Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Dougald Hine's avatar

Good to see someone bringing Illich's thinking to bear on our predicament.

Regarding "the corrupting effects of slavery on the whole network of social relations", if you've not read it, you might appreciate the recent book by Wendell Berry, The Need to Be Whole, which traces a similar line of thought on the corrupting effects of slavery on American society.

You may also be interested in the work of Neto Leao, a Brazilian scholar who has been following up on Illich's work, looking at examples of communities making collective decisions to limit their energy use:

https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/thinking-illich/

Expand full comment
Bradley Smith's avatar

This is a thoughtful, well-researched piece, and a really helpful addition to my thinking! I read Naomi Klein's "No Logo" years ago while working through the Art of Manliness's 16 Essential Jeremiads (https://www.artofmanliness.com/living/reading/essential-jeremiads-16-cultural-critiques-every-man-should-read/), which first made me consider our society's reliance on "unseen slavery". More recently, I started musing whether affluence in any society is attainable without exploitation. Your piece has given eloquent voice to an expression of that thesis. Further, it has done so in far greater depth than I could have hoped to muster, and through a lens completely foreign to my perspective. Thank you for sharing this.

Expand full comment
5 more comments...

No posts