Uninitiated office worker. Managers
Where even high school students fumble less than new employees, the concept of “office plankton” was used for the first time. In the world, masses of clerks are called office pawns, monkeys and broilers, the Russian language chose a more derogatory definition
Pure city work - that is, not production - used to take place in "offices". The bosses sat in separate offices (management - and with reception areas), and ordinary employees - in almost the same ones, but several people and even many. Now in large corporations, top managers occupy apartments similar to Soviet ones, but richer: wood, leather, bronze. Office plankton lives in open space waters. Rows of light gray tables are separated by little work areas for the computer and your head buried in it. A personal mug with a cool picture, a couple of souvenir trinkets, a couple of private photographs and a personal mouse pad add a bright personality to the cell. An ordinary capitalist will collect this belongings in half a minute in order to move horizontally or vertically to enrich his resume with a new line. And the cell will be occupied by the next tenant of the plasterboard walls of a prestigious loft - some former Red Weaver factory.
The monotonous space of the office hall is broken up by nooks for middle staff and meeting rooms, usually glass with blinds. The flow of time is diversified by planning meetings (what to do?), meetings (how is it being done?) and reports (what has been done?). Office leisure consists of trips for tea (many offices with kitchens), lunches, smoke breaks and correspondence with neighbors on ICQ. From about 16:00, when urgent work is completed and bosses tend to leave for business meetings, in Russia in the 2000s there is a peak in Internet use - why overpay for home traffic? The leader in visits to the “Behind the Glass” website was the “Unified Energy Systems” server; According to a social study, 90% of office workers admitted using the work Internet for personal purposes, insisting “no more than half an hour a day.” An in-depth analysis showed that up to three hours can be spent only on dating sites.
The key figure in internal office life is HR, HR (human resources). The HR demiurge formalizes the cherished stages of a career: “move from the position of purchasing manager to the position of senior sales manager.” She also hands over a “social package”: a card to the fitness and/or swimming pool, a SIM card with a corporate number and health insurance. Through HR, the management establishes a dress code - according to particularly draconian rules, not only jeans and T-shirts are prohibited, but also translucent blouses for employees and non-black shoes - for everyone. As a conductor of service culture, HR organizes corporate team building events - non-work events such as out-of-town barbecue games, paintball, bowling and mini-football designed to unite team spirit. We must relieve the tension of eventlessness and hierarchy! A New Year's banquet is a must in a self-respecting office; it is shameful stinginess to hold it “at the workplace”, placing tables in the hall. The corporate anthems of the native companies are composed in all seriousness:
Where you pass through Russia, -
Your branches are located there...
A manager - “manager” (literal reading of manager) is now the same massively faceless profession as the engineer used to be. The office no longer looks like a Soviet administrative institution, but like a research institute. The same non-obvious results of the activity of an individual employee, self-made career growth (then: junior researcher - senior - head of sector - head of department). The current achievement of the status of marketing director approximately corresponds to defending a Ph.D. Predilection for “advanced training” - formerly “courses”, now “trainings”. The melancholy of everyday life and the passion of collective leisure, only the skits and kayaks, archaic for the 21st century, have changed. And, of course, office romances: it’s so exciting - a chance meeting at the water cooler.
Phenomena mentioned in the text
Internet 1997
The Russian-language Internet gets the nickname “Runet” in the spring. In the fall, the most popular national search engine and mail server, Yandex, will be launched. The virtual homeland is quickly acquiring all the other infrastructure, and from the end of the decade it will fail in Russia more than the Internet
"Aska" 1998
The Internet pager ICQ, created two years earlier, receives worldwide recognition, and in Russia it also receives the nickname “ICQ”
“Behind the Glass” 2001
On the night of October 27-28, the renewed TV-6 channel launches the “Behind the Glass” project for 35 days. The first Russian reality show is a huge success on the spot, on air, on the Internet and is angrily condemned by zealots of morality
Fitness 2002
“High physical education” is part of the lifestyle of the new middle class in Russian megacities. Maintaining physical fitness, useful leisure, confirmation of status, communication with others like you and a trainer - and how have you managed without fitness so far?
