#Maldistribution

[monriatitans]

TW - POVERTY AWARENESS QUOTE 2

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

“History is written by the rich, and so the poor get blamed for everything.” – Jeffrey Sachs

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[gravitascivics]

FROM NATURAL RIGHTS TO CRITICAL THEORY

This blog has presented, explained, and evaluated the natural rights construct – what some might call the classical liberal perspective.  It, the blog, claimed that this perspective is the dominant view among the American public in terms of governance and politics. Also, to a great degree, it assists those citizens in defining, understanding, and passing judgment over their expectations regarding their civic selves, that of other citizens, and of the government.

         As such, this foundational construct goes to provide the manner in which the nation’s civics instruction is developed and shared in American classrooms.  In this presentation, the blog focused on various elements of this view, particularly its moral element.  Also, a good deal of effort was made to describe how the view affects the quality of interaction between students and teachers, including how it influences policy and practice regarding discipline.

         The moral element was presented to highlight the way natural rights argues for individual free choice and behavior – only limited by the rights of others to the same standing – and that any counter condition to this liberality constitutes subjugation.  As for its link to academic input, the view was described as having a theoretical attachment to the political systems approach in the study of politics.  In that, the blog specifically highlighted the models presented by David Easton[1] and Gabriel Almond and G. Bingham Powell, Jr.[2]

         These models were reviewed in relation to Eugene Meehan’s criteria[3] for viable and reliable constructs.  The Meehan-style review led naturally to a critique which emphasized the perspective’s excessive promotion of individualism and the detrimental effects such an emphasis has caused in the teaching of government and civics.

         And as with any view, any construct, any dominant perspective, there will be those among the populace who will not agree.  In true dialectic tradition, the natural rights view is not immune to such challenges. This blog favors one such opposing view, that being federation theory.  But in truth, currently, the most prominent view picking up the challenge is critical theory, and this blog will next turn its attention to this other view.  

It is a view with an interesting history and has spread its appeal among academics in certain socially related fields – sociology, political science, education, etc. Unlike natural rights, with a relatively simple basic set of ideas, critical theory has a varied foundation. Some of its basic concerns are exploitation, injustice (as it defines justice), and an imbalance the way power is distributed in society.  Many advocates disagree with themselves in a variety of claims and positions, but all share, to some level, an adherence to Marxian principles.

A recent development that reflects the strength of this view is how the Democratic Party seems to be divided between a moderate wing – noncritical theory partisans – and the progressive wing – the critical theory contingency.  One way to measure how “critical” a particular politician is, is how apt that policymaker is to favor a governmental interposition – including ownership – to meet some human problem area such as the environment, the economy, health, etc.

As with the constructs already reviewed in this blog – that being the parochial federalist view and the natural rights view – this account of critical theory will set out to provide responses to this blog’s list of research questions.  To remind readers, the overall concern is:  does critical theory as a view of governance and politics provide a legitimate and viable way to study government and politics at the secondary level, i.e., in middle schools and in high schools?  There, the targeted courses would be civics and American government, respectively.

With this overarching concern, the review employs subsidiary questions. They are directed by the dialectic stance projected by the dominant view, natural rights, and by this challenging view, the fairly leftist stance which constitutes the critical theory.  These views are in many ways not only at odds with each other, but place in opposition the role schools should play in American society.  Within this context, further questioning is:

 1.    What role has the history of critical theory played in the development of civics curriculum?

2.    What consequences have resulted from the efforts of critical theorists in the teaching of civics?

3.    Ideally, if critical theorists were to “get their way,” how would American social arrangements be affected?

4.    And how would those desired social arrangements – per the percepts of the construct – be achieved?  

 If critical theory were to attain the nation’s support, how would Americans proceed as the future unfolds, at least as the advocates of this view, view it?

         Utilizing a developmental arrangement of competing notions as to how the opposing perspectives foresee the effects of their claims and policy proposals, hopefully readers will be able to compare how this antithesis compares with the thesis, i.e., how critical theory compares to natural rights.  

This will be at times be overshadowed by this blog’s effort to inform readers about how critical theory came about – through relating some of its history.  But guiding the effort will be the commonplaces of curriculum developed by William Schubert[4] and include the subject matter, teachers, learners, and milieu.  In turn, the commonplaces serve to organize a good deal of what will follow.

[1] David Easton, The Political System (New York, NY:  Alfred A. Knopf, 1953) AND David Easton, A System Analysis of Political Life (New York, NY:  John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1965).

[2] Gabriel Almond and G. Bingham Powell, Jr., Comparative Politics: A Developmental Approach (Boston: Little, Brown. 1966). 

[3] Eugene J. Meehan, Contemporary Political Thought:  A Critical Study (Homewood, IL:  Dorsey Press, 1967).

[4] William H. Schubert, Curriculum:  Perspective, Paradigm, and Possibility (New York, NY:  MacMillan Publishing Company, 1986).  The commonplaces can be defined as follows:

·       The subject matter refers to the academic content presented in the curriculum.  

·       The teacher is the professional instructor authorized to present and supervise curricular activities within the classroom setting.  

·       Learners are defined as those individuals attending school for the purpose of acquiring the education entailed with a particular curriculum.

·       Milieu refers to the general cultural setting and ambiance within the varied social settings found at the school site.

[opencommunion]

"The racist dimensions of international politics were manifest and explicitly challenged during the many months of intensive meetings at the Versailles Peace Conference of 1919 – at which was established the scaffolding of postwar colonial and imperial arrangements, including the British Mandate over Palestine.

White powers often described the struggle for 'world domination' as a 'race war' in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. British imperialists distinguished between white and nonwhite (or 'coloured') peoples and assumed the former should rule and the latter should be ruled, defining 'Syrians' and Afghans, for example, as 'nonwhites.' ... Irrespective of anti-Semitism and the historically situated and to some degree malleable nature of whiteness as a social construct, Zionist settler-colonialism was understood by its advocates and their British and US allies to be a white socioeconomic project. Racism in Mandate Palestine expressed itself through civilizational discourse, extraction from the native population, the biopolitics of colonial categorizations and counting, and the systematic maldistribution of life, death, and wellbeing by investment priorities. Such maldistribution by priority is underplayed as a systemically racist dimension of settler-colonialism and colonialism in Palestine. ... The 'blueprint' for the Allied postwar geopolitical order, the League of Nations and its Mandate system, was authored by racist war hero Jan Smuts, an Afrikaner from South Africa, at the behest of the British government. Published in December 1918 as The League of Nations: A Practical Suggestion, the document became a worldwide bestseller. Its stated purpose was to establish 'a means to prevent future wars.' Smuts’s use of the terms 'self-determination' and 'no annexation,' drawing on Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points released in January 1918, offered thin ideological cover for European and US imperialist aims to control postwar geopolitics and resources. The 'peoples left behind' by the dissolution of the Russian, Austrian, Ottoman, and German empires, Smuts rationalized, were 'largely incapable or deficient in the power of self-government.' ... Smuts argued ... that the peoples of Palestine and Armenia were too 'heterogeneous' to be consulted regarding any future arrangement. ... By the 1919 Versailles Peace Conference certainly, British colonial politicians recognized, to borrow Helen Tilley's words, that egregiously racist policies threatened the stability of the colonial order by making 'governing far more difficult.' At the same time, policies of social equality or parity threatened to 'undermine' the (extractive and violent) logic of colonial relationships – the colonizer must be above the colonized. When such hierarchy was shaken, the 'prospects of [the colonized person’s] future usefulness [to the colonial state] is destroyed.' This helps explain why criticism of racial prejudice by some colonial elites 'was insufficient to undermine the social hierarchies of colonial states.'"

