Ivan Illich THE RIGHT TO USEFUL UNEMPLOYMENT and its professional enemies MARION BOYARS - LONDONabhi Cama by ees Mace ste 162 Rade Ro, Dos Mil Ontario HOA TAS ALLRIONTS RESERVED a rt eget cd son nd Pine and bound in Great Bean by ‘Trowbridge & Baber CONTENTS Foreword Introduction Disabling Market Intensity Disabling Professions Enabling Distinctions Equity in Useful Unemployment Outflanking the New Professional ‘The Post-proiessional EthosABOUT THE AUTHOR Ivan Mich was bor in 1926, He studied theology and philosophy at the Gregorian University in Rome and Sbtained a doctorate im history at the Univensty of Salzburg, He went 10 the United States in 1951, tuere he served as astant pastor in an Trsh-Puerto Rican parish in New York Cty. From 1956 to 1960 he twa vieerector of the Catholic University of Puerto Rico. Illich was a co-founder of the Center for Intercultural Documentation (CIDOC), in Cuernava. ‘ca Mexico, where he directed research seminars on ‘Suatiutional Altersatives in = Technological Society’, veith special focus on Latin America until 1976. van Tiles writings have appeared in many newspapers and journals including The New Yok Times, The New York Reoiew of Boats, The Saturday Review, Expr Kardach, Siempre, Excelsior de Mexieo, America, Cama. weal, Let Temps Moderne, Le Monde, Le Nowel Obie tan The Beloit, The Guardian and The Lane. He is the author of Celebration of Auarenss, Descholng ‘Soy, Tol jor Comat, Energy and Equity, Limits to Matiine Metical Nemes ~ the Expropriation of Heath, ‘and (oth others) Disabling Profession FOREWORD fn the last decade or 0 1 have prepared and published a number of enays* on the industrial mode Fr production. During this period, I have focused on the proceses tizough which growing dependence on inate produced goods and services gradually erodes =Descooting Sci (Caer Boyar 1971) “Fodster Cia (Cater oar 17) Emr gy ener Bran. ; Helin farce Boyan 1970) ‘piabhing Protons (Mario Boyar, 1872)the conditions necessary for a convivial lf. Examin- ing distinct areas of economic growth, each essay demonstrates general re: urewales are inevitably destroyed when the industrial mode of production achieves the predominance that [have termed ‘radi cal monopoly. This and my previous ettays describe how industrial growth produces the modernization of poverty. “Modemized poverty appears when the intensity of market dependence reaches a certain threshold. Sub- jectvely, {is the experience of frustrating affluence that occur in pertons mutilated by their reliance on the riches of industrial productivity Tt deprives those affected by it of their freedom and power to act autonomously, to live creatively: it confines them to survival through being plugged into market relations And prectey because this new impotence isso deeply experienced i is with difficlty expresed. For exam- ple, we are the witneses of a barely perceptible transformaton in ordinary language: verbs which formerly ecpressed satisfying actions have been replaced by nouns which name packages designed for passive contimption only — to learn’ becomes “to accumulate credit. A profound Ghange in individial and social selfimages. is here teflected.” And’ the layman is n0t the only one who has dificlty in accurately expressing what he experiences. The profesional economist is unable to recognize the Poverty thst his conventional instruments fail to ‘noover. Nevertheles, the new routant of impoverah ‘ment continues to spread. ‘The peculiarly moder 8 inability to, use. personal. endowments, community wealth, and environmental resources in an avtono- mmousiway infects every aspect of life where a profes- sionally engineered commodity has sucoceded in replacing a culturally shaped usewalue. The oppor: tunity to experience personal and social satisfaction ‘utsde the market is thus destroyed. I am poor, for ‘example, when the use-value of my feet is lost because Tlive in Los Angeles or work on the thrty-8fth floor of saky-scraper. This new impotence-produsing poverty must not bbe confused with the widering gap between the consumption of rich and poorin a world where basic ‘needs are increasingly shaped by industrial commod ties This gap isthe form traditional poverty assumes in an industrial society, and the conventional terms of clase struggle appropriately reveal and reduce it. T further distinguish. modernized poverty from the burdensome price exacted by the externalities which increased levels of production spew into the environ- tment. Ieis clear that thee kinds of polation, ste, land taxation are unequally imposed. Correspond! ingly, defences against such depredations are un ually distributed. But like the new gaps in acces, such inequities in social cot are aspects of industria lized poverty for:which economic indicators and ‘objective verification can be found. Such is not troe for the industrialized impotence that affects both rich and poor. Where this kind of poverty reigns, life ithout addicve acces to commodities i rendered [imposible or criminal - or both, Making do without °consumption becomes imponible, not just for the Sverage consumer, but even for the poor. All orm of trelfare rom affirmitive