surplus value at lunchtime

Here is a glimpse of surplus value extraction at street level. The job is good, the people are good, but the product is... great! Something extra has been magically sourced during the production process. 2+2=5 all of a sudden. For those wanting to know how this happens, read Capital Volume One.

For George Batailles, an economy in the broadest sense of the word is a constant process of over-flowing. Originating with the sun, the human economic condition is one of excess, and our defining economic question is what to do with that which we don't need. Exchanges are never equal, acts of wanton gift-giving and/or destruction are key. A society might accompany a harvest with a sacrifice or festival; conspicuous consumption or bling is a deliberate wastage of wealth; sexual hedonism is performed specifically because it isn't economically necessary; violence and war are further ways of releasing the pressure valve.

Capitalism has its own modes of excessive behaviour. We work more hours in the day than we need to - perhaps originally because of our calvinist self-loathing - produce more than is needed, consume more than is needed. All of this because capital's steady state is growth, and it requires these sacrifices and acts of excess desire to keep it going, until it too sacrifices a portion of itself in crises. Suddenly there are too many factories, employing too many people, and an act of self-mutilation occurs. Perhaps the damage  of economic excess in 21st century Britain is most apparent in the 'obescity epidemic' - the bodies of the poor are polluted with excess in the post-industrial economy, just as forrests and rivers were in the industrial economy.

In Bataille's terms, Pret is never going to employ good people in good jobs to make good food. There is no equilibrium. Two plus two does not equal four... but it could equal three. 

Imagine a Pret poster saying the following: 'Great jobs, great people... making good food!' Suddenly you'd be looking at an entirely different cultural-economic model. Where is the surplus? In the leisure, happiness or wasted time of the staff. And why not? I visited Paris last week, which was effectively closed for the month. Cafes, restaurants, bars, shops, closed because human beings produce as well as consume. The increasingly miserable British are served by increasingly subservient staff; we take the excessive value that is the customer's right, and offer no thanks for it because this is now the norm.

Of course France is still a capitalist country. 'Great people in great jobs making good things' is compatible with capitalism, it's just that surplus value is shared between capital and employees, rather than between capital and consumers. And if politicians think this sounds barmy, consider that people might even spend the extra spare time exercising rather than eating...

Comments

[J]

"The increasingly miserable British are served by increasingly subservient staff"

Alas, my recent experience of parochial pubs is that the staff are very far from subservient, and still behave as though they are doing you a huge favour by interrupting their conversation with the barmaid to bring you your food. This does however explain why many British are indeed increasingly miserable, especially when interacting with the poorly named 'service industry'.

And yes, the Pret photo and your commentary is rather interesting...