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Bartleby - 'Twas ever thus
巴托比——從來都是這樣
Why people are always so gloomy about the world of work
為何人們對職場總是如此悲觀
The notion that the modern economy lacks “good jobs” is as uncontroversial as saying that Lionel Messi is good at football.
現代經濟缺乏“好工作”的觀點，就像萊昂內爾·梅西擅長足球的說法一樣毫無爭議。
Pundits decry the disappearance of the steady positions of yesteryear, where people did a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.
權威人士譴責過去那種穩定的工作崗位的消失，在那種崗位上，人們公平地做一天工作拿一天工資。
“Where have all the good jobs gone?”, wonders one recent book, while another talks about “the rise of polarised and precarious employment systems”.
最近的一本新書中問道：“好工作都哪兒去了?”，而另一本書則談到了“兩極分化和不穩定的就業體系的興起”。
President Joe Biden takes after Donald Trump in promising to bring good jobs “back”.
美國總統喬·拜登接替了唐納德·特朗普，承諾把好的就業機會“找回來”。
But what if the whole debate rests on shaky foundations?
但是，如果整個辯論都建立在不可靠的基礎上呢?
It certainly lacks historical awareness.
這當然是缺乏歷史意識的。
Compare the current discussion with the one during America’s postwar boom.
將當前的討論與美國戰后繁榮時期的討論進行比較。
Few people back then believed that they were living in a golden age of labour.
當時很少有人相信他們生活在勞動的黃金時代。
Commentators were instead full of angst, worrying about the “blue-collar blues”.
相反，評論家們卻充滿了焦慮，擔心“藍領憂郁”。
They said that unionised factory jobs—the very sort that today’s politicians yearn to restore—consisted of repetitive, dangerous work which involved all brawn and no brain.
他們說，有工會的工廠里的工作——正是今天的政客們渴望恢復的那種——是由重復的、危險的工作組成的，只需要體力，不需要腦力。
Others fretted over pay.
其他人則為工資煩惱。
Workers “are getting increasingly frustrated by a system they think is not giving them a satisfactory return for their labours”, proclaimed a high-ranking official at America’s Department of Labour in 1970.
1970年，美國勞工部的一位高級官員宣稱，工人們“對一個他們認為不能給他們的勞動帶來滿意回報的體系越來越感到沮喪”。
In fact the notion that the world of work is in decay is as old as capitalism itself.
事實上，“職場正在衰落”的觀念與資本主義本身一樣古老。
Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi, a Swiss writer who inspired Karl Marx, said that factories would turn people into drones.
啟發了卡爾·馬克思的瑞士作家讓·查爾斯·萊昂納德·德·西斯蒙迪曾說過，工廠會讓人變成懶漢。
John Stuart Mill worried in the mid-19th century that the rise of capitalism would provoke social decay.
約翰·斯圖爾特·密爾在19世紀中葉曾擔心，資本主義的崛起會引發社會衰退。
People would focus on nothing other than earning money, he feared, turning them into dullards (just look at Americans, he warned).
他擔心，人們除了賺錢以外什么都不關心，這會讓他們變成傻瓜（看看美國人就知道了，他警告說）。
The rise of big business and white-collar work in America provoked a new set of anxieties.
美國大企業和白領工作的興起引發了一系列新的焦慮。
It was soon predicted that the self-made men of yore would be replaced by effete company drones who did what they were told.
很快就有人預言，昔日靠自己奮斗成功的人將被那些對衰弱的公司唯命是從的懶漢所取代。
This is not the only reason to question today’s pessimistic narrative.
這并不是質疑當今悲觀論調的唯一理由。
By any reasonable standard work is better today than it was.
以任何合理的標準衡量，今天的工作都比過去要好。
Pay is higher, working hours are shorter and industrial accidents rarer.
工資更高，工作時間更短，工傷事故也更少。
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