Frances S. Hasso, Buried in the Red Dirt: Race, Reproduction, and Death in Modern Palestine (2021)

[edwad]

you can't just say something like exploitation is bad without an account of what that is and its normative dimensions. you might think this is all just like, useless theoretical posturing, but the problem is that most of these kinds of critiques can be potentially reformed away or bottom out at some point depending on their framing. which means your problem with the system might not actually have anything to do with the system at all, it might just be a maldistribution of wealth/power or a misrecognition of domination etc which competent social democracy or free markets could fix. this is the kinda stuff that marx is trying to carefully work through so that he doesn't fall into any of these traps because he wants to actually make a specific case about/against capitalism itself. if he fails on that front, that's kinda important as an actual political problem

[argyrocratie]

"At Future of Freedom Foundation, Jacob Hornberger writes: “America’s welfare state way of life is based on the notion that the federal government is needed to force people to be good and caring to others.” 

Um, no. America’s welfare state way of life is based on the notion that, since the capitalist state redistributes massive amounts of income and wealth upwards from producers to rentiers as profit, rent, and interest, compensatory state action — namely, returning a tiny fraction of that income to the neediest — is necessary to preventing capitalism from collapsing from social disorder or insufficient aggregate demand.

The welfare state did not come about as the result of any idealistic “notion” on the part of do-gooders and bleeding-hearts. Such people may have helped sell it politically, but the architects of the welfare state were hard-headed capitalists who rightly understood its necessity for keeping capitalism to sustainable levels of extraction. Of course the capitalist state was motivated in part by the grass-roots activism of the destitute and unemployed, but the specific form the welfare state took was determined by policy elites understanding of the system’s survivability needs.

Ironically, no one understands the need for a powerful interventionist regulatory and welfare state better than capitalists. And nothing would destroy capitalism faster than right-libertarians who, if given free rein, would balance the federal budget, pay off the debt, and eliminate the welfare state.

Way back in the 1860s, Karl Marx characterized the Ten-Hour Day legislation passed by the British Parliament as employers acting through their state to limit the exploitation of labor to sustainable levels. The length of the working day in 19th century Britain presented capitalists with a problem akin to the prisoner’s dilemma. 

It was in the interest of the capitalist class as a whole that the exploitation of labor be kept to sustainable levels, but in the interest of capitalists severally to gain an immediate advantage over the competition by working their own laborers to the breaking point. The capitalist state solved the problem by limiting the working day on behalf of employers collectively, so that individual employers could not defect from the agreement. In the chapter on the Ten-Hour Day in Capital, he wrote:

These acts curb the passion of capital for a limitless draining of labour power, by forcibly limiting the working day by state regulations, made by a state that is ruled by capitalist and landlord. Apart from the working-class movement that daily grew more threatening, the limiting of factory labour was dictated by the same necessity which spread guano over the English fields.

Marx referred, later in the same chapter, to a group of 26 Staffordshire pottery firms, including Josiah Wedgwood, petitioning Parliament in 1863 for “some legislative enactment”; the reason was that competition prevented individual capitalists from voluntarily limiting the work time of children, etc., as beneficial as it would be to them collectively: “Much as we deplore the evils before mentioned, it would not be possible to prevent them by any scheme of agreement between the manufacturers…. Taking all these points into consideration, we have come to the conviction that some legislative enactment is wanted.”  

The smarter capitalists, similarly, support a welfare state for two main reasons. First, the capitalist state’s upward distribution of income in the form of economic rents creates a maldistribution of purchasing power, which in turn results in chronic tendencies toward underconsumption and idle production capacity — tendencies which periodically almost destroyed capitalism (most notably in the Great Depression of the 1930s). Redistributing a small portion of this income to at least the poorest part of the population, and otherwise bolstering aggregate demand, is necessary in order to prevent depression. 

Second, if the worst forms of destitution are not addressed, starvation and homelessness will reach levels that threaten political radicalization, disorder, and violence.

At every step of the way, the primary architects of the 20th century mixed economy were hard-headed capitalists. There is enough historiography on this theme by James Weinstein, Gabriel Kolko, G. William Domhoff, and Frances Piven to keep Hornberger busy for many months.

If anything destroys the average person’s faith in freedom, it is the pretense of people like Hornberger that the capitalist system they defend is the product of freedom rather than of massive state violence, and the association in the popular mind of the language of “freedom” with the system they experience daily as a boot on their neck."

-Kevin Carson, "Capitalism, Not Welfare, Has Destroyed Faith in Freedom"

[mariacallous]

The U.S. is experiencing shortages of mental health services in a range of locations and service delivery contexts. Just over one in five people in the U.S. reported having a mental health condition in 2021, and of those, about half received any services for those conditions. For some groups of people, including youth and people of color with certain mental health conditions, rates of receiving services are lower than for other groups. The poorest communities in the U.S. have the lowest rates of availability of mental health providers. The gap between apparent need for mental health services and receipt of them is longstanding, and takes on urgency, as rates of reported mental health conditions, as well as suicide rates, have increased. These gaps impose significant human and societal costs.

As part of efforts to expand access to mental health care, some policymakers have proposed engaging more people in mental health care services outside of traditional, office-based health care settings. For example, in last year’s Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, Congress established policies and grants to advance provision of Medicaid-covered health and behavioral health services in schools, building on previous grant investments through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Education (ED) to expand mental health services in schools. Last year, the Administration also proposed to integrate mental health expertise into social service and early childhood programs.

The goal of these policies is to expand access, reduce unmet need for mental health services, and address maldistribution of mental health providers. They aim to “meet people where they are” by reducing barriers people face accessing services and making them available in the settings people prefer. Barriers include geographic limits on available providers, travel costs, and challenges scheduling appointments during typical provider office hours. They are also intended to diminish stigma that can be associated with mental health care (which can deter people from seeking services when they need them), expand culturally competent service provision, and increase person-centeredness. Some proposals are developed with a recognition that notable groups of people, including people of color, obtain services at lower rates than do others, and that some longstanding approaches to providing mental health services are not adequately meeting the needs of those groups. These approaches can be an alternative to telemedicine to establish immediate, in-person connections, or to serve in place of telemedicine in places where telemedicine is not available or preferred. Policies to advance mental health services outside of health care settings are not new. Grant programs that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) administers, as well as Medicaid home and community-based services programs, have long supported such services. But policy proposals to promote services outside of traditional office-based settings are receiving increased attention now.

Policymakers face several challenges with respect to expanding access to mental health services outside of traditional health care settings. Efforts to expand access outside of traditional health care settings can encompass a range of goals and approaches, from broad approaches that seek to augment services provided in traditional health care settings to efforts to serve as an access point or conduit to treatment. This makes it difficult for policymakers to match specific interventions with specific policy or system goals. In addition, there is limited evidence on the impact of some of these policy interventions on the people who receive them, including whether they connect people to needed services. This makes it difficult for policymakers to assess the likely impact of policy or funding changes. A third challenge is that some interventions have been well-researched, resulting in solid evidence of their impact on people, but these interventions are not yet widely available. To help address these policy challenges, this paper a) describes some mental health interventions that are provided outside of traditional, office-based health care settings and available evidence of their impact, and b) proposes policies to advance access to these interventions, including in some cases policies to develop a stronger evidence base. These policy options are aimed at federal policymakers; some are also relevant to state and local policymakers.

[shrinkrants]

My subject is the rage and rejection that have emerged in America, threatening to displace politics, therefore democracy, and to supplant them with a figure whose rage and resentment excite an extreme loyalty, and disloyalty, a sort of black mass of patriotism, a business of inverted words and symbols where the idea of the sacred is turned against itself. I will suggest that one great reason for this rage is a gross maldistribution of the burdens and consequences of our wars. If I am right that this inequity has some part in the anger that has inflamed our public life, in order to vindicate democracy we must acknowledge it and try to put it right.

