{"id":452,"date":"2012-10-05T00:40:57","date_gmt":"2012-10-05T04:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/quallsk\/?p=452"},"modified":"2014-12-02T15:03:21","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T20:03:21","slug":"locked-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/quallsk\/2012\/10\/05\/locked-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Locked Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Karl Marx sits in the hallway of his dorm room.\u00a0 Claud de Rouvroy, who goes by “Simon”, trips over Marx\u2019s outstretched feet.]<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

K: [quickly pulls his feet back]<\/em> Ooh, sorry, man!<\/p>\n

S: [getting up]<\/em> Don\u2019t worry about it\u2026 er, what are you doing?<\/p>\n

K: I\u2019m locked out of my room\u2026 Adam\u2019s MIA. Have you seen him?<\/p>\n

S: [dropping his bag and sitting down] <\/em>Nah, not since Econ this morning. I\u2019m kind of glad, though\u2026 it got a little intense today.<\/p>\n

K: Ha, yeah, he was getting really defensive in the class discussion.\u00a0 Tonight will probably be a little awkward.<\/p>\n

S: Well yeah, the Industrial Revolution and communism\/capitalism conversations always rile people up\u2026 we were totally right, though.<\/p>\n

K: [excitedly] <\/em>Oh, I know! <\/em>What was he even saying?<\/p>\n

S: I don\u2019t know\u2026 division of labor\u2026 laissez-faire<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

K: That industry was toxic, though. He agreed with that.<\/p>\n

S: [shaking his head] <\/em>No no, he dis<\/em>agreed.\u00a0 He thought the industrial boom was great for society. He kept talking about all the jobs and merchandise it created.<\/p>\n

K: Well yeah, but at the expense of the workers.\u00a0 The free market in the UK led to the Industrial revolution, which led to a huge <\/em>gap between the rich and poor.<\/p>\n

S: I think what Adam was trying to say was that when labor got competitive, wages went down, because everyone wanted whatever job they could ge-<\/p>\n

K: Right,<\/em> which is bad for the working class. \u00a0Low wages mean more members of a family are forced to work.\u00a0 They devote so much of their time to work that hardly pays off- literally, <\/em>because wages still drop. \u00a0And then on top of that, they were expendable. Anyone could learn to do their job, and they could be replaced immediately.\u00a0 How does that help the working class?<\/p>\n

S: Well it doesn\u2019t, but he did mention afterward that on the other hand, when employers got competitive, wages went up.\u00a0<\/em> Like a fluctuating cycle.\u00a0 I think Adam was sort of saying that it could benefit the eco-<\/p>\n

K: [scoffs] <\/em>How?<\/p>\n

S: [he takes a moment to see if Karl is going to continue] <\/em>-…benefit the economy by stabilizing it.\u00a0 The whole \u201cdivision of labor\u201d idea.\u00a0 Everyone gets really good at one thing, does it really well, and production increases exponentially.\u00a0 This creates a booming economy, and benefits all the citizens. [He pauses, frowning.]<\/em> That\u2019s where I really disagree, though.\u00a0 What good is having a booming economy if the workers can never<\/em> enjoy it?\u00a0 Society doesn\u2019t really improve if the rich, business-owning class is the only one that reaps the benefits.<\/p>\n

K: Right, and that\u2019s when Adam agreed that the working, proletariat citizens would realize they were being oppressed and revolt against the powerful bourgeoisie.\u00a0 That would lead to a proletarian-controlled society that would then develop into a truly just Communist society, where everyone puts in equal work and receives equal resources.<\/p>\n

S: Er\u2026 no. That\u2019s when Adam started his spiel on how the proletariat individual doesn\u2019t matter as much as the country as a whole.\u00a0 If the country is being moved along by the progressive inventions of the working class, then it is a success.<\/p>\n

K: [glaring]<\/em> That\u2019s<\/em> what you think?<\/p>\n

S: No! You asked what Adam<\/em> thought! I\u2019m agreeing with you.\u00a0 The success of a nation can\u2019t just be defined by its levels of production\u2026 especially if high production results in low quality of life for the vast majority of its citizens.<\/p>\n

K: [throwing his hands up in frustration] <\/em>Adam doesn\u2019t get<\/em> it!<\/p>\n

S: [he nods, inspired by Karl\u2019s enthusiasm] <\/em>How can he understand the poor? He doesn\u2019t even get financial aid! What does he know about hard work?<\/p>\n

K: [He pauses, furrowing his brow] <\/em>Simon, isn\u2019t your dad an investment banker?<\/p>\n

[Both boys are silent for a moment. No eye contact is made. Just as Simon is about to speak, a portly woman hastily rounds the corner.]<\/em><\/p>\n

DPS Agent: [out of breath] <\/em>I got a call for a lockout.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Karl Marx sits in the hallway of his dorm room.\u00a0 Claud de Rouvroy, who goes by “Simon”, trips over Marx\u2019s outstretched feet.]   K: [quickly pulls his feet back] Ooh, sorry, man! S: [getting up] Don\u2019t worry about it\u2026 er, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1367,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114,37387],"tags":[70998,22743,71005,1376,70997],"class_list":["post-452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-fys","tag-adam-smith","tag-capitalism","tag-dialogue","tag-karl-marx","tag-st-simon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/quallsk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/quallsk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/quallsk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/quallsk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/quallsk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/quallsk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/quallsk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/quallsk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/quallsk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}