Reflections on the book Shop Class as Soul Craft by Matthew Crawford.
tl;dr
Craftsmanship is the antithesis to the mindless nature of modern work. It requires active engagement to exercise judgment and build intuition. Craftsmanship also offers an individual the satisfaction of doing good work and the agency to align their morals with their output. Societal training, from school through to work, disincentivizes independent thought and conditions people to buy things they can’t afford. This leaves individuals dependent on their unfulfilling jobs with no means of escape.
Personal Thoughts
The book has many compelling ideas about the value of craftsmanship, effect of capitalism and degradation of work but occasionally builds up a whole argument only for it to go nowhere or transition into an adjacent thought. Still, even on its own, the ideas are interesting nuggets but I feel like there was a missed opportunity to expand on them or better integrate them into the narrative.
Themes
Evolution of work
Before the 18th century, most work was manual and took time to complete. Craftsmen who had to work within natural boundaries needed incredible domain knowledge to create a beautiful, functional product. With the industrial revolution, automation changed the nature of work itself and reduced the utility of man to a cog in the machine. Over time, humans have been completely displaced from the manufacturing process and while automation was once thought to be limited to “blue collar” work, “white collar” workers are now in the shadow of encroaching automation.
The atomization of labour
With the automation of manual labour, workers were no longer required to use their intellect and wealth of material knowledge to make decisions. Assembly line manufacturing reduced the individualism and responsibility of each worker. This has resulted in a loss of craftsmen, who have been outpriced, and a reliance upon machinery for the production of goods.
“White collar” work is undergoing a similar devolution. In the name of growth at all costs, work is increasingly being codified in an effort to reduce the ‘inefficiencies’ of personal judgment. This minimizes the opportunity for judgment to be exercised, further reducing intuition and expertise. Trapped in the web of capitalism, workers are tied to increasingly mindless jobs as well.
From working to live to living to work
Initially, in order to motivate greater production, manufacturing plants increased workers’ hourly wages, thinking it would make them work longer. Instead, this reduced the hours they worked as debt culture and consumerism was not deep rooted and people’s wants were modest. This spurred new consumer debt facilities that allowed workers to buy previously unaffordable things through fixed installments. Burdened with these recurring costs, “blue collar” workers were now more dependent on their jobs and incentivized to work more.
“The ideology of choice, freedom and autonomy was used to manipulate people to buy things under the slogan of ‘a world without limits’ or ‘master the possibilities’.”
With this increased access to debt, social mobility was framed with bigger houses and expensive cars, tying workers to their jobs to afford their borrowed lifestyle. Capitalism therefore conflated money and time, reducing all activities to their respective wages. This one-dimensional measure displaced considering the multifaceted value of an experience when evaluating its opportunity cost.
Schools as industrial training grounds
train people to follow instructions and seek external validation for their work. With the focus on grades to rank students and get a job, students are afraid to actively learn and make mistakes for fear of ruining their scorecard. This misalignment of incentives breeds passive, rule following employees, without the training to think for themselves; the perfect mold for the modern workplace.
Craftsmanship
“Thinking is bound to action. To get an adequate grasp on the world, intellectually, depends on us doing stuff in it, not just observing it without context from afar.”
Through the reductive eyes of modern science, we see ourselves as the gods of the universe. Nothing tempers that conceit of mastery like the experience of failure while pursuing a craft. The intractable realities of actively engaging with a physical challenge, like diagnosing and fixing motorcycles made by others, humbles an individual. It forces them to pay attention to signals and draw upon a personal repository of patterns. This heightened perception is vital for better root cause analysis and decision making.
Highlights
- What if the use of tools is really fundamental to the way human beings inhabit the world? “It is by having hands that man is the most intelligent of animals” – Anaxagoras
- Work becomes meaningful when it’s tied to your personal higher good.
- Seek out the cracks where individual agency and love of knowledge can be realized in one’s own life.
- Creativity is a by-product of mastery of the sort that is cultivated through long practice.
- A thing requires practice while a device invites consumption. Such things gather our world and radiate significance in ways that contrast with the diversion and distraction afforded by commodities.
- The validity of your self assessment is known to you based on the gate-keeping institutions you attend and (to a lesser extent) how they rate you. Prestigious fellowships, internships and degrees become the standard of self esteem. This is hardly an education for independence, intellectual adventurousness or strong character.