This essay by Marilynne Robinson condenses and clarifies the swirl of concern I have felt for years about our culture of violence and the inequity sending our most impoverished sons and daughters to inflict our cruel greed on the rest of the world. (apologies for the paywall involved)

[rambling22yearold]

Unveiling the Essence of UKZN's Occupational Therapy Curriculum

Walking through the corridors of healthcare education, we stumble upon a treasure chest of wisdom and wonder—the UKZN Occupational Therapy curriculum. Like a map to hidden treasures, it promises to guide aspiring therapists.

As the role of Occupational Therapists continues to be dynamic and continuously evolve, the need for practitioners who are well-prepared to work in community and primary healthcare (PHC) settings has become increasingly apparent. At the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), the OT curriculum plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of OT practice. In this blog, we delve deeper into the fabric of this curriculum, it becomes imperative to scrutinize its efficacy and in this,, we embark on a journey of reflection, dissecting the curriculum through the lens of community care.

At the heart of UKZN's OT program lies a four-year undergraduate journey, crafted to shape empathetic professionals equipped with the knowledge and skills to transform lives. Guided by seasoned educators, students delve into a myriad of subjects ranging from Anatomy, Psychology and Physiology to the philosophical underpinnings of OT Theory and Practice. Theory comes to life through hands-on experiences during Fieldwork Placements. Here, students immerse themselves in clinical settings, applying classroom knowledge to real-world scenarios where these placement within the KZN province  are the crucible where theory meets reality, fostering the development of competent and compassionate practitioners. Complementing the core curriculum are electives designed for the curriculum. From assistive technology to community-based interventions, these electives empower one to carve your niche within the profession, nurturing unique talents and interests.

Delving into the heart of occupational therapy education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), one finds a curriculum that transcends the confines of clinical walls, embracing the principles of community-based practice and primary healthcare (PHC). Within the fabric of core courses like Occupational Therapy Theory and Practice and Professional Issues in OT, the curriculum intricately weaves discussions on community interventions and the imperative of addressing health disparities in diverse populations.

Moreover, UKZN's commitment to community-centric care is palpable through dedicated courses and clinical placements designed for this purpose. These courses delve into community assessment, program development, and advocacy strategies, equipping students with the tools to effect change beyond traditional healthcare settings. Clinical placements then provide the crucible for experiential learning, immersing students in community health centers, schools, and nonprofit organizations. Here, they apply theoretical knowledge to real-world contexts, fostering cultural competence and collaboration within multidisciplinary teams.

The community I currently serve has numerous areas requiring the intervention of Occupational Therapists. However, once students depart, the community lacks ongoing support. This reality is disheartening and requires attention, with no profession better suited to address it than ours. We consider the individual holistically. We assess their home environment, support systems, available resources, mental health, HIV status, nutrition, and sleep patterns. Despite having much to offer, our valuable work isn't fully utilized where it's most needed.

I found this amazing article that highlights our readiness to practicing within rural settings, please have a quick look.

There are several challenges and limitations that warrant consideration. Significant challenges being resource constraints, potentially impacting the availability of state-of-the-art equipment, technology, and facilities essential for comprehensive training. Limited clinical placements in community settings also poses a barrier, as hands-on experience in diverse environments is crucial for developing practical skills and cultural competence. In the beginning of my degree we were faced with the unfortunate introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic in which we were not able to go into the community and gain essential practical knowledge from the Community Studies module present withing the OT curriculum. Additionally, there might be gaps in the curriculum content, such as insufficient emphasis on advocacy training or addressing the social determinants of health, which are essential for effective community-based practice. Overcoming these challenges requires a concerted effort from educators, policymakers, and healthcare institutions to allocate resources effectively, expand clinical placement opportunities, and continuously review and update curriculum content to ensure that students are adequately prepared to address more complex needs of communities in PHC settings as communities are constantly evolving.

One notable aspect is the emphasis on experiential learning opportunities embedded throughout the curriculum. Through clinical placements in diverse community settings, students gain first-hand experience working with individuals and populations in need. 

Moreover, the Community module in our final year fosters a culture of community engagement by encouraging us to participate in community-based projects and service-learning initiatives. By collaborating with local organizations, such as community health centers, schools, and advocacy groups, we have the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to address real-world challenges and contribute to positive social change. These experiential learning opportunities not only deepen our understanding of community health issues but also cultivate their empathy, cultural competence, and advocacy skills—essential attributes for effective practice in community and PHC settings. The way that the curriculum is structured allows for being a dynamic OT who is able to work in various community settings, encourages working under pressure to meet goals and prepares us for the real word by the hours we spend within the communities.

One of the common responses found from the study below was that the participants found it challenging to practice within the realities of a rural setting because of the resource constraints and because the undergraduate programme and clinical skills development had mainly occurred in well-equipped tertiary hospitals. It's not uncommon for practitioners to find it challenging to transition to rural settings due to resource constraints and the focus on training in well-equipped tertiary hospitals during our education. This disparity in experiences and resources can create barriers to effective practice in rural areas.

In reimagining the Occupational Therapy (OT) curriculum at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) to better equip students for community and primary healthcare (PHC) settings, several key recommendations emerge. Firstly, integrating more robust community-based learning opportunities throughout the curriculum, including extended clinical placements in diverse environments, could provide invaluable hands-on experience. Additionally, fostering interprofessional education (IPE) initiatives would enhance collaboration skills essential for interdisciplinary PHC practice. Strengthening cultural competence training and expanding community-based research projects could deepen students' understanding of the complexities of working with diverse populations. Moreover, integrating advocacy training and offering elective courses in community health would empower students to advocate for policy changes addressing health disparities. Finally, forging stronger partnerships with local organizations would facilitate expanded clinical placements and community-based projects, enriching students' engagement with PHC initiatives. By embracing these recommendations, UKZN can ensure that its OT curriculum remains dynamic, relevant, and impactful in preparing future practitioners for the multifaceted challenges of community-oriented practice.

As we draw the curtains on our exploration of the UKZN Occupational Therapy curriculum, one thing becomes abundantly clear: the journey to community care excellence is a dynamic and evolving one. Through the lens of our analysis, we've glimpsed the strengths and opportunities embedded within the curriculum, each a testament to the dedication of educators and the aspirations of future therapists.

Yet, within this journey to finding the treasure chest, there are obstacles in the road and peaks to conquer. My reflection on the curriculum's pros and cons serves as a guide towards innovation and improvement. Let us harness the insights gleaned here to nurture a curriculum that not only prepares students for the rigors of community and PHC practice but also instils within them the spirit of compassionate care and unwavering dedication to those they serve.

As the sun sets on our discussion, let us carry forward the torch of inquiry and advocacy, knowing that the seeds of change we plant today will bloom into a future where community care thrives and flourishes.

In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare, the role of occupational therapists as champions of community care and primary healthcare has never been more crucial. Through our exploration of the UKZN Occupational Therapy curriculum, we've journeyed through the corridors of learning, uncovering both its strengths and areas ripe for growth.

References

Hayes, K., Santos, V. D., Boyd, N., Connelly, B., & Lustig, K. (2024). Preparing occupational therapy students for practice in rural areas: a scoping review protocol. BMJ Open, 14(2), e075886. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075886

Home - Discipline of Occupational Therapy. (2018, January 11). Ot.ukzn.ac.za. https://ot.ukzn.ac.za

Naidoo, D., Van Wyk, J., & Waggie, F. (2017). Occupational therapy graduates’ reflections on their ability to cope with primary healthcare and rural practice during community service. The South African Journal of Occupational Therapy, 47(3), 39–45. https://doi.org/10.17159/2310-3833/2017/v47n3a7

[aisha-ot]

How prepared are we to work in South African communities?