action to job training, are of ho help. The liberty to design and craft one’s own distinctive dwelling is abolished in favour of the ‘bureaucratic provision of standardized housing in the United State, Cuba or Sweden. The organization of employment, sil, building resources, of rales and ‘edit favour shelter ana commodity rather than as an “hcivitz, Whether the product is provided. by an aiepreneu: or an apparatchik, the effective result is the same: tien impotence, our specifically meer us, we_are eft useless unless employed on_ajob or ‘engaged in consumption: the attempt to build 2 STAs ane outide the contol of eve specialists appears as anarchic conceit, We lose sight of our resourees, lose control over the environmental ‘conditions which make: these resources applicable, Tove taste fx selCeliant coping wieh challenges from ‘without and anxiety from withia. Take childbirth in Mexico today. Delivery without professional care has become untainkable for those women whose husbands hhold regular employment and, therefore, access to social services, no matter how marginal or tenuous, is denied, They move in circles where the production of, babies faithfully reflects the patterns of industrial ‘outputs. Yet their sisters who live in the slums of the poor oF the villages of the isolated still feel quite competent to give birth on their own mats; they are 10 til unaware that they face & modern indictment of Sriminal neglect toward ther child, But a profesion- Sly engineered delivery models reach these indepen- ‘emt women, the desire, competence; and conditions for autononmous behaviour are being destroyed. For advanced industrial society, the modernization cof poverty means that people are helpless to recognize EvRdence unless it has been certified by a profesional ee he 2 television weather commentator or an educator) organic discomfort becomes intolerably hicatening unless if has been. medicalized into Gependence ona therapist; neighbours and friends Gre lot unless vehicles bridge the separating distance Created by the vehicles in the first place). In short fost of the time we find ourselves out of touch wit ‘Gar worl, out of sight of thowe for whom we work Frome wih what we fee “This say is a. posteript to my book, Tools for onisality, published in 1973. Te reicets the changes ‘Which have occurred during the past decade, both in Cconomie realty and in my-own pereeptions of it. It Gitiner a rather lange inrease in the non-technical, ‘itial and symbolic powers of our major technolo GI and bureaucratic systems, and s corresponding decrease in their scientific, technical, and instrument: GT credibility In 1968, for example, it was still quite teary to dismiss organized lay resistance to professional Gominance as nothing more than a throwback to fomanti obscurantst or elitist fantasies The grass Toots common sense assesment. of technological Duteme which T then outlined, seemed childish or nTHE RIGHT TO USEFUL UNEMPLOWMENT retrograde to the politcal leaders of citizen activism, and to the ‘radical’ profesionals who laid claim to the tutorship of the poor by. means of their special knowledge. ‘The: reorganization of: late industrial society around professionally defined needs problems, and solutions was still the commonly accepted value implicit in ideological, politial, and juridical systems ‘otherwise clearly and sometimes violently. opposed to fone another. Now the picture has) changed. A. hallmark of advanced and enlightened technical competence isa self-confident community, neighbourhood or group of Citizens engaged in the systematic analysis and con« sequent ridicule of the ‘need ‘probleme’, and, ‘solu- tions’ defined for them by the agents of professional stablishments. In the sixties, lay opposition to legislat- jon based on expert opinion still sounded like anti- scientific bigotry. Today, lay: confidence in public policies based upon the experts opinion is temuotis Indeed: Now thousands reach their own judgments and,.at great cost, engage in citzien action withoat any professional. tutorthip;. through. personal, dependent effort, they gain the scientific information they ‘need. Sometimes risking limb freedom, and respectability, they-bear witness to a newly mature scientific attitude. They know, for example, that the quality and amount of technical evidence sufficiently conclusive t6 oppose atomic power plants, the rnulti- plication of intensive-care units, compulsory edueat- fon, foetal. monitoring, psychosurgery, electro-shock ‘weatment, or genetic engineering is also simple and 2 FOREWORD, clear enough for the layman to grasp and utilize. | “en. years ago, compulsory schooling. was till | projected by powerful taboos. Today, its defenders Be crn alinost,-cxclusively ,cither, tcachers.. whose. jobs depend upon, it or, Marxist ideologues who defend | professional knowledgesholders in a shadow attle “against the hip-bourgeoisie, Ten years ago, the myths about the effectiveness of modern medical instiations ‘were still unquestioned. For example, most textbooks Accepted the beliefs that adult Ife expectancy was creasing, that treatment for cancer postponed | death, that, the, availability