A conversation with a trainer I know inspired me to write this note. The concept of "office plankton" became one of the most popular terms some time ago. Moreover, this phenomenon is often used by HRs and managers to explain their helplessness, for example, “well, what can we do, look who works for us...”, “...we would have done/implemented/implemented it a long time ago.. ..well, our employees are unable to do this...", "....I perfectly understand what you are talking about, and I even own these technologies (ed. :) !!!), well, what can I do if I have "fools" work and they don't understand me...
And very quickly a new concept came to the rescue - “office plankton”. Now there is an explanation for one’s own helplessness and a chance to explain one’s own failures/shortcomings/“cockroaches in the head.” There is something to keep yourself occupied - round tables, conferences, meetings - there is a “topic”. Let's look at this, let's look at that....what will Mr. Fame advise us, and what will the HR director of a large company say, and is there anything to add to the "superman" who has released a series of books - how to become successful (rich/happy) )....
I will not consider office plankton as a phenomenon; if anyone would like to get to know it in more detail, then you are welcome:
"...The name emphasizes the meaninglessness and purposelessness of the existence of this category of workers. Office plankton represents a significant part of Runet users. It is believed that the origin and development of Internet memes, flash mobs and many other network phenomena occurs precisely in the environment of office plankton... "
"....The core of the new economic protest groups are the so-called “low and middle managers” (and the “manager” in this case is not a manager at all, but an ordinary employee, who in post-Soviet Russia was given the proud name “manager”), a self-name - “office plankton”, the ironic name is “lemmings”, the offensive name is office trash...."
"...there are a couple of criteria that do not claim exclusivity. When clerks are proud and dream of being clerks. The ability to control the situation, influence, make significant decisions. Plus the presence of effective tools to achieve results. If this is not only available, but also used - hell two, we are talking about “office plankton”. And if you only have unlimited service Internet, ICQ, a salary card, and opportunities and responsibilities the size of a mosquito’s dick, then there is nothing to be offended...."
When we hear from managers and HR people complaints about employees, references to their “stupidity,” etc., we simply have a number of natural questions, namely:
- Dear gentlemen, who in your company is responsible for recruiting and selecting personnel?
- who develops and implements HR policies, strategies, technologies and procedures?
- who makes “concrete decisions” about people?
Isn't it you who holds the corresponding positions?! It was executives and HR managers who, for mysterious reasons, made decisions:
- about hiring these particular employees?
- about their promotion to the personnel reserve and/or promotion?
- about appropriate encouragement and “reinforcement” of the correct behavior that someone needs?
- etc.
Which led to the formation of teams where bright representatives of the “office plankton” coexist perfectly.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Questions that are also important:
Who formed the “self-esteem” for many young specialists, so that after working for a year or two or three they consider themselves experts? and don’t offer them less than “a hundred pieces”! (and he or she is confused even in professional concepts and does not have basic knowledge and experience in the profession)
Why do many “specialists” and “managers” do not have the minimum necessary knowledge and skills at their workplaces (they simply should not have been there)? because according to their “smarts”, they should know this and be able to do it since they work in this position
Who “organized” the career rise of many managers, when they, having not worked at certain levels, suddenly soared up the career ladder?
Who creates this whole “corporate chaos” and gives us a master class on the “corporate Kama Sutra” ?
etc.
Having answered these and many other questions correctly for yourself, you will understand in which direction you should move and what to do. Or at least - your choice of further path will be conscious.
A personnel management policy, formed according to someone’s ideas (templates, books, fashion trends, distorted ideas) and far from reality, will later bear its “fruits” - they will.
It is quite easy to detect office plankton today.
Any small office or huge company is crammed with offices or open spaces with translucent partitions. There are tables with computers everywhere and chairs nearby with people sitting on them. Constant tapping of fingers on the keyboard, or the sound of the mouse wheel moving up and down. The serious look of these people, staring at their monitor screens, reflects on their faces something like calculating a complex algebraic equation. IN general concentration - against the backdrop of total idleness.