Hey guys, I’m back again. Last week I mentioned that community block was a rollercoaster of emotions. This week I want to get into why that was the case. Personally, I feel as though I was not prepared for the multidimensional approach to assessing and treating individuals within a poverty-stricken community in South Africa. And in an article to follow, you will see that other past OT students can also agree with my opinion. Let’s get into why I say this by taking a look at the OT curriculum and analysing whether or not it prepares us well enough to work at a community level. 

I personally feel as though no one can ever be prepared enough to work at a community level. I certainly was not prepared. That is not to say that the OT curriculum didn’t teach me anything. I just think that hospital-based practice and community-based practice are two very, VERY different contexts that we as Occupational Therapists treat. And I feel as though the majority of the OT curriculum focuses on hospital-based practice instead of the multi-dimensional approach to clients in South African communities. It also does not place as much focus on adaptations of intervention according to the South African economic challenges of poverty, and the inability to meet basic needs such as food, housing, and healthcare. This is why I feel as if I was thrown into the deep end when I started my community block this year.

This is all my personal opinion though; I’d love to know what you think. Let’s get everyone’s opinions down below and we can discuss further in the comments. 

I read a very interesting article about Preparing occupational therapy students for practice in rural areas. Although it didn’t specifically mention the OT curriculum, it did mention a very wild statistic that I think will give us some perspective on community based practice. It claims that the occupational therapy profession is maldistributed with more therapists moving into urban workplaces rather than working in rural areas (Hayes et al., 2024). It also stated that occupational therapists are very rarely found within marginalized rural populations, and yet, a core aim of Occupational Therapy is to work with people who are marginalized to help them engage in meaningful daily activities. I’ve attached the link to this article below because there’s a few things I want to address from it, give it a read if you have some time. 

Let’s talk about what I’ve mentioned above. Isn’t it baffling?

Our South African context brings about so many people within the population that are marginalized and yet majority of therapists drift towards helping those that do actually have the means of obtaining quality rehabilitation. The community that I am currently placed in has so many areas that need Occupational Therapist’s intervention, and yet, once students leave, the community no longer has that support. It’s a very sad reality that needs to be addressed and there’s no other profession that’s better to address it than us. Why is this? Because our jobs are so multidimensional. We don’t just work with muscles and ligaments (my sincerest apologies to my physio buddies…); we work with the person as a whole. Our OT curriculum does look at the Social Determinants of Health and we are well aware of the issues that many disadvantaged South Africans face due to the looming shadow of Apartheid and the corruption within our South African government. This is why we look at their home environment, their support systems, the resources that are available to them, their mental health, their HIV status, or their employment status. We can intervene in every single aspect of an individual and we have so much to offer. Yet our incredible work is not being used in the place where it is most needed. 

This brings me to another very interesting point that I’d like to take from this article because it gives a possible reason as to why OT’s move away from rural settings. It claims that there is a hidden agenda within the OT curriculum that glamorizes urban care and shows rural practice as less prestigious. This is why OT’s are turning away from working in communities. Don’t you agree with this? I mean let’s think about it, throughout my learning journey in OT, I’ve watched videos of cool therapy sessions where the client is participating in an ADL of cooking in a clean and organized kitchen. Or we’re taught about the fun paediatric play activities and sensory play with coloured rice and toys buried inside. I know you know exactly what I’m talking about, don’t play innocent. 

*Trigger warning for my fellow community based OT’s*

(Barnes, 2023)

Yeah, I caught you red handed. Think about this in a community context. Are we really going to give children who sometimes don’t have adequate food to eat a box of dyed rice to use in sensory play? It’s a bit tone deaf isn’t it? 

This brings me to the point being that we aren’t exposed to the reality that many South African’s are living in such as the kitchens in the informal homes within communities or the lack of basic toys for the children. 

I think the paediatric aspect of community-based practice is what really slapped me in the face.It was a big reality check for me but also a major area of professional growth as an Occupational Therapist. For two weeks prior to my community block, I was learning all about paediatrics. I was in awe of all the cute and creative toys and games I could play with children in my intervention sessions. And then I start my community block and the first mother I speak to tells me she doesn’t have any toys at home that make a sound, like a rattle. This is what I mean when I say that I was not prepared for community-based practice. Yes, I know the importance of play for children and babies. But I needed to throw the idea that I had of paediatric care out of my head and re-learn a whole different approach so that I could be contextually appropriate in my interventions. I couldn’t just be like ‘oh you should go buy a rattle from Toys R Us’. And yes, it’s not to say that I didn’t realize that less fortunate homes do not have baby toys, it is something we are taught about in class when we talk about the Social Determinants of Health for example. But listening to a lecture about it and actually being in a situation that addresses it directly are two very different things. 

An article that includes personal responses from past OT students on their ability to cope with Primary Health Care and rural practice is a great way to substantiate my point above. Have a look at the findings of this study and let me know what you think. 

One of the common responses found from the study was that the participants reported that they found it challenging to practice within the realities of a rural setting because of the resource constraints and because the undergraduate programme and clinical skills development had mainly occurred in well-equipped tertiary hospitals (Naidoo et al., 2017). So if we had a client come into the hospital, we were able to use the hospitals vast range of equipment like the splinting station for flexor tendon injuries, or the standing frames for paediatrics or hand function boards for vocational rehabilitation. Whereas, in a community setting, we need to come up with ways to make these resources like finding recyclables and making a hand function board out of bottle caps and bottles. 

Although I do have a lot to say about the OT curriculum not preparing us enough for community-based practice, technically, I am still studying in my fourth year. Which means that my community block is part of the curriculum. In this case, I would say that it is preparing me for community-based practice. But because of the sudden switch from always focusing on hospital-based practice to community-based practice in fourth year, I think a number of students will be thrown off resulting in more students moving away from rural practice. In my opinion, if we prepare OT students more prior to working in a community setting, we will be able to ease into the community-based practice without feeling like a deer in headlights. That way, less OT’s will run away in fear of the community but will rather embrace the multidimensional approach to the clients and community at large. I know that some of the reason as to why I was not completely terrified when I began my block is because I had some experience within the community for last year. So I hope that continues and I actually hope the introduction to communities gets pushed further to the first and second years. That way they are more accustomed to the way of thinking within the community context and can provide quality care and intervention that is contextually appropriate to the individuals within the community. 

That's all from me today folks, I look forward to seeing you back here again next week.

References

Barnes, P. (2023, August 26). 30 sensory activities: For Kid’s Brain Development. Mom Loves Best. https://momlovesbest.com/sensory-activities-kids 

Hayes, K., Dos Santos, V., Boyd, N., Connelly, B., & Lustig, K. (2024). Preparing occupational therapy students for practice in rural areas: A scoping review protocol. BMJ Open, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075886 

Naidoo, D., Van Wyk, J., & Waggie, F. (2017). Occupational therapy graduates’ reflections on their ability to cope with primary healthcare and rural practice during Community Service. South African Journal of Occupational Therapy, 47(3). https://doi.org/10.17159/2310-3833/2017/v47n3a7 

[sberg0]

2023: the Beginning?

February 4, 2024 - In the year just completed the news was full of big stories about war, greed and hatred. At the same time, there were quieter developments that showed the potential for more sharing and problem-solving, a countervailing aspect of humanity throughout history. If the human race makes real progress in the coming decades or centuries, it could be because some things started to change in 2023.

