 How crappy is wage slavery in SR? |
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 Nov 24 2006, 07:57 AM
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#1
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Dragon  Group: Members Posts: 4,589 Joined: 28-November 05 Member No.: 8,019  |
Somebody told me that in SR, the bosses have wised up and realized that happy employees as productive employees. But the thing is, that's not dystopic enough, and doesn't come with enough caveats to make the setting interesting.
What is it like in your games? How much shit do people have to go through to get shit done? How much mundane office politicking happens in your games' cubicles? What problems arise when you work where you live and you live where you work? |
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Nov 24 2006, 08:11 AM
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#2
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 7,116 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,449 |
Wage slaves are supposed to be relatively well off, in that they have comparative job security, but the distopian part is that they are also cogs in an uncaring machine. There is also that sense of Big Brother always watching, relentless propoganda (sappy motivational posters, singing the company song before work, etc.), and, finally, the ever-present risk of being the pawn in one of the games that the corporate sharks are always playing.
They may not be roasing devil rat skewers over a trashcan fire in the Barrens, but there is still lots of distopian goodness to being a wage slave. :) |
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Nov 24 2006, 08:18 AM
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#3
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 475 Joined: 17-June 02 From: Concord University, Athens, WV Member No.: 2,880 |
Personally, I just take "Office Space", and imagine that Peter never gets to go home. Okay, so I also leave out the entire plot. But the things he put up with when he did show up to work.
And every time Michael or Samir abused the copier, it would identify them and deduct maintenance cost from their paycheck. And Peter's eventual slacking would have got him brought in front of a major boss and threatened a bit. And Milton's pay "issue" would have probably been resolved much sooner. Oh yeah. And as soon as they attempted to use the virus, it would have been detected by a security decker, user ID logged, and everyone who made contact with him that day interrogated. And then all involved would have been quietly "disappeared" and all mention of them removed from company records. |
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Nov 24 2006, 12:25 PM
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#4
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
That is a lie. A happy employee is not a productive employee. A watched employee is a productive employee. Studies show that you can pamper your employees or screw them up the ass every chance you get, and you'll still get similar levels of productivity if they know that they are being watched and evaluated. Wageslavery, however, is rather cushy, I'd imagine. You get corporate health and dental, competitive pay, and you rarely have to worry about being kidnapped or killed. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Dystopian? constants monitoring, repetitive tasks, evil bosses, and occasionally the computer system that control your entires life gain sentience and decides to turn you into a science experiment. Also remember that your corporation is a state unto itself. This produces problems of an unimaginable scale if you should ever decide to think outside the box and fail. Being a wageslave is sort of like being a soldier. It doesn't matter if you think it is morally right, if they tell you to kill somebody then you better do it or else. Whistle-blowers in real life get lose their jobs and are sometimes blacklisted. Whistle-blowers in SR are executed for treason. And remember, when the Aztechnology legal department mentions the "death of a million paper-cuts" they're speaking literally. It ain't a pleasant way to go. |
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Nov 24 2006, 01:21 PM
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#5
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Awakened Asset Group: Members Posts: 4,464 Joined: 9-April 05 From: AGS, North German League Member No.: 7,309 |
Motivated employees are productive employees. Motivation can be non-monetary, but usually isn´t. Suggested reading: Lazear, personnel economics for managers.
The dystopian aspect is that you have no real choice but to become a wage slave, and it is only stiffling for those who want to be creative and unbound in their ways. Some, including me, like the gilded cage corporate employment offers. That still does not mean that I enjoy intradepartmental conflicts like the fight for promotions. The fact is that the things important to you as an employee hardly matter to even your co-workers, and no-one cares if you don´t impact the bottom line. |
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Nov 24 2006, 02:09 PM
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#6
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Immortal Elf Group: Members Posts: 11,410 Joined: 1-October 03 From: Pittsburgh Member No.: 5,670 |
the dystopian part, to me, comes in the ubiquitous monitoring and the constant fear that you will somehow be labelled a traitor to the company. i think of it as a cross between 1984 and McCarthyism.
