quentinc
19 Feb 2005, 10:57 PM
OK, my schedule changed and I'm revved up from tonight's Storm game so I'm back earlier than Monday as anticipated.
"The Jungle" is partly about a "worm's eye view" of what happens when private enterprise is left to itself without proper government supervision. You see, unregulated capitalism has all kinds of nasty side effects, not least of which is that it cannot exist for very long on its own. At bare minimum it needs someone "outside" to enforce contracts. Of course, one unspoken argument of "the Jungle" is that if capitalism is to exist in a civilized society, it also needs government to take care of the social functions that profit-oriented markets simply cannot handle and it needs governent from literally killing off its own workers and customers via unsafe goods and dangerous workplaces. Capitalism would prefer that the government be of some more or less mildly authoritarian type and not a strong democracy for several reasons, the common basis of which reasons is that in strong democracies, The People tend to get all uppity and demand silly things like safe products, safe workplaces, working conditions (including hours, wages, etc.) fit for human beings, political rights, care for the environment, etc.
I find it funny how the book is most noted for its reforms in the meat-packing industry, when it wasn't about that at all. The packing industry is really used as a metaphor to display Sinclair's views on capitialism. BTW, all those pro-capitalist, socialists are commies type people need to read this book.
"The Jungle" is partly about a "worm's eye view" of what happens when private enterprise is left to itself without proper government supervision. You see, unregulated capitalism has all kinds of nasty side effects, not least of which is that it cannot exist for very long on its own. At bare minimum it needs someone "outside" to enforce contracts. Of course, one unspoken argument of "the Jungle" is that if capitalism is to exist in a civilized society, it also needs government to take care of the social functions that profit-oriented markets simply cannot handle and it needs governent from literally killing off its own workers and customers via unsafe goods and dangerous workplaces. Capitalism would prefer that the government be of some more or less mildly authoritarian type and not a strong democracy for several reasons, the common basis of which reasons is that in strong democracies, The People tend to get all uppity and demand silly things like safe products, safe workplaces, working conditions (including hours, wages, etc.) fit for human beings, political rights, care for the environment, etc.
I find it funny how the book is most noted for its reforms in the meat-packing industry, when it wasn't about that at all. The packing industry is really used as a metaphor to display Sinclair's views on capitialism. BTW, all those pro-capitalist, socialists are commies type people need to read this book.