of doctors ‘produced iicater infant survival rates. Since then people have ‘discovered’ what vital statistics have always shown saul i expectancy hasnt changed in any cally icant way over the last few generations slower Dips meet-tich counties today shan in our grand parents’ ime, and lower than in many poor nations. Ten. year ago, universal access to postaccondary schooling, t0 adult edueation, to preventative ‘ine, to highways, o a wired global village were still prestigious goals. Today, the great_myth-making | Htuals organized around education, transportation, Fiealth care, urbanization have indeed been 2artly demystifed; they have however not yet been dis- “esabished, Shadow prices and increased consumption gaps are aspects of the new poverty. But my princip- interest is directed towards a diferent concomi- ant of modernization ~ the proces: through which “autonomy istundermined, satisfaction is dulled, exper- 13ience is flattened out, needs are frustrated for nearly ‘everyone. For example, I have examined the wide ubstacies to mutual prescnee which are neceet _ary side effects of energy-intensive transportation. T have wanted to define the power limits of motors equitably used to increase access to one another. I recognize, of course, thar high speeds inevitably impose a skewed distribution of harriedness, noise, pollution, anid enjoyment of privilege. But my empha sis is other, My arguments are focused on the negative interalities of modernity ~ such as time-consuming acceleration, sick-making health care, stupefying edu- tation. ‘The unequal distribution of these ersatz benefits, o the unequal imposition of their negative ‘erlemalites, ae corollaries ) my basic argument. Tam interested in the direct and specific effects of modem- ized poverty, in human tolerance for such effects and in the possibility of escaping the new misery. [share with others a deep desire 10 see greater justice. I am absolutely opposed to the unjust distribution of what ‘can be genuinely shared vith: pleasure, But T have found it necessary, these last few years, to examine carefully the objects of any and every redistribution proposal. Today T see my task even more clearly thant when T first started talking and writing about the ‘counterproductive mythmaking that is latent in all late industrial enterprises. My aim has been to detect. tnd denounce the false affluence which is) always lunjust because it can only frustrate. Through this kind of analysis one can tegin to develop the theory which would inspire the social, regeneration 4 possible for twentieth-century man, ‘During these last years I have found it necessary to ‘examine, again and again, the correlation between, the nature of tools and the meaning of justice that prevails in the society that ses them. I could not help but observe the decline of freedom” tn societies IN aE. ge, T had to weigh i ‘Between new tools that enhance the production of commodities and thote equally moder ‘oes that ‘permit the generation of values in use; between rights to tiaw-prodced commodities and the level of liberties thar permit satisfying and creative Personal expression; Between paid employment Jind useful unemployment. And in each dimension of the trade-off between heteronomous management fand autonomous action Ifound that the language ‘hat would perihie us to insist on the later bas to bbe recovered with pains. Tam, of course, like those whom [seek as my readers, so cleafly committed toa radically equitable ditibution of goods, rights and jobs thacI ind i an one our \SFrggle or this side of justice. I find it much more Fuportant and difiealt to deal with its complement the Politics of Conviviality. L use this term in the technical sense that T have given to it in Tools for Conivialiy, There the term designates the struggle for fan equitable disuibution of the liberty to generate {eevlues and for the instramentation ofthis iberty bby the assignment of an_absolute priority to the “production of those industrial and professional com- niodities that confer.on_the least advantaged the 15‘reatest power to generate valucs in use Convivial Politics are based on the insight thatin a ‘modern society both wealth and jobs can be equitably shared and enjoyed in liberty oniy,when-both. ace Timited by. a. political. process. Excessive forms_of ‘wealth. and. prolonged: formal -employment, —na~ ‘matter Row well distributed, destroy the socal, ul. ara and environmental conditions for equal product- ive freedom. Bits and waus which stand for units oF information and of energy respectively) when. pack aged into any mass-produced commodity in amounts ‘that pass threshold, inevitably constitute impoverish- ing wealth, Such impoverishing wealth is either too sare be Gned or is deuce a he feedor iberty ofthe weakest. With each-of my exays have attempted to make a contribution to the polic- al process by which the socially critical thresholds of enrichment are recognized by citizens and translated into society-wide ceilings or limite. INTRODUCTION Fifty years age, most of the words heard by an American were personally spoken to him as an individual, or to somebody standing nearby. Only ‘occasionally did words reach him as the undifferen- ‘iated member of a crowd - in the classroom or church, at a rally or a circus. Words were mostly like handwritten, sealed letters, and not like the junk that now pollutes our mail. Today, words that are directed to one person's attention have become rare. Engin- cered staples of images, ideas, feelings and opinions, packaged and delivered through the media, assault 7our sensibilities with round-the-clock regularity. Two points now become evident: 1) what is occurring with language fts the pattern of an increasingly wide range of need-satisfaction relationships; 2) this replacement ‘of convivial means by manipulative industrial ware is truly universal, and is relentlessly making the New York teacher, the Chinese commune member, the Bantu schoolboy, and the Brazilian sergeant alike. In this postscript to my essay Tools for ConcsialityT shall do three things: 1) describe the character of a commodity/marketintensive society. in which the very abundance of commodities paralyzes the autono- ous creation of use-values; 2) insist on the hidden role that professions play in such society by shaping its needs; 3) expose some illusions and propose some strategies to break the professional power that perpe- ‘tates market dependence. 18 - w DISABLING. MARKET INTENSITY Grsis has come to mean that moment when doctors, diplomats, bankers and assorted social engineers take fover and liberties are suspended. Like patients, nations go on the critical list. Crisis, the Greek te-m that has designated ‘choice’ or ‘turning point’ in all ‘modern languages now means ‘driver, step on the ‘gas, Crisis. now evokes an ominous but tractaole threat against which money, manpower and manage- ‘ment can be tallied. Intensive care for the dying, bureaucratic tutelage for the victim of discrimination, fission for the energy glutton, are typical responses. 19jects sae pap Yanan asad roe lpoeete tr whale on the ide eect of roses Glacier whe Ine ot wee ee ee | Show proper on Wie Wont sot Wass ae hore | sneered halle sonpean se actor aioe | Sioa wae which i he an, fnanced by top etd. Crst undead aa a oper pager igeingalimaciloreden sxete of be sete wale apimedopiee gooc gee Dee siiuis bocce merece hemaion Revie esol ounce of taro wean todos tate deri peopl whewantto unter Ter seed rhe en Wil en inane ploretnn vicka aeecetienes en tment Lined, tins fea the etal arte cso Secon lon penis adealy Teas ssrecof tlt tinct gt male te pat Yaadiieeria ant adits oe teens Shel natn beth he Usted St sh at wrod tae A world-wide choice An only a few decades, the world has become an amalgam. Human responses to everyday occurrences have been standardized. Though languages and gods still appear to be: different, people daily. join the stupendous majority who march to the beat of the | very same megarmachine. The light switch by the door has replaced the dozens of ways in which fires, 20 ‘candles and lanterns were formerly kindled. In ten Yeats, the number of switch-users in the world has tripled: flush and paper have become essential con: tions for the relief of the bowels. Light that does not flow from high-voltage networks and hygiene without tissue paper spell poverty. for ever more people. Expectations grow, while hopeful trust in one’s own competence and, the concem for others rapidly decline. ‘The now soporific, now raucous intrusion of the media reaches deeply into the commune, the village, the corporation, the school. The sounds made by the editors. and announcers of programmed texts daily pervert the words of a spoken language into the building blocks for packaged messages. Today, one ‘must either be isolated and cut off, or a carefully guarded, affluent drop-out, to allow one’s children to play in an environment where they Isten to people {ater than to star, speaker, or insructors. All over ‘he world, one-cait $66 THe rapid encroachinent of the -disiplined- acquiescence that thanterze "the audience, the dent, the customer: The sandardiza Hot athiratn acon pronzanmor Te now becomes cleat that most of the word’ communities are facing exactly the same ertcal love People mus either remain ciphers in the conditioned rowel that surges towards greater dependence (hus hecenitaing savage battles fora shar of the drug 0 feed their habit), or they must find the courage that alone saves in a panic: sand still and look around for another way out than the obvious marked exie aBut many, when told that Bolivians, Canadiaris and “Hungarians all face the same fandamental choice, are rot simply annoyed, but deeply offended, The idea Eppears not only foolish but shocking. They fal to ‘Getect the sameness in the new bitter degradation that (inderlies the hunger of the Indian in the Altiplano, the neurosis of the worker in Amsterdam, and the ‘oinical corruption ofthe bureaucrat in Warsaw. Towards a cultre for staples Development has had the same effect in all societies cooryone has been enmeshed in a new ‘web of Gependence on commodities that flow oat of the same Kind of machines factories, clinics, television studios, think ranks. To satisfy this dependence, more of the ame must be produced: standardized, erigineeted