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Nov 24 2006, 02:25 PM
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#7
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Shadowrun Setting Nerd Group: Banned Posts: 3,632 Joined: 28-June 05 From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower. Member No.: 7,473 |
There are also the constant, yet subtle reminders (yay, psychotropic IC!) that you OWE the corp for your well-being and very existence. Without the corp, you would be one of those poor bastards living in the Barrens. Without the corp, you would be *gasp* inconvenienced by being around people who aren't in your corporate family, or choice (e.g., kids' schools, brand of car to drive when you do leave the compound, where to go on vacation...), or worry. And in return, you have enough debt and so much fixed consumption of corp goods and services that if you ever even think of quitting you will go to jail, or be repatriated back to the corp if you try and run (Thank you 13th Amendment to the UCAS Constitutiton! Which is just the greatest legal irony in the whole game) only to have you and your family lose all those luxuries while you serve in debtor's prison. After all, you didn't think that apartment or car or health insurance or your kid's tuition to Novatech University (formerly Fuchi University) was free now, did you?
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Nov 24 2006, 02:26 PM
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#8
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Great, I'm a Dragon... Group: Retired Admins Posts: 6,699 Joined: 8-October 03 From: North Germany Member No.: 5,698 |
Most wage-slaves don't care about the constant monitoring, the (more or less subtle) propaganda and the fact that they get paid in con script that is only accepted in the shops or their corp. They live their small, unimportant life, fear the outside world and are happy with that.
But if one of them opens his eyes and realized how trapped he is, he is fucked. To me, that's really dystopian. |
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Nov 24 2006, 03:41 PM
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#9
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
IMO, the corp tries to make everyone happy, it just doesn't try very hard or personalize its efforts at all. If motivational posters, the occasional motivational speaker, and a requirement to sing the company song once a [month/day/week/hour] make you happy, you'll probably be pretty happy as a wageslave.
Think Friend Computer, but quieter. ~J |
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Nov 24 2006, 03:43 PM
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#10
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Prime Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,577 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Gwynedd Valley PA Member No.: 1,221 |
That's pretty much what I think. Most employees don't see the 'evil' of their corps. they do theiur jobs and get taken care of. if anything the better corps are the more protective ones. Until the Arcology went off the deep end it had everything employees could want. They never had to venture out into the dangerous world. The corps provide food, shelter, protection etc. The idea of losing this, being fired or seeing your company go under is the worst thing that could happen to them. SO why bother about being a scary fragger to your employees? Keep them happy and they will work hard to keep within that situation. Be an ugly fragger of a boiss and they may wonder if another corp would want them. This is for the average maybe 98% of the employees, even warehouse laborers have that view. It's only the higher levels and corp elite sec guys who would have and idea of what else might be gonig down. My favorite RL example of employees often not knowing what the corp is up to is in my own life. In the early 1990's Xerox, you know the copier people, was the major importer of Russian Vodka to the US. This isn't evil but I bet it would never even ocure to most employees that we were involved in that business. (Since the economy was not stable, futures of Vodka were sold to Xerox to pay for advanced office equipment.) |
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Nov 24 2006, 03:44 PM
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#11
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,333 Joined: 19-August 06 From: Austin Member No.: 9,168 |
Grinder did it more justice than I could.
I don't think the wage-slaves see their life as a bad thing, unless they upset the corp. We are intended to see their life as bad, but they don't. However, as soon as they anger the corp, their entire existence falls apart. All their assets (they don't own anything - it's all corp provided) disappear. Their friends hate them. They basically go from being well taken care of to being less than a hobo in the course of a day. |
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Nov 24 2006, 03:49 PM
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#12
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Great, I'm a Dragon... Group: Retired Admins Posts: 6,699 Joined: 8-October 03 From: North Germany Member No.: 5,698 |
Thank you :)
It's not only by angering their corp that a wage-slave can fall off grace. Publishing "radical" ideas in a blog, talk aboutt the wrong things with the wrong people, just think about the outside world - all that can get attention of corp internal security. Just like the situaton in today's china or iran, to some degree. |
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Nov 24 2006, 08:27 PM
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#13
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,978 Joined: 26-February 02 From: New Jersey, USA Member No.: 500 |
SL: Where is this Amendment mentioned? |
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Nov 24 2006, 09:03 PM
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#14
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
I found reference to the 14th Amendment in the Timeline Explorer ...
and...
I couldn't find anything on #13 though. |
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Nov 24 2006, 09:30 PM
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#15
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 619 Joined: 18-April 03 From: The UV Nexus Member No.: 4,474 |
Just what is your definition of wage slavery?
