Surprise, surprise. Although the article avers that the Harvard study
defies the “conventional wisdom” that greater pressures are part and parcel of the
greater responsibility shouldered by our betters, those of us in the rank and
file know better.
It all comes down to security and life
chances. It’s true enough that CEOs and
managers lose their jobs every day. It’s
also unlikely that these people will spend much time unemployed. Even if it takes longer than expected to land a
new position, the superior compensation enjoyed by senior management, often
sweetened with golden parachutes upon termination, soften the blow of being out
of work.
Not so with most workers. After thirty-some years of neoliberal
economic policies, flat wage growth, offshoring, union-busting, and cuts to pensions
and social programs, faced with the struggle to make ends meet and the threat of
unemployment with only a badly frayed safety net to catch them when they fall,
the American working class is beset with anxiety and feelings of helplessness bordering
on Weltschmerz.
This is to the advantage of employers, of
course. A fearful worker is a docile
worker. A large surplus labor pool,
undereducated and fitted only for the deskilled service work of the
postindustrial economy, keeps wages low and serves as an object example to
anyone tempted to buck the system. The widespread
reliance on consumer credit to maintain the comfortable standard of living we
all expect further serves to discipline the workforce by way of postmodern
debt servitude. It’s probably best not
to mention the certain economic disaster lurking behind illness or accident
even when the unfortunates are insured. Too many of us go to work every day with the
bleak knowledge that we are expendable hostages to misfortune.
The underlying lesson of the Harvard
executive stress study is clear and simple: In our free market system, some people
are more indispensable than others.
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