Sociology

A few days ago, my friend (Dhivs) asked me what I study, so, of course, I told her that I study the most lucrative and amazing subject in the world: Sociology. She responded by asking, "After studying it, do you hate people?"

"Yes. I hate everyone including myself."

But after giving my joke response, which has some truth to it, I correct myself. "No, I don't hate people. I just hate the system."

As cliched and edgy-tumblr-user this response was, it is quite true.

I'm thinking about this as I read about the precariousness of labourers in Rio de Janeiro. These people are stuck working in the garbage dumps. Even though they do get employed in a job that earns them money, they are forced to quit such a structured and rigid form of employment because it doesn't allow them to deal with their "everyday emergencies." This is why they end up returning to the dumps to work, because of the relative autonomy that they're given that allows them to deal with the everyday emergencies of their lives (health issues, family issues, home issues). Precarity is the word. Precarity is the state of instability and insecurity in the age of a post-Fordism Capitalism, where employment is not secure, and while you might have a job, you're in a constant state of panic and anxiety in trying to make ends meet. The thing about precarity for these "catadores" (urban poor) in Rio de Janeiro is that it's not just labour that's precarious for them, but their entire life and ontology is defined by precarity. It's a way of life, a way of living.

So, when you think about it, much of our lives are shaped by systems that hold so much control over us. Just think, what's stopping you from "quitting society" or leaving it completely? Why can't we just drop everything and leave? The answer is that we can't, simply because we're constrained by society, or, as Durkheim put it, "social facts." A lot of things that we do in our day to day life is influenced by the social facts that constrain us. When I say that I hate the system, that's because our day to day sufferings are caused by the system. Why is it that people are stuck in the lower strata? Why is it that poverty exists? Why can't people move up the socioeconomic ladder? Why is it that society is divided into these strata? It's all because of Capitalism, to give a very general answer.

Now, I have a lot of faith in people, but I look around and I see so many problems with the world, and I feel helpless and defeated in being able to enact change on a great scale. Sure, we can help in our own capacity in our day to day lives, but these are just stop-gap measures. How do we solve problems in the long haul? The answer lies in policy, and this gives us, the people on the ground, a glimpse of hope in being able to create change. But the conditions for change require... a COLLECTIVE EFFORT, for many people and groups to be on the same page. Politicians and policy makers do what is popular, don't they? We need to garner a majority to enact change at the top, because only then will we have a system-wide change that will lead to a drastic change at the bottom. To make things seem bleaker, this theory works on so many assumptions, the most crucial one being that policy makers and politicians aren't corrupt. The disappointing thing is, many politicians ARE corrupt. Look at the US.

Then if you take this argument, you might say that corrupt politicians are bad people. Yes, perhaps the fault lies with their immorality, with a warped character. But what drives these people to do such acts? The answer is Capitalism. Money talks, money influences our actions, money drives the system. And people at the bottom suffer.

Hopefully this explains why I hate the system and why I get very sad when I study this subject.