A livable climate

Much of the change has been in response to global warming. There is a lot to do, in fact we’ve barely begun, with stakes that could include the survival of human civilization. Big stories included that 2023 was the hottest year worldwide since such records were kept, and that there is still insufficient commitment to any realistic worldwide plan to head off disaster. Quiet news included increasing acceptance that climate change is happening, that it’s caused by humans burning carbon, that work on a worldwide plan continues, and, in all kinds of big and small ways, people were figuring out how to make things better:

Policies changed as reported by the League of Conservation Voters in 29 states, including commitments to clean energy that now cover 40 percent of the U.S. population. Candidates for office in other states pledged to do more.

Research showed how money made by climate polluting companies flowed largely to the richest households, and that the public supported tax policies to collect much of that money to pay for interventions.

Huge deposits of lithium, used to manufacture batteries that are part of solar energy systems, were discovered in Oregon and Nevada, making it easier for solar to spread in the U.S.

European rail systems introduced a new generation of sleeping cars, improving the prospects for rail, the most climate-friendly means of long-range overland travel.

A worldwide review indicated that a tipping point has been reached, and that solar energy is on its way to dominating world energy supplies.

The European Parliament set strict limits on carbon-fueled cars.

Research demonstrated the efficacy of personal carbon allowances, a policy that’s relatively easy to implement.

Advances continued in battery technology and resulting lowering of costs for solar power applications.

Still a lot to do, but lots being done.

Sharing

In order to rectify maldistribution of wealth and income, it’s necessary that people insist that it happen. Karl Marx wrote that feudalistic economies develop into capitalistic, improving production and living standards of many people. Recent decades and world-wide experience have born him out, as the incidence of severe poverty has declined markedly in many countries.

Workers demanded a better share of this bounty in 2023. U.S. labor activism unlike any in recent decades produced good results. The whole country of France exploded into demonstrations and strikes when the government moved to reduce pensions. More nuanced, a study provided evidence for elements of the theory of “Bullshit Jobs,” a theory that was formalized and popularized in a book of that name in 2018, showing that many workers consider their jobs to be objectively useless to society, demonstrating that there is no widespread commitment to the current system.

Equity

True equity around race remains unfulfilled. There was plenty of news in 2023 about Black people facing discrimination. But organizing continued, and recognition continued in some quarters. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a draft rule requiring communities that receive HUD money to use it to affirmatively further fair housing, to undo damage done by housing practices that kept (and keep) Black people in limited neighborhoods without quality services and conditions. This requirement was included in the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (that’s right, 1968) but never implemented or enforced by the federal government. Next steps for HUD are to issue the rule in final form, enforce it universally, and provide the know-how that communities will need.

Food, water and housing

In places where Marx’s transition to capitalism took place long ago, inequality and poverty remain. But food, water, housing, the basic human needs - things happened in 2023 that could make it more likely that they’ll be achieved for everyone. Threats to water, exacerbated by global warming, received quiet attention, as did the point of view that indigenous people have a relationship with land and water that makes them the best leaders in fights to preserve it, a role many of them appear willing to take on, for which I am so, so grateful. A new process of water desalination, solar powered, promises inexpensive fresh water anywhere near an ocean.

Congress provided incrementally more housing for people with the the lowest incomes, and more people are asking why only a quarter of those eligible for federal housing assistance actually receive it. Meanwhile the technology of food production advanced in many small ways.

Health

Advancements in technology led to better understanding of the human body and new ways to maintain it. There were new studies of evolution, from the earliest emergence of living cells to the development of modern humans. Medical advances in the treatment of atrial fibrillation, a heart arrhythmia affecting millions of Americans, made it less debilitating, warding off hospital stays for people like me (thank you, Dr. O’Donoghue). The “cancer moonshot” announced by Joe Biden as Vice President in 2016 was reignited and continued to provide federal funding for research, producing many large and small advances in prevention and treatment. More down to earth, a company developed BPClip, a low-cost smartphone attachment that allows constant monitoring of blood pressure, a key to preventing and controlling a number of dangerous health conditions.

The percent of Americans covered by health insurance remained at the high rate it skyrocketed to after the advent of Obamacare, and the number of states that haven’t expanded Medicaid dropped below twenty percent. (Politicians in AL, FL, GA, KS, MS, SC, TN, TX, WI, WY - What is your problem??)

Tech

Artificial intelligence was in the news a lot, including writing some of the news. What got less coverage was promising international agreements to control artificial intelligence, so that nightmare science fiction scenarios would not occur. Meanwhile massive expansions in computing power and speed were attained.

The universe

New understandings of the beginnings of the universe, its current state, and how it might end continued to come out. This showed the potential to develop new materials, inspire our imagination, and maybe write better science fiction.

What does it mean?

People are endlessly curious, driven to solve problems. That’s always been the case. What might be a new thing, or at least a thing that’s been covered up by a dominant narrative of hierarchy to maintain order, is a hint of a new era, based on mutual respect and love, where nobody, nobody has to worry about starving or dying of hypo- or hyperthermia or thirst, or about the trauma of discrimination, and we can concentrate on building a shared culture that is worth surviving for. Will that be where humanity is when our great-great-grandchildren are writing the history of the time we’re in now? If so, there’ll be plenty to write about.

[mbctower55]

MBC Tower: Pioneering Ceramic Tower Packing Excellence, Innovation, and Sustainability

MBC Tower is a prominent name in the realm of ceramic tower packing solutions, establishing itself as a leading Ceramic Tower Packing Company. With a specialization in manufacturing and distributing top-quality ceramic products for various industrial applications, MBC Tower stands as a reliable partner for companies seeking efficient and cost-effective solutions. One of their flagship products is the Ceramic Rings Partitioned, meticulously designed and engineered to enhance the performance of distillation and separation processes. These ceramic rings, partitioned for optimized surface area, cater to the needs of diverse industries, ensuring improved mass transfer efficiency and reduced pressure drop. MBC Tower is also renowned as one of the premier Grid Block exporters globally, offering innovative and customizable grid block solutions for towers and columns. Grid blocks are essential components in tower packing systems, facilitating uniform gas and liquid distribution, resulting in enhanced separation and purification processes. In summary, MBC Tower excels in providing ceramic tower packing solutions, ceramic rings partitioned for superior performance, and grid block exports, making it a trusted choice for industries seeking high-quality and efficient tower packing solutions.

MBC Tower's commitment to excellence in ceramic tower packing extends beyond their extensive product range. As a Ceramic Tower Packing Company, they prioritize research and development to continually innovate and improve their offerings. This dedication to innovation is evident in their Ceramic Rings Partitioned, which are engineered with precision to maximize the available surface area for mass transfer. These rings are favored by chemical, petrochemical, and pharmaceutical industries for their ability to enhance separation processes while minimizing pressure drop, leading to improved efficiency and cost savings.

Furthermore, MBC Tower's status as a Ceramic Rings Partitioned exporter  highlights its global reach and commitment to meeting the demands of international markets. Their partitioned ceramic rings are manufactured to meet stringent quality standards and are exported to various countries, cementing MBC Tower's reputation as a reliable partner for companies worldwide. These rings find applications in tower packing columns used in distillation, absorption, and stripping processes, making them indispensable components in various industrial operations.

In addition to partitioned ceramic rings, MBC Tower is known for its prowess as a Grid Block exporter. Grid blocks are crucial components in tower packing systems, ensuring even distribution of gas and liquid flows within the tower or column. MBC Tower's grid blocks are designed for optimal performance, improving separation processes and reducing the risk of maldistribution. Their grid blocks are fabricated using advanced materials and manufacturing techniques, making them highly durable and corrosion-resistant. Whether it's for a chemical processing plant or an environmental treatment facility, MBC Tower's grid blocks play a pivotal role in maintaining operational efficiency.

