Dead Man Working Quotes

“The liberal communist, however, wishes us to believe that we can enjoy the selfish rewards of rampant profiteering and eat our cake too, basking in the euphoric afterglow that comes when one ‘cares for society’. We might call this blinding fantasy the ‘Bonofication’ of capitalist reality.”
― Carl Cederstrom, Dead Man Working

“A major aspect of liberation management is to harness the edgy and non-conformist energy of workers. Large firms, the advice says, ought to model their internal structures after the carnivalesque and joyous anarchism of May ‘68.”
― Carl Cederstrom, Dead Man Working

“In an attempt to convey their discontent, employees did something strange: exactly what they were told to do, following the formal rules to the letter. As a result, when the invisible wealth of informal engagement, knowledge sharing, and mutual aid was withdrawn, the office was brought to a halt. The implications of Blau’s study is clear: the formal corporate form actually obstructs the creation of wealth, and is thus completely reliant on an undercurrent of non-commercialized living labor, the very thing it cannot help but demolish as soon as it gets its anxious hands on it.”
― Carl Cederstrom, Dead Man Working

“Yet work remains in its Deleuzian ‘gaseous’ form, which is the exact opposite of play, fun, and real living. Therefore, the latter needs to be staged, manufactured, scripted and ultimately imitated in the office.”
― Carl Cederstrom, Dead Man Working

“When the economy of work infects one’s early morning dreams, spills over into booze-soaked weekends and reduces almost every social relation to a cold cash exchange, workers are the first to realize that life becomes evacuated, a perpetual living absence no matter how many smiley-faces dot the cubicle.”
― Carl Cederstrom, Dead Man Working

“Entering the workforce is like entering the grave … From then on, nothing happens and you have to pretend to be interested in your work.”
― Carl Cederstrom, Dead Man Working