I think wage slavery is when some one is so afraid of losing their job - because they are deep in depth, have no savings, no other income, too many financial obligations, can't get another job quickly, etc. - that they put up with all kinds of crap. If you aren't afraid to say, "Take this job and shove it", then you aren't a wage slave. You can be putting up with the same crap as the wage slave - but as long as it's by choice, then you are still free. The crap doesn't even have to be directed at you. And the crap doesn't have to come from your boss. The majority of wage slaves are shackled to their jobs by their spouses. On the other hand, if there is no crap, then you can't feel the chains. |
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Nov 24 2006, 11:53 PM
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#16
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Shadowrun Setting Nerd Group: Banned Posts: 3,632 Joined: 28-June 05 From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower. Member No.: 7,473 |
It's described in NAGNA and mentioned in SoNA.
And in case you don't know (for whatever reason), I call it the greatest legal irony in SR because the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution officially abolished slavery in the United States. I cannot reasonably believe this is a coincidence on the part of the authors.
Well, most of the references have been that, no, they don't see it as bad. It's like saying your family or home country is evil. Sure, there are people who believe it, but they wouldn't be employed by the corps anyway. It's the shadows, the Barrens, the outside world that is evil and corrupt and wrong. |
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Nov 25 2006, 02:28 AM
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#17
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Prime Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,577 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Gwynedd Valley PA Member No.: 1,221 |
SL you beat me to it. yeah, real irony on the 13th ammendment, especially as the UCAS constitution is supposed to be a carry over of the US constitution.
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Nov 25 2006, 03:41 AM
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#18
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Shadowrun Setting Nerd Group: Banned Posts: 3,632 Joined: 28-June 05 From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower. Member No.: 7,473 |
Yes, that was implied. Otherwise it would be as ironic as, say, the song (i.e., not one goddamn bit).
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Nov 25 2006, 04:47 AM
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#19
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 745 Joined: 12-August 06 Member No.: 9,097 |
Source? I want to know more about these studies. :) |
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Nov 25 2006, 08:21 AM
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#20
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,219 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Lofwyr's stomach. Member No.: 1,320 |
Given how distopian I find modern, real world wage slavery, SR's version strikes me as little more than an open, honest version of the same. You work for us. If you stop, you die. Termination in SR just cuts to the quick, it kills you outright instead of letting you slowly starve to death.
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Nov 25 2006, 08:58 AM
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#21
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
Those would be the Hathorne Studies Hawthorne studies. In essence, so long as you pay attention to the workers and give them positive reinforcement for their performance, they'll do their best up until you break them completely. |
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Nov 25 2006, 12:41 PM
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#22
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 184 Joined: 6-January 05 From: Missouri USA Member No.: 6,941 |
It is worth noting that the Hawthorne studies are 70 years old and society amd the workplace has changed significantly. And before we all start shouting the Hawthorne gospel, many consider it to be unscientific and trivial.
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Nov 25 2006, 02:20 PM
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#23
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Immortal Elf Group: Members Posts: 11,410 Joined: 1-October 03 From: Pittsburgh Member No.: 5,670 |
total aside: KnightRunner, if you don't have a commlink named KITT, i'm going to be very disappointed with you.
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Nov 25 2006, 04:09 PM
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#24
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 903 Joined: 7-February 03 Member No.: 4,025 |
So far, it looks like wageslavery includes financial coercion through things like debt and corp scrip --keeping the employees running the Red Queen's race-- as well as extensive use of various motivational techniques, some ethical and positive, some not. I'd imagine that since there are so many different ideas about what's effective motivation, that each corp (hell, each manager) could be using different ideas. Another commonality is some sort of strict monitoring of employees. Lastly, I would include fostering some degree of xenophobia towards anything outside of the corp.
I think that all of these elements, used together, generate wageslaves most effectively. When I try to think of what differentiates runners from the general populace, I think of the freedom-from/freedom-to debate. |
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Nov 25 2006, 11:42 PM
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#25
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Shadowrun Setting Nerd Group: Banned Posts: 3,632 Joined: 28-June 05 From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower. Member No.: 7,473 |
But where's the fun in that? Better to dump their asses in the Barrens. Especially two weeks before they retire and/or during the holidays. |
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