MBC Tower's dedication to customer satisfaction sets them apart in the industry. They offer customized solutions tailored to the specific needs of their clients. Whether it's designing a unique ceramic tower packing system, optimizing the partitioned ceramic rings for a particular application, or providing grid blocks with specific dimensions and materials, MBC Tower goes the extra mile to ensure that their customers receive solutions that precisely meet their requirements.

 MBC Tower's comprehensive range of ceramic tower packing solutions, including Ceramic Rings Partitioned and Grid Blocks, solidifies its position as a leader in the industry. Their commitment to quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction makes them a trusted partner for businesses seeking reliable and efficient tower packing solutions. With a global presence as a Ceramic Rings Partitioned exporter and a reputation for excellence, MBC Tower continues to drive advancements in tower packing technology, contributing to the success of industries worldwide.

[gravitascivics]

CRITIQUE OF CRITICAL THEORY, III

Hopefully, the anecdote involving this blogger’s family and shared in the last posting serves as a basic grounding for the remaining points this blog makes concerning critical theory/pedagogy.  The claim here, in a few words, is that Marxian beliefs while having useful ideas and even ideals, is judged to be, in its basic assumptions, wrong and that goes a long way in explaining why polities guided by its precepts end up sacrificing liberties and relying on dictatorial governance.  

Yes, critical theory does not solely utilize Marxian precepts, but to the extent it does, there is this lingering concern.  And in that vein, implementing those arguments as a guiding force for civics education, at its basis, becomes highly suspect and this blogger believes, rightly so.  The challenge is:  how does one infuse instruction with a concern for the oppressed and their oppressive conditions,[1] yet maintain a strong commitment for liberalized, democratic rule?

With that note in mind, this blogger wishes to convey a foundational problem that critical pedagogues have created and in which they seem mired.  To a certain degree, they suffer from a contradictory foundation.  As such, these meaningful contradictions preclude this view from serving as a guiding force that its advocates strive to establish.

An example of this counterproductive element is that while the approach is influenced by the Marxian emphasis on class struggle, it is prone to adopt many elements of pedagogic ideas by such writers as Freire[2] (reviewed in a series of previous postings), along with post structural/postmodern concerns that directly attack, theoretically, such mega-theories as Marxism. In this line of thought, Cleo H. Cherryholmes writes:

 Critical pedagogy is a vague and ambiguous term. … [C]ritical pedagogy has referred to curriculum theory's “reconceptualist” movement … This movement has never been unified and continues to defy easy description. In the United States it is historically related to such “reconstructionist” educators of the pre-World War II period … It also exhibits influences from various western European intellectual developments that range from phenomenology to critical theory to post-structural and postmodern thought. Recently, critical pedagogy in the United States has incorporated ideas from literary criticism and theory, various strands of feminist thought and practice, and pragmatism.[3]

 This varied foundation means that its actual implementation has found it difficult to interpret their ideas toward developing definite curricular and instructional strategies.  To date, what seems to be the extent of their efforts is to make changes in the content they recommend or insert in textbooks – which have become easy targets for conservative policymakers (e.g., the governor of Florida) to attack and prohibit.

           To date, the effort has been made to argue that oppressive conditions either exist or have existed in the history of this nation.  A lot of the effort has centered on race – in how African Americans, Asians, and indigenous people have been exploited.  This has been done with content material depicting individual incidents of such occurrences – e.g., the events surrounding the Montgomery bus boycott in 1959.  

Or the lessons can inform students of statistics and descriptive accounts which document the maldistribution of income and wealth.  These accounts are analyzed according to race, gender, ethnicity, age, and other categories, proving that certain groups are marginalized; they are castigated as “others” in prevailing discourses.[4]

And yet another approach is that critical pedagogues use what are known as qualitative studies, usually utilizing interviewing techniques that uncover or shed light on social or school conditions which place some marginalized groups at a disadvantage.  While this blogger judges these approaches to have value, their use lacks solid connections to – heaven forbid – positivist studies which also have value.

But to date, one is hard pressed to find application of more substantive content reflecting the approach’s more theoretical concerns.  A great deal of attention of these writers is dedicated to epistemological questions. That is, critical literature invests a great deal of theorizing on the question of how students learn what they learn or how they know what they know.

Culture and language become, in these epistemological efforts, central concepts or factors. Lisa J. Cary captures the flavor of this literature:

 [For example, several writers in this vein] call for a study of the underlying epistemological assumptions and normalizing practices of anti-racist and multicultural education to work against the assimilationist tendencies of institutionalized efforts. Whiteness is a culturally constructed epistemological position of dominance. [It engages in othering] all considered non-white and creating the possibility of excluding them through objectifying and pathologizing their racial constructions. The epistemology of whiteness is a culturally advantaged standpoint from which to maintain positions of privilege and power.[5]

 Without a direct and clear exposition of how the nation exemplifies how oppressive these advocates claim the nation to be, the message is not effective and does not hit home with the prevailing student population.

         Why?  It fails because:

 ·       There are just too many cases of success from humble beginnings to glibly rate the US as an oppressive nation.

·       The prevailing language of the nation supports this rags to riches discourse – e.g., it pervades the media.

·       While there are oppressive practices not just in the US but across the advanced nations, the common belief is that such is the way of the world – look at what exists in non-developed countries.

·       And part of the established view that while oppression is regrettable, there are governmental programs established to assuage the more egregious aspects of its ongoing condition (read welfare programs and the like).

 While such messaging might be considered wanting – such provisions do not solve the inherent problems – one might be hard pressed to classify the US and other Western nations as oppressive societies albeit the oppressive conditions and practices they sustain.

Relative to this discussion, defining the terms oppression and oppressive society would be helpful. Here, the concern is what critical pedagogues might offer as a definition: Oppression is any condition in which an individual or group is subjected to unjust treatment and that holds down those affected in terms of economic, social, and/or political conditions. All societies have, within their state of affairs, suffered from examples of oppressive acts or conditions.

That is, the definition offers a low standard for allocating an oppressive status to a nation – it pertains to all nations.  Here is what this blogger believes is a better definition: An oppressive society is one in which acts of oppression occur and the victimized party(ies) have no political, legal, economic or other means, short of violent revolution, to effectively fight against the offensive condition(s).  

Such a definition can easily be applied to southern states through slavery and after during pre-civil rights movement years – some would argue the term still applies to all of the US in how it treats African Americans.[6]  Yet, one can also argue extensive policies have been put in place to address what is offensive with existing conditions.  The only point here is that there exists some level of nuance and one is hard pressed to comment without being categorized as supporting oppression or fighting it.

But generally, through the 1990s, the nation was meeting many of the conditions that one could consider oppressive. In the new millennium, though, one can argue that a regression has been taking place in those efforts. This blogger has cited many of the income and wage shifts in favor of upper classes that characterize that development.

The nation now has an extended and what seems to be chronic unemployment among certain groups that adds to the concern, and these extend to white groups who manned many manufacturing jobs. But still, there are significant, institutionalized means by which people can do things to meet their disadvantages.

For example, what is being offered?  There are meaningful self-improvement opportunities.  The community college movement, for example, is no small contribution – it has opened college level education to many who otherwise would not consider such an option.  And of course, there are political means toward changing government policies that either provide opportunities or are influential in promoting them in the private sector.  Other types of actions or policies can be listed, but for the purposes here, the point is made.

That is, given the definition and how one measures things (highly influenced by one’s biases), one can make the argument that while the US has oppressive qualities, this blogger believes that it is not an oppressive society. Perhaps a review of a recent historical development would be of further help in describing what this blogger believes exists.  That is the economic downturn that started in 2008.  

