[Themaintainers] From Managerial Feudalism to the Revolt of the Caring Classes

Mon Mar 30 15:55:40 EDT 2020

Realtors have been re-labeled "essential" after lobbying from same. 

https://www.ocregister.com/2020/03/28/coronavirus-economy-california-real-estate-sales-now-deemed-essential-industry/

We have construction and remediation active in our condo building because of a pipe break in a common space, and the drywall has to be removed before rot and mold sets in. 

On Mon, Mar 30, 2020, at 12:49, Cowan, Ruth S wrote:
>  
> I’ll add another category to your list of “essential workers,” Andy, I 
> category I find deeply problematic. In the NY metro region—perhaps in 
> the whole state of NY—construction workers have been deemed essential. 
> In the small town in which I live, this means that construction work is 
> going on, without an apparent effort at social distancing, to renovate 
> a local playground! My friends who live in Manhattan tell me that 
> construction work continues, unabated, on luxury rental towers. 
> “Essential” and ‘not-essential” categories are, apparently, subject to 
> the pressure of lobbies.
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Ruth Schwartz Cowan. Ph.D. 
> 
> Janice and Julian Bers Professor, Emerita
> 
> History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania
> 
> ------------------------------------
> 
> Author (with Matthew H. Hersch) of _A Social History of American 
> Technology_, 2nd edition (Oxford University Press, 2017)
> 
> https://global.oup.com/ushe/search?q=a+social+history+of+american+technology&cc=&lang=en
> 
> 
> *From:* themaintainers-bounces at lists.stevens.edu 
> <themaintainers-bounces at lists.stevens.edu> *On Behalf Of *Andrew Russell
> *Sent:* Monday, March 30, 2020 7:23 AM
> *To:* Dorothy Howard <dhoward at ucsd.edu>
> *Cc:* themaintainers <themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu>
> *Subject:* Re: [Themaintainers] From Managerial Feudalism to the Revolt 
> of the Caring Classes
> 
> 
> I’ve been daydreaming about a distributed oral history/interview 
> project, consisting of interviews with “essential” workers to document 
> their experiences. One could imagine at least 3 categories of interview 
> subjects: those deemed essential before COVID19; those who’ve been 
> recategorized (like my friends at my school’s IT help desk and our 
> local wine & liquor store); and those not deemed essential by the 
> state, but appear so in the eyes of the researcher. Non wage domestic 
> labor is one clear example of the third category...
> 
> 
> Andy 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > On Mar 30, 2020, at 3:42 AM, Dorothy Howard <dhoward at ucsd.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
> > I think the concept of "frontlines" workers (COVID-19 + evocation of wartime measures) and the legal designation of "essential services" is fraught but essentially has to do with the social processes of valuing infrastructural labor. In the context of free and open source software and other infrastructural labor that involves voluntary processes or volunteer work, maintenance workers doing essential things to keep infrastructure like software going are excluded from the legal protections and recognition of the designation of being "essential", yet are still less visible to different publics who are suddenly recognizing "essential labor" and care workers as underrecognized occupations or bringing them to the center of attention about where care and respect and risk should be allocated in society. When we evoke the term essential services as a way of recognizing often invisibilized labor, my question is who does this designation still exclude and how can resources(ing) follow recognition? 
> 
> 
> > With care, 
> 
> 
> > Dorothy
> 
> 
> 
> > On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 11:31 PM Ishi Crew <mediaentropy at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> >> I've seen this talk (must be alot of work to transcribe it; and i'm sort of writing something on this topic, and am aware of graeber's views )
> >> 
> >>  In my area we have something we call the 'virus' (or the V (for victory) I r U.S. --- one for all ). 
> >> 
> >>  How many 'maintainers' are essential workers and how many are innessential? I have seen some suggestions that some anthropologists, economists, fashion models, wine tasters, McDonald's hamburger cooks and cleaners, musicians and mathematicians and artists, and museum curators and securty guards, and web ad programmers, are inessential. Or perhaps they are the 'rare' essence of the universe. 
> 
> 
> >> On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 1:54 AM Su <su at generis.name> wrote:
> 
> >>> Hi, all. Long-time listener, blah blah. Lee et al., I'm @TopLeftBrick
> >>>  on Twitter *waves* We've had a little contact over the years, I've
> >>>  been lurking here since pretty much the beginning and uh, have a LOT
> >>>  of free time to catch up on lists lately because Reasons.
> >>> 
> >>>  Anyway, in case anyone was interested or wanted an easier way to grab
> >>>  a quote I put up a transcript of this talk the other day at
> >>> http://opentranscripts.org/transcript/managerial-feudalism-revolt-caring-classes/
> >>>  It's…kinda of the moment right now.
> >>> 
> >>>  On Fri, Dec 27, 2019 at 10:51 PM Camille E Acey <connect at camilleacey.com> wrote:
> >>>  >
> >>>  > New David Graeber  https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-11241-from_managerial_feudalism_to_the_revolt_of_the_caring_classes
> >>>  > --
> >>>  > Camille E. Acey
> >>>  > connect at camilleacey.com
> >>>  > New York, NY - USA (GMT -5)
> >>>  >
> >>>  > "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare." - Audre Lorde_______________________________________________
> >>>  > Themaintainers mailing list
> >>>  > Themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu
> >>>  >  https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/listinfo/themaintainers
> >>>  _______________________________________________
> >>>  Themaintainers mailing list
> >>> Themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu
> >>> https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/listinfo/themaintainers
> 
> >> _______________________________________________
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> 
> > 
> > 
> >  -- 
> 
> > Dorothy Rose Howard 
> 
> > PhD Student, Communication
> 
> > UC San Diego
> 
> 
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