foods, designed for the Fotute consumers who will Be Trained by the engineer's agent toneed what he OF she |p offered. These products ~ be they tangible goods or intangible services — constitute the industrial staple Theis imputed monetary value as a commodity i€ determined by state and market in varying propor: tions, Thus different eultures become insipid residues Of taditional styles of accion, washed up in one ford. wide wasteland: an arid terrain devastated by The machinery needed to produce and consume. On the banks of the Seine and those of the Niger, people Ihave unlearned how to milk, because the white stuft ow comes from the grocer. (Thanks to more richly Endowed consumer protection, itis les poisonous in France than in Mali.) True, more babies get cow's 2 mil, but te brats of oth ich and poor dy ‘The added consumer is born when Ue bby es forthe bottle: wien the oxgarisn it trsned to reach fer milk from the grocer and to tira avay from the tet tha tine defalea autonomous and creative human aciny required. to. sake mans anivere bloom, atrophies, Root of shingle or thatch, ile or tin, are dplaced, by concrete. forthe few abd ormgated. plastic. forthe many. Nether jungle tmarhes nor ideological biases have prevented the Poocend the vocal fortran ont tbe highway the sche tne toads Ieading them in the word — Fiaromlat_seplace-pricateThe mint stamps_ utall [ora ireasures and idols- Monty devalues what ‘cannot measure, The crisis, then, is the same forall: the choice of more or less dependence upon industrial ‘commodities. More dependence means the rapid and complete destruction of cultures which determine the ‘criteria for satisfying subsistence activities. Less means the variegated lowering of eval in medern cultures of intense activity. Although hard to imagine for tho aleady accustomed to Hving imide the supermarket, a structure diffrent only in name from ‘ward for idiots, the choice is essentially the same for both rich and poor. Presentday industrial society organizes life around commodities. Our matket-intensive societies measure material progress by the increase in the volume and variety f commodities procrd, And ting ‘cur cue from this sector, we measure social progress ty the daibution of seca to these commodien 2B“Eevnotnes hes bee! dewloped apron for the takeover by langeerale connor predic! Sal inna Becmschaed $0 plage -ogags hab ‘capped ‘disribution,* and. Welle eeonamice has ‘denied the. publc god wi opaltace We humiliating optience ef the” pane in the’ schools homial jail and aoylums ofthe United Stats and ‘ther western count By duregarding all tradoolls to which no prictagis stead, inducer bas erated ur wou ld scape that is unfit or people mle they devour cack Girona Caan CTE which the-constant need for protection against: the “tance renal of more things ad soe corti Hip peneraed new depts ofdscratoaten, repre Bu Initia, The ceablikinent-ocenintal aie ovens sir has Farther wvcngcned this ene ft hh concentated attention on uly indusal techn: logy and, at bet on explain of inurl produc tion by private owners thas questioned the depiction tf naturel resources th ineonvenienos af pollution ah Bet inualen of peru eet pcs ard Machel fo fleet the ewtenmental impact the irae of mance, ee the con of plarchon, we all fo eet oe Seay thet the ven abe, jmuluplichson of eepcitén qdscereeceaes ee thea have frcbly subasiated Wandardioel package for almost everything people formes did or made on thdrows For to, dads nov, aboot Sty Jengunges hare died each year, half of ll shone wl spoken 1980 Pa survive only as subjects for doctoral theses. And what distinct languages do remain to witness the incompar ably different ways of seeing, using, and enjoying the world, now sound more and more alike, Conseious- ness is colonized everywhere by imported labels. Yet, even those who do worry about the lost of culeural and genetic variety, or about the multiplication of Jong-impact isotopes, do not advert to the irreversible depletion of skills, stories, and senses of form. And this progressive substitution of industrial goods and ser- vices for useful but non-marketable values has been the shared. goal of political factions and regimes ‘otherwise violently opposed to one another, In this way, ever larger pieces of our lives are so transformed that life itself comes to depend almost exclusively.on the consumption of commodities sold ‘on, the world market. The United States corrupts its {farmers to, provide grain to a regime which increas ingly stakes its legitimacy on the ability to deliver ‘ever more grain, Of course, the two regimes allocate resources by different. methods: here, by the wisdom ‘of pricing; there, by the wisdom of planners. But the political, opposition between proponents of alternate ‘methods of allocation only masks the similar ruthless disregard -of personal dignity and freedom by all factions and parties. Energy policy is a good example for the profound identity in the world-views of the self.styled socialist and the so-called capitalist supporters of the indus: trial system. Possibly excluding such places as Cam- bodia, about which T am uninformed, no governing 5