I find this text infuriating, the themes discussed are distressing, Southwood mentions how being depressed about ones job is down to the individual, I don't know if this is the writer trying to make a point or if they are promoting this way of thinking, but either way I strongly disagree with it.
Why are interns so badly mistreated? Are brands not grateful for the work of the individual, instead seeing them as an exploitable free work force?
Why is this now such an accepted part of culture that we are expected to work for free before even being considered for employment?
'pressurising the individual to the point of despair or death is regarded simply as ‘the way things are’'
If this is the way things are, things need to change. I find this text infuriating, the themes discussed are distressing, Southwood mentions how being depressed about ones job is down to the individual, I don't know if this is the writer trying to make a point or if they are promoting this way of thinking, but either way I strongly disagree with it.
Hello, Ivor here. I'm definitely not promoting this way of thinking in the essay; I'm arguing that people are routinely told by employers, politicians, counsellors etc. that they are responsible for their own misery at work, despite huge evidence that it is in fact created and maintained by economic and social conditions designed to protect powerful interests and suppress resistance. The situation I describe is indeed infuriating and I aim to convey that, and perhaps even to incite a sort of fury in those who might otherwise passively take it for granted, so I suppose as you say I am trying to make a point. At the same time however I am looking for ways to attack and undermine this system (see the last section in particular), and if the reader does not recognise this then I have failed... In unpicking the ideological discourse of 'employability' I am attempting to answer the crucial question that you ask above: why free and precarious labour, workplace misery and anxiety, are now accepted parts of culture, when they should be challenged at every step, and eliminated along with the interests which profit from them. Things definitely do need to change! Thanks for reading anyway.
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