Quote:
Originally Posted by KenGee
What a stange comment Davros? Read a bit of English history the long term unemployed have been behaving like this since time began.
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That raises an interesting question: when did unemployment first occur? The concept of unemployment would have been unknown in hunter-gatherer society, likewise I can't see it being allowed in any sort of communal agriculture. Serfs wouldn't have been allowed to slack off and every able-bodied peasant would be required to work on the family, or the landlord's, farm. [I'm here excluding the idol rich.]
I think unemployment as we know it is a capitalist phenomena - certainly capitalism requires unemployment. I'm not sure but perhaps it only postdates the clearances and the rise of the factories.
Ask a rioter about their grievance and they will say 'poverty' to which some will rightly point out that even the poor in Britian are better off than many elsewhere in the world (and so they should go back to their holes and shut up). One thing this ignores is the juxaposition of poverty and great wealth - it's not just the poverty it's the contrast. However both of these perspectives ignores one very important aspect - self esteem. Going to work and supporting ourselves is good for us. Doing a job, feeling necessary, having the self discipline to stick at a job are really important parts of our development and self image. I've seen enough long-term unemployed to have a good sense of this, even though I don't think I'm describing it well. However I think it is a large part of the reason some people feel so disconnected from mainstream society that they are able to feel justified in acting this way.