Base and Superstructure

Alienation, autonomy, and ideology

Category: Corporate World (Page 7 of 14)

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.

great resignation striketober

The Great Resignation and Striketober

November 8, 2021 /

From time to time, I sort employees into three categories: those who suffer from angst, those who suffer from ennui, and those who suffer from neither. As readers might expect, I’m suspicious of that latter group. But this time, I’ll do something a bit different with the topic. I’ll say a bit about how all this relates to the ‘Great Resignation.’

For anyone living under a rock, lots of people quit their jobs this year. More than any other year on record! Are they bored? Did a collective brush with mortality last year push them to make a change? Or are workers simply getting tired of low wages and inadequate benefits?

So, what’s going on with the workforce? What spurred the Great Resignation? And does Striketober represent a reaction to the forces of the Great Resignation?

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trick millennials

9 Ways to Trick Your Millennial Workers

September 30, 2021 /

So, many of us already know that the concept of ‘generations’ is just something marketing agencies cooked up to better sell products and services. Companies needed to understand broad trends. Trends tend to vary by age. Then, toss in some science and buzzwords. Stir. Out comes ‘Baby Boomers,’ ‘Millennials,’ and so on.

But companies also use this wicked troll to sell business ideology. And they do it through creating those fun little listicles. Here’s a link to one that I’ll use as my starting point for this one.

Let’s suppose you’re a manager of Millennial workers, and they’re catching on to your bullshit. What can you do about it?

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empower

Beware: The Boss Who Will ‘Empower’ You

August 19, 2021 /

The corporate world thrives on turning words and concepts against themselves. Here’s one common way it does that: It begins from a participatory and democratic concept, and then it turns it into something that’s neither of those things. It works this magic on everything from social justice to work itself. Perhaps, dear reader, your boss even wants to ’empower’ you. Beware.

Let’s take a moment to talk about this wicked troll – ’empower.’

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EdTech

EdTech, Briefly Explained

July 26, 2021 /

I’ve put my focus for the year in 2021 on issues in the corporate world. I’ve focused in particular on the role the business world plays in our lives. But, so far, my focus has (mostly) stayed away from education. Let’s change that a bit with a brief discussion of EdTech.

The education system relates to the tech world in lots of ways. I’ll sum this up with a quote from Noam Chomsky.

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NGOism

NGOism and Local Government

July 22, 2021 /

I read an article recently in Catalyst on the phenomenon of ‘NGOism.’ Here’s the basic idea: NGOs and other non-profit organizations tend to increase the influence of the private sector on social welfare systems. In addition, the internal logic of NGO orgs (501c3 status, funding methods, et al.) prevent them from seriously challenging the capitalist system. It also pushes them toward endorsing technocratic approaches to problems and prevents them from treating politics as the playing out of conflicts over class interests.

There’s not a lot here that’s new. NGOism sounds pretty familiar. People have criticized them many times along these linkes. And we know some of the other problems related to NGOism: low pay in the sector, and so on.

But after reading the article, I thought about local implications. Here’s one way NGOism plays out in my city. I serve on our city Housing and Community Development Commission. Among other tasks, we award lots of money to NGOs and non-profits.

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