Society of the Spectacle

"Automation, the most advanced sector of modern industry as well as the model which perfectly sums up its practice, drives the commodity world toward the following contradiction: the technical equipment which objectively eliminates labor must at the same time preserve labor as a commodity and as the only source of the commodity. If the social labor (time) engaged by the society is not to diminish because of automation (or any other less extreme form of increasing the productivity of labor), then new jobs have to be created. Services, the tertiary sector, swell the ranks of the army of distribution and are a eulogy to the current commodities; the additional forces which are mobilized just happen to be suitable for the organization of redundant labor required by the artificial needs for such commodities." - Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord 

In this passage Debord points out one of the key contradictions concerning increases in the productivity of labor.  Automation, the use of machines to replace human labor, is increasing at an alarming rate in our society.  It usually occurs in large scale manufacturing processes like the production of computers, cars, or food products. In these areas automation has proven very useful because it allows firms to produce larger quantities of goods that can adequately supply consumer wants.  Could you imagine waiting for 9 months before your new computer was ready? That'd be pretty ridiculous. 

Although an increase in automation may sound good, automation also has it drawbacks.  As automation increases, the amount of human labor require in commodity producing markets decreases.  Therefore, in order for unemployment to remain at a minimum labor markets must be created in other areas so that the overall "time"  is preserved.  The other areas that Debord mentions in his thesis are service markets.  Ironically, America is experiencing the very transition that he denotes in the last few lines of his statement about the commodity of labor.  The number of commodity producing labor positions in America are decreasing while service jobs are becoming an ever more increasing sections of the labor market.  However, the real question is:  Are we simply making service jobs (that may be of less importance or unnecessary) simply to maintain our present levels of labor?  If that is the case, America might be in trouble. 

However, I'm a huge fan of the capitalist movement and in my own opinion I see this gradual movement from commodity to service labor as only a cyclical occurrence that will probably repeat itself many times over.  Capitalism will never die my friends.  There are just too many greedy people...