lumpenproletariat vs. unproductive labour (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I provide a service for direct use (forgot the real term).

as an independent worker with my own business I am not an organized worker and have no solidarity with ppl who do the same job. true lumpen.

but then learned about the whole concept of unproductive labour. there is no capitalist who steals my surplus value. true unproductive worker?

what am I?

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[-] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Petit bourgeois. If you think that means you’re “bad,” don’t worry: I’ve been one off-and-on myself.

In Western imperialist countries, the upper sectors of the petite-bourgeoisie are called "small business owners" whereas the lower ones are called "freelancers", such as the self-employed, artists or tutors who are both employer and employee under the Capitalist mode of production.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I really don't see how freelancers are petit bourgeois. They do exactly the same thing as an employee, they only get paid to produce value for an owner, and they do not make any revenue from the labor of others.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Seconded. I believe categorizing freelancers as petty bourgeois is going for the letter instead of the meaning of the term. A youtuber with no editor may own the means of production (his camera and computer) but ultimately depends on Google in order to be able to work. Similarly, freelancers may own their respective means of production, but they may be dependent on platforms like fiverr or corporations hiring them as contractors.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That’s fair: it depends on the specifics of the freelancing. A lot of US 1099 workers, practically speaking, are proletarians with even fewer rights than W-2 employees. I’ve been in that situation, but I’ve also been “lower” petit bourgeois self-employed, and I’ve been “upper” petit bourgeois employing workers myself.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

huh didnt saw that one comming 😅

this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2024

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