Re:A Project of One’s Own
by simiones on Tuesday June 08, 2021 @01:42PM
(#27438391)
Russel's essay challenges many long-held assumptions about how the world should even work, so it goes far deeper than PG's essay. It is held in high regard particularly because of this, not because Russel was an academic.
It also explains its points in quite a lot of detail, building a very clear picture of the world and how it got here, pre-emptively dispelling any attack in the style of Chesterton's fence: it not only complains about the negative effects of the praise for work, but also explains why they were initially put in place.
Thirdly, PG's essay is essentially a special case of pretty well known, more general point. PG is essentially word for word stating a common socialist critique of wage work: the alienation one feels when their work is not under their own control, but instead dictated by a capitalist owner. "Finding a project of one's own" is in fact the individualist version of "seizing the means of production".
It also explains its points in quite a lot of detail, building a very clear picture of the world and how it got here, pre-emptively dispelling any attack in the style of Chesterton's fence: it not only complains about the negative effects of the praise for work, but also explains why they were initially put in place.
Thirdly, PG's essay is essentially a special case of pretty well known, more general point. PG is essentially word for word stating a common socialist critique of wage work: the alienation one feels when their work is not under their own control, but instead dictated by a capitalist owner. "Finding a project of one's own" is in fact the individualist version of "seizing the means of production".