Term office plankton implies a group of workers associated with intellectual work that does not involve creative manifestation. This is also a category of people who spend most of their lives in offices, most often just sitting through working hours, eight hours a day from Monday to Friday, paycheck to paycheck.
Although, you don’t have to go into the office to see the so-called clerks. It’s enough to go out into the street between eight and nine in the morning, to stand at the intersection, which during this period of time literally comes alive with hurrying, half-awake pedestrians, as well as multi-colored middle-class cars jostling on the roads. Most likely, at any other time of the day this very intersection is not a mess, either it’s morning, rush hour.
In the morning, all these machine-people are running to work, and most significant majority of them, rubbing tires and heels on the asphalt, rushes to the office. They need an office.
History mirrors itself in the evening. From approximately 17:30 to 18:30. If you go out to the same intersection, you will see all the same people rushing in the opposite direction - from work - home, to their tiny rented or mortgaged cells, in their sparkling compact cars, taken on credit.
Office plankton or office workers– this concept appeared in Russia in the nineties, when the country began to transition to a market economy. Currently, more than one third of the population of our country is employed in office structures, that is, about 40-45 million citizens. The definition of plankton itself quickly entered the vocabulary, and if at first it had an unemotional connotation, it later began to be identified with a “minus” sign.
And the whole point is that office plankton It is customary to compare it with a faceless gray mass that lives according to the principle - home, work, gym, loan, mortgage, family, children, vacation every six months, home, work again. And so on until retirement or death.
Many people don’t even think that there is a way out of this vicious circle, but what’s saddest is that most people simply don’t need this very way out. Office plankton strives to stability, and this is perhaps the key concept in his vocabulary.
What is meant by stability in this case is easy to answer - just read the description of any open vacancy on a job search site. As a rule, plankton is hunted under such conditions as registration in accordance with the Labor Code, a stable salary, a good team, a comfortable workplace, meals at the expense of the company, plus sometimes the organization provides the opportunity to visit the gym on conditions favorable to employees.
On the one hand, everything looks even chic. Go to work on schedule - perform the actions required of you and get paid for it. On the other hand, do it only as originally prescribed - from 9:00 to 18:00, five days a week. If you cope with work earlier, still sit until the end of the day, because that’s how it works system. The point is that office plankton cannot go against this system, does not know how and does not even want to.
And what happens in reality? And the fact that employees working in an office, as a rule, do really simple work, do not like to take on additional tasks, hide behind being constantly busy, concentrated, and looking serious. So stability turns into closedness from development, and as a consequence - V degradation.
Everyday life boils down to spending a fun working day on the Internet, chatting with colleagues or friends on social networks, reading articles on the Internet that have nothing to do with your activities, and just casually doing the direct fulfillment of the duties assigned to you by the company.
A separate topic for office workers is Friday - the time to celebrate the end of an exhausting week. At the end of the month, plankton waits with bated breath for news of a salary increase or dreams of a bonus, simply for getting up to work every morning and spending the whole day at it.
As a rule, such workers receive an average salary and always hope for its increase, while most of them do not take any action to develop and improve their working skills, and if something happens, they always strive to change one office for another - an analogue one, where they supposedly pay more .
Based on average statistical data, we can say that office clerks change jobs approximately once every three years, most often for the sake of increasing earnings and moving up the career ladder. In fact, the obvious change concerns only the chair and the table at which the person is sitting, but he still continues only imitate stormy work activity.
Why office plankton is good for companies so it is with its systemic slave thinking. Such employees are easily vulnerable and controlled. There is always something to punish or fire them for, because they dig a hole for themselves - with forays into the Internet during working hours, negligent performance of duties and absolute inertia. They are inert in the sense that looking for a new job in the case of cherished stability on the existing one, it causes latent rejection– it’s difficult to switch even to a new “chair” in almost the same office. That is why such a mass - nothing less than gray - is quite easy to manage.