Back then, the nation had just had an enormous blow to the economic system. Part of that condition was caused by monumental debt in the private sector. That included households.  It led the nation to a recovery period that lasted about eight years – some think that the nation is still recovering.  But within common conditions, with complete stabilization, the economy would not be able to generate the level of demand that will allow Americans the level of economic growth to meet the oppressive conditions that seem to be in place.

As long as conditions improved within the US, this blogger believes the nation would regain its march toward becoming a more perfect union. But critical education makes the claim that under the current system, oppression has been a reality and is chronic and institutionalized.  They claim that society needs to be transformed, although to what is often not clear as well as how to get there.  By relying on a more unrestricted definition of oppressive society, they believe a useful curriculum, under such a construct, should be geared toward such a transformation.

And with that targeted purpose, such a definition would skew efforts to address oppression in the classroom to only conditions where injustice is practiced. This is not a complete study of the US and demeans the successful efforts of those people and their sacrifices to make this a more just society.  For example, relating such information as ranking of nations according to median income is telling statistic.  

Behind only Luxembourg, UAE (oil rich country), Norway, and Switzerland, the US has the highest level of median income based on international dollars – a fictitious domination created for purposes of such comparisons.[7]  The US leads in many of the efforts to promote and institutionalize just practices, to provide securities and opportunities extended to marginalized groups, and to advance just practices abroad.  

While many of these are continuously under attack, they are part of US policy.  These aspects of the American story are valid, and an honest curriculum should include these more equalizing efforts along with portrayals of those incidences and institutions that have created and sustained injustices which have besmirched this nation's history.

Let this posting add one last word concerning this focus on unjust conditions within this nation’s politics and history. A critical approach seems to assume that students have an innate concern for justice. The reasoning seems to be that once students are exposed to the socialization practices of dominant agents in the learning processes of a culture, when they depict exploitive practices, they will naturally be offended and motivated to find remedies for such conditions.

This is particularly true, they say, if students are negatively affected by any oppressive practices. Appeals to their sense of justice and their realization that all of society is negatively affected when groups are victimized by such acts and discourses will motivate students to participate in any effort to right the wrongs.

Critical pedagogues rely on relevancy and empathy to involve students in the value questions they ask in inquiry exercises that these teachers facilitate in class. This blogger is afraid that this assumed, almost automatic response underestimates the psychological factors involved and he finds this to be a dubious assumption. His next posting will address this last shortcoming.

           [1]This blogger writes “infuse instruction with a concern for the oppressed,” if readers recall. Marx himself, at least in his theorizing, did not see socialism take hold until conditions predicated that it was in the self-interest of labor or the working class to institute a socialist state. That is why the theory was seen as scientific and foretold an inevitable outcome. It did not depend on the altruistic motives of the participants or on them realizing that their participation would fulfill their true sense of themselves – their humanization. This latter aspect would come about only after socialism took some hold and the opportunities to have such growth were naturally present.

[2] Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York, NY: Continuum Publishing Company, 1999).

[3]Cleo H. Cherryholmes, “Critical Pedagogy and Social Education.” in Handbook on Teaching Social Issues: NCSS Bulletin 93, eds. Ronald W. Evans and David Warren Saxe (Washington, DC: National Council of the Social Studies, 1996), 75-80, 75.  Efforts to unite the movement under a set of ideas persist to this day.  See for example, “Critical Pedagogy: 8 Key Concepts You Need to Know,” The Necessary Teacher Training College, November 4, 2022, accessed May 18, 2023, https://www.dns-tvind.dk/critical-pedagogy/.

[4] See, for example, Donna M. Gollnick. and Philip C. Chinn, Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill, 1998) OR Michael Apple, Cultural Politics and Education (New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 1996).

[5] Lisa J. Cary, “The Refusals of Citizenship: Normalizing Practices in Social Education Discourses,” Theory and Research in Social Education, 29, 3 (Summer), 405-430, 422-423.

[6] One very convincing argument in this vein is offered by Isabel Wilkerson.  See Isabel Wilkerson, Caste:  The Origins of Our Discontents (New York, NY:  Random House, 2020).

[7] “Median Income by Country 2023,” World Population Review (n.d.), accessed May 17, 2023, https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/median-income-by-country.

[solidarishkeyt]

Extreme disparities in wealth and income, the striking inequalities in who had political power and who feared it, and the cultural disdain in which the lower orders were held by their social superiors naturally aroused the passions of the Left. A Knights of Labor editorial could have been written by Bernie Sanders: “Corporations of capitalists … are slowly but surely crushing out the manhood and liberties of the poor laborers, guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the land, by creating immense fortunes which enable them to buy up legislatures, sway judges and communities as they please.”

These inequalities, however, were themselves treated as the outgrowth of a system of production grounded in the exploitation of wage labor. Strikes, demonstrations, political campaigns, congressional hearings, journalistic exposés, church sermons, cartoons, and even novels and poems zeroed in on how these relations of production were degrading and dehumanizing and how they made a mockery of freedom and self-possession.

Exploitation and inequality are kindred but not identical phenomena. Formal equality, the equality of civil and political rights in the public arena among individuals, has nothing to do (in theory) with power relations rooted in that separate, private sphere of life where bosses command and employees obey. The rights it defends adhere to the individual, even if they can only be won by collective action. Equality of that kind is precious and has cost bloodshed to achieve. There are times when the propertied and powerful may collaborate with movements that seek to extend the social reach of legal equality and other times when they may stand opposed to them.

At no time, however, does the quest for formal equality reach deep enough to threaten the understructure of inequality upon which capitalism rests: there the question of inequality can only be addressed collectively, through the agency of class. This may violate the sense of individualism that infuses the struggle for formal equality. For this reason, the anti-capitalist left may help carry on the movements for bourgeois equality — but also illuminate their limits.

When it comes to economic inequality, which is the principal focus of the Left as led by Bernie Sanders, matters are different. Here capitalism is in the crosshairs of the movement. But that does not yet invoke a return of the labor question as the Left’s pivotal concern. Economic inequality in particular is focused on the way wealth is distributed, while exploitation is focused on the way wealth is produced.

Addressing economic inequality may go the way of mild or more radical reform. Taxing away piled-up wealth — both personal and corporate — is one way; price and rent controls are another. Capping the income of business executives or eliminating government subsidies and corporate tax exemptions can be part of that egalitarian agenda. Minimum-wage legislation or shoring up the right to join a union can work to reduce the maldistribution of income. More venturesome are proposals to take, for example, health care or housing out of the private sector entirely. Making them universally available public provisions no longer subject to the dictates of the market and profit-making would cure some of the sorest wounds of economic inequality.

Nowadays especially, elite circles are much more likely to oppose these forays in favor of economic equality than they are to balk at efforts to undo discriminatory practices directed at women or racial minorities; in fact, they often applaud these latter reforms, but not so the former. After all, even the most modest adjustments in the tax code or labor law, not to mention something as drastic as universal health care, constrain the accumulation of capital at a time when the global economy somersaults from one crisis to another. And the costs are not only monetary. Any of these or other economic reorderings enhance the political leverage of working people, undesirable from the vantage point of the power structure.

However, to be clear (as Bernie Sanders might say), economic equality aimed at the redistribution of income and wealth are not life-and-death matters for capitalism. Reforms of this nature have happened before, with the New Deal being the most noteworthy case. These reforms were adamantly resisted by some circles of the business community and their political enablers. Yet they also established a new framework for the resuscitation of capital accumulation after the Great Depression.

