Comment on The proletarianization of tech workers
Zeth0s@lemmy.world 9 months agoI am not a gate keeper. I work in an unionized company in fintech. But I also recognize that calling me “proletarian” is detrimental for battles of real proletariat. Because I have a better salary of a medical doctor with a 5th of the stress. And I don’t make near google salary. I have former colleagues who went to google… They are not absolutely struggling. They need to unionize? Surely. But let’s keep it real, use words properly, because there are people in the current economy who are struggling. Proletariat means that the only “capital” owned by someone is their children. It evolved to mean working class, where only capital is ability to do a work.
Google engineers have real capital invested in stock market and pension funds, a great salary and benefits. They need to unionize only to fight back to mass lay offs. Other than that they are doing fine.
MikuNPC@lemm.ee 9 months ago
I work in tech, not Google but I am compensated similarly. The reason you are getting my downvotes is because you’re missing the point. We worked our asses off to get where we are only to say we’re “not struggling” anymore and have early retirement plans in place because we were thoughtful in our career choices and personal budget. That’s a lot different from someone who had a retirement plan set from birth.
Zeth0s@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Than read again my comment. You are not proletariat. I am not proletariat. A manager at your bank is not proletariat. A doctor is not proletariat.
I grew up in one of the poorer place in Europe. To study I had to live in literally 2 of the worst ghettos of UK.
Anyone who call google workers proletariat is as out of touch as a wall street ceo.
And I am surprised how lemmy can be this out of touch with the real word
theparadox@lemmy.world 9 months ago
The difference between the people you call the proletariat and the people you refuse to call the proletariat is often luck. Luck is fickle and can swing both ways. A manager at a bank is absolutely proletariat, they’ve just been given a bit more money and told they’re no longer proletariat. This is because it’s way easier to keep workers and management at each other’s throats than to have everyone target the real source of the “orders from above”.
MikuNPC@lemm.ee 9 months ago
Obviously not everyone has the same situation and some people are more privileged than others. But there is a huge difference between someone who has to work everyday VS someone who doesn’t. That doctor has to go to work, same as the programmer, or the manager. They all have unique lifestyles but they are all workers. They are the proletariat