Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Category: Corporate World (Page 2 of 13)

These are posts on the corporate world from the blog Base and Superstructure. The corporate world is complex. It’s confusing to anyone not involved. Corporate life has its own characteristic forms, language, jargon, and mannerisms. Neoliberalism structures our politics and thought, and so this is also a major focus of these posts. The non-profit corporate sector is its own distinct mini-world. And, in particular, spending significant time involved in corporate life engenders a special form of ennui. All of these subtopics feed off of one another. Each is critical to thinking about corporate life and its role in the United States.

Photo of two women arguing in a white-collar workplace.

Working With People You Don’t Like

October 23, 2023 /

I’ve worked lots of jobs in the past 25 years. I’ve also joined, led, followed, and otherwise engaged with many, many activist groups over that same time period. And I can say I’ve met a lot of characters while doing these things.

What I’m saying is that I’ve seen conflicts. I’ve even participated in a few conflicts myself. And I’ve even learned a few tricks for how to handle conflicts.

Part of the background to conflict involves working with people you don’t like. And when you’ve worked in that many jobs and with that many activist groups, you’ll end up working with people you don’t like. I’ve certainly done that plenty of times, both on the job and in activist groups.

I could say lots of things about how to do it. But the first thing I’d say? Standard workplace advice misses the point.

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severance white-collar organizing

Severance and White-Collar Organizing

March 6, 2023 /

The new TV show Severance drew lots of attention as it finished up its first season. Some of it even from a leftist perspective! Or at least a near left perspective. Even more interestingly, those who view Severance through a leftist lens see it as a show about worker solidarity and workplace organizing.

Can Severance teach us something about workplace organizing? I think it can! In fact, I think it highlights a major gap in the U.S. union movement. A gap that leftists could – and should – fill.

Let’s talk about all this.

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A Sensible Take on AI Art

February 9, 2023 /

AI art sensible take

Nathan J. Robinson wrote recently on AI and AI art in Current Affairs. His basic take? AI does lots of impressive things. But it’s not all that smart.

Robinson tried out AI art, ordering the AI to draw lots of things, even including a mimic of a Diego Rivera mural. It did competent and even interesting work. But it failed many times along the way. And nothing in the work stood out as particularly compelling or original. In my own opinion, most of it (and most AI art in general) looked like mid-level movie CGI.

And so, AI contains lots of technical prowess. But it’s not compelling, and it certainly doesn’t understand anything. It’s certainly not intelligent. And it’s work isn’t ‘good art.’

Robinson’s take is a sensible one. And, of course, it matches pretty well what I’ve said about AI in another post. Much like Robinson, I think the danger from AI come from its more run of the mill uses in automation than in all this nonsense about a ‘singularity’ or ‘super-intelligence.’

In short, Silicon Valley loves to talk a big game about moonshots. But it’s much more interested in eliminating jobs. That’s where criticism should focus.

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corporate world reading list company max barry

Books from Corporate World

January 12, 2023 /

As I’m sure many readers know, I use the ‘corporate world’ tag on blog posts where I discuss the business world and its oddities. For those who don’t know, check out the tag at the right (and at the bottom of this post). Over the last few months, I’ve read quite a few books – mostly fiction! – that address business world themes. Mostly criticisms of that world.

So, I hope readers enjoy hearing about some of those books. Read on for some thoughts on them!

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