Today the Left sees itself as carrying on the struggle against these two forms of inequality — civic-political and economic. Equality has emerged as the “the great moral issue of our time.” If the labor question once commanded that status, it no longer does. To be sure, the Left cheers on the growing unionization movement. There, however, the question is about the injustices and inequities of the labor market, not about whether there should be a market for labor. The working class is no longer a protagonist of anything. It is not the principal subject of history. Some question whether it really exists — or if it did, it’s now dead.

Steve Fraser, “What Should Inequality Mean to the Left?,” Catalyst 6, no. 4 (Winter 2023): 18–20.

[edwad]

"that he sometimes moralizes otherwise shouldn’t be taken as his actual position but as an ambivalence which itself needs to be explained (which imo is fairly straightforward)." pls explain it

as @revolutionarysuicide is saying in the replies to some of these posts, i think there's a rhetorical/agitational element to it that doesn't mesh well with the immanent critique. of course he was mad about certain things and felt that workers actually were getting ripped off in some existential sense, but his assumptions were supposed to provide the strongest form of argument for the bourgeois theory he's working through, not resort to low-hanging fruit. of course, wage theft actually is an issue. we don't have to assume labor is actually sold at its value in the real world (it very well may be quite unfair, in the bourgeois sense). things he was well aware of even if he knew it wasn't the damning critique he wanted to offer. the struggle for the working day and the wage rate was not dictated by the pages of volume 1 but by real historical dynamics. there was indeed lots of dispossession and force. marx is partly animated by this history, but he refused to settle for a theoretical account which could be misconstrued as one of mere maldistribution. that doesn't mean some of this color doesn't enter the text. he himself wrote that there were moments when his carbuncles made their way into some passages and when he wrote in anger. he hated capitalism and that makes its way into a text which is supposed to be free from that sorta thing. it isn't perfect, clearly, but to treat the text as if it is primarily (or even halfway) a complaint about unequal exchange of labor power is to exaggerate to the point where you can't even explain why the text exists in the shape that it does. the account of surplus value would not make sense and could not be written as it was if marx was distracted by a lack of equivalence. its nonsense really. marx deserves better critics

[giolitti]

the materialisation of impermanence

The Play 

On 24 October 2021, Jack Ma criticises the Chinese authorities as backward and old-fashioned. Shortly afterwards, he disappears from the scene. He was captured by the Chinese government who, after finding no suitability with him, made short work of him. Loyal followers of his found the half-dead tech entrepreneur in a rubbish dump. Willing to try anything to save his life, they fly him to Krakow, known for its advanced biological science. Leading researchers manage to transfer his consciousness into a quantum computer in a risky experiment. 

When the computer starts up, Ma's consciousness comes to life and, detached from his body, he becomes aware of his nature: "Now I can't seem to do anything but remember my own very few details of that nature." 1 He had to give up everything he knew and found freedom and peace in that. "Consequently it sometimes appears that fortune, like some mortal, is struggling with immortal nature." 2 In this state, he begins to think deeply about life and death. At the same time, he wants to give something back to his new home and reality. "But what are the simple constituent parts of which reality is composed?" 3

He is therefore also concerned about his new city "Their attraction serves only to impress the tourists, and their function, like that of airports and places of interchange in general, is that of a place of expulsion, extradition, and urban ecstasy. "4 

"The target of this intervention is to show men that they are mistaken, that they are looking for the truth elsewhere (ailleurs), that they are looking for the principle of good and evil elsewhere, that they are looking for peace and happiness elsewhere, and that they will not find them where they are actually looking." 5 He no longer believes in finding satisfaction through the material world. "Therefore, I say, take care of the soul; for from the soul issue our thoughts, from the soul our words, from the soul our dispositions, our expressions, and our very gait." 6 Nevertheless, he is aware that there must also be an intervention in matter itself. "It is not just that science and technology are possible means of great human satisfaction, as well as a matrix of complex dominations." 7 These in turn lead to great inequality in society "Maldistribution of wealth was not the effect of knowledge inequality but its cause." 8 Which also leads to increasing crime. "The newly professionalised underworld nexus of criminals, fences, lawyers, police, and politicians would grow and deepen in coming generations, but the fundamental structure had been put in place. "9 That is why he insists that "It was a mistake to invent modern architecture for the twentieth century. "10 

"It has evolved beyond the naive humanist assumption that contact with the exterior-so called reality-is a necessary condition for human happiness, for survival." 11 His criticism is directed at the artificiality of building, which he considers unhealthy, although it is obvious that "The connection between medicine and architecture had been self evident since classical antiquity.“ 12 He believes that human unhappiness comes from the modernist illusion of not being part of nature. "Hence they fall into errors, thinking those things to be above nature, or contrary to nature, which indeed are by nature, and according to nature. " 13 "But whatever nature can't do is against nature." 14

The Stage 

He then decides to become active himself, reminding himself: "If the city dies we will go with it, make no mistake." 15

Thus begins the planning of what he calls 'the materialisation of impermanence'. He is aware that "matter is a relative term: to each form there corresponds a special matter." 16 He wants to lead people back to themselves by drawing their attention to the transience of earthly time. "But time passing away by its changefulness, cannot be co eternal with changeless eternity." 17 "This law of impermanence also applies to what we call elements." 18 And so he himself also suffers from his impermanence, from his own being. Isn't everything meaningless if we humans are only held together by our nature anyway? Until he then realises again "On the contrary, nature means them to think, to will, to love, to cultivate their minds as well as their persons; she puts these weapons in their hands to make up for their lack of strength and to enable them to direct the strength of men." 19 With the weapon of thought, Ma has found unused funds in the city of Krakow amounting to 2 billion dollars which he can use. With them he wants to build a structure that is in constant decay. Only through the constant work of the citizens can it be preserved because "The new architecture. can never develop soundly without the active participation of the masses " 20 "Another sets down rules, but leaves the designer to complete them by deduction, interpolation, or invention. The result is an ever-changing architecture that is a social product and unites citizens. "Architectural form is no longer seen as representation but as process "21. 

"Form making becomes form taking." 22 "This means above all that 'delight' must not be turned into a mere function of 'commodity' and 'firmness' but must contain a value of its own. "23

When the process of building was already underway, Ma reflected: "In terms of society as a whole, however, this determinist, seemingly authorless organicism was idiosyncratic and individual, and thus incongruent with a cohesive urban fabric; whereas willful geometric form allowed in its generality the interconnections necessary for community and social unity." 24

The high energy consumption caused by the constant construction work led to a power cut. With this, the consciousness of Jack Mas was lost. In a final action, he had 'Everything is fading, but nothing is lost' engraved on the newly delivered foundation slabs.

1 The Young Pope

2 Cicero, On Duties

3 Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations

4 Koolhaas, SMLXL

5 Foucault, The Courage of the Truth

6 Seneca, Complete Works

7 Haraway, Cyborg Manifesto

8 Burrows, Gotham A History of New York City to 1898

9 Burrows, Gotham A History of New York City to 1898

10 Koolhaas, Junkspace with Running Room

11 Koolhaas, SMLXL

11 Perrault, Ordonnance for the five kinds of columns after the method of the ancients

12 Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy

13 Aquinas, Selected Philosophical Writings

14 Shelton, Teacher Strike Public Education and the Making o

15 Aristotle, Physics Again

16 Augustine, The City of God

17 Ovid, Metamorphoses

18 Rousseau, Collected Works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

19 Giedion, Space Time and Architecture

20 Vitruvius, Ten Books on Architecture 1999

21 Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture

22 Spuybroek, The Sympathy of Things

23 Kruft, A History of Architectural Theory

24 Bergdoll Oechslin, Fragments Architecture and the Unfinished

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