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Title | : | The Right to Useful Unemployment and Its Professional Enemies |
Author | : | Ivan Illich |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 95 pages |
Published | : | July 1st 2000 by Marion Boyars Publishers, Ltd. (first published 1977) |
Categories | : | Philosophy. Nonfiction. Politics. Science |

Ivan Illich
Paperback | Pages: 95 pages Rating: 4.03 | 136 Users | 21 Reviews
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Short and accessible, and a good reframing of the rather tired debates about 'the lack of work' and the need to provide jobs for those in poverty. Jobs don't do anyone any good if they pay crap wages and still don't allow people to take care of themselves. This holds doubly true if the majority of our society's institutions are in fact geared to restrict people's freedom to care for themselves when they could. (Think the American Medical Association and their regular advocacy for legal restrictions on the types of medical care people can give themselves, even when such care used to be common.)Illich bills this as a 'postscript' to his Tools of Conviviality, which is now on my to-read list.
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Original Title: | The Right to Useful Unemployment and Its Professional Enemies |
ISBN: | 0714526630 (ISBN13: 9780714526638) |
Edition Language: | English |
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Ratings: 4.03 From 136 Users | 21 ReviewsCommentary Based On Books The Right to Useful Unemployment and Its Professional Enemies
Bits of ideas I was on board with but not as convincing or as well thought out as his take on education. I think I need to read Tools for Conviviality to truly grasp his argument and see how much of it I want to pursue.The content is very interesting, but either the translation in Dutch is awful, or Illich just writes very densely.
This seems a bit more of a muddle than his other books that I've read.

30+ years later, Illich is still spot on about our society's inability to value unpaid or unorganized labor. As technology and automation continue to obsolete jobs, this is something we will have to deal with in a big way. However, I can't agree with his position on professionals being the enemy of freedom and happiness. For example, he specifically cites electricians and building codes that require licensed electricians to do wiring, and says this robs people of their ability and freedom to
This is a dense read. He has some eye-opening insight on commodities and how it paralyzes people, but not all of his ideas are particularly relevant. For instance, his conclusion that people's freedom are inhibited mainly by the needs created by the professionals, and therefore are made market dependent, are big assumptions that seems largely unsubstantiated. While it is true that professionals contribute to the rise in market dependance, isn't it the economic system and the employment
Ivan Illich was an Austrian philosopher, Roman Catholic priest and critic of the institutions of contemporary western culture and their effects of the provenance and practice of education, medicine, work, energy use, and economic development.
Must read.
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