False Consciousness

Bless that theoretician for mass murder, Marx, for without his phrase "false consciousness" I'd be at a loss to begin to comprehend the actions of some of my fellow prisoners.

Many prisons now have contracts with outside companies to whom the Governor sells our labour.  This work is tedious and unskilled but often pays at a rate higher than equally crap prison work.

The economics of this are simple.  The outside company gets labour that works under threat of punishment and at a fraction of the minimum wage.  The goods are then sold on the market at the normal rate, giving the company a far greater profit margin in relation to its competitors.

Whether you support this abuse of prisoners or not, it is undeniable that this is simply using slave labour for the commercial profit.

The mystery for me is how many prisoners fail to see what is staring them in the face.  Rather than appreciating this for being an abuse, many see it as an opportunity to earn a higher than usual prison wage; maybe £25 for a 35 hour working week.

So they compete for these jobs.  They willingly line up to be worked like dogs just so some private company can screw some extra profit.

I just don't get it.