It is also obvious, of course, how unprofitable plankton is for companies. In fact, this is 80% of the average personnel in terms of abilities, performing some specific actions entrusted to them at the same average level. That is, people who are not responsible for the global operations taking place in the company are easily replaced and eliminated “puzzles”.
Due to the bloat of teams, the owners of such organizations often spend excessively on keeping office plankton. Here are the notorious computer tables with chairs, and the rent of large premises where they are all located, and payment for electricity, the Internet, and taxes for white wages, vacations, sick leave, corporate parties, in general - impressive expenses.
Why do today's companies need mediocre workers, and in such numbers, mostly wasting working hours?
Based on a number of observations, it can be said that office plankton, no matter how useless it may seem, performs-yes duties assigned to him, even though without enthusiasm, but works to get his treasured banknotes.
As for bloated organizations, the accumulation of clerks in them most often occurs because the company does not imply an explicit division of responsibilities among its employees, and also does not have the ability to reliably assess the quality of the activities being implemented. That is, roughly speaking, a large number of office workers can be seen where inability of management to distribute responsibilities among employees.
Based on this, we can say that the formation of office plankton occurred due to the fact that employers do not know clearly what they want from their subordinates, that's why they inflate the staff.
With layoffs in such companies, business, as a rule, does not suffer at all, because it turns out that most of the fired workers did not do anything really important. But this topic is, of course, very painful for plankton itself. Downsizing for an office person is something akin to the explosion of an atomic bomb - “you will have to look for a new office, new stability, a new “chair”, pay a mortgage, pay off a loan” and so on.
The problem is that people themselves, who are considered to be office plankton, are looking for stability in a world that changes every second, entrusting their own lives to the system so selflessly that they completely forget about what they really want, about their calling and true goals .
It turns out that much It’s easier to become a gray mouse of the system, spend time according to a schedule in an office “cage”, imitate an active life outside of it, get up on an alarm clock, rush in a meaningless stream on the subway, rather than throw it all away and find something in yourself that is really important and valuable.
Today being an office plankton means living according to a schedule, which the system has built. To compromise for the sake of stability or to choose what is exciting and truly captivating is everyone’s personal choice. If you still don’t understand what kind of people the office plankton are, then just go out to the metro at 8:50 in the morning or at 17:50 in the evening and look at those around you.
You may also be interested in:
You can, or to your website.Comments on the topic
Yakushev Danil 10/18/2013 at 20:22
I also belong to the office plankton, so to speak. Working according to the schedule doesn’t bother me at all, because I simply can’t work any other way, depression sets in and I don’t have time to do anything. I tried my hand at working from home and on a shift schedule - my whole life goes upside down: you rest while others work, or vice versa. Working from home is a complete nightmare, I can’t organize myself, I have no sense of time at all. The most important thing is to love your job (what you do), strive for career growth, higher salaries, respect from colleagues, etc., then any routine work will be a joy. For example, I have a cheerful and friendly team, we constantly organize themed holidays, hold competitions, and all this is encouraged by our superiors. Our life is such that from birth we are brought up in a routine, to live according to a schedule, in society - this is given to us from childhood. The main thing for me is that my beloved family and children are waiting for me at home in the evening, and on weekends there are meetings with my beloved friends!
Aleksandra 10/18/2013 at 10:39 pm
By the type of work I consider myself to be an office plankton. I can’t say that I don’t agree with this article in everything. I would like to say a few words about “imitation of hectic work activity.” We often have to work 12 hours a day instead of the planned eight, as the employer strives to ensure that the minimum number of workers completes the maximum volume of tasks. It often happens that it’s not the same. that you can’t communicate with colleagues, and simply don’t have time to go to the toilet or drink a glass of water. Internet access is also strictly limited in our office. Our administrator has the ability to control which sites a person visits during working hours. In addition, each employee is allocated a limit in megabytes for the Internet. Also, as far as the company is concerned. where I work, the director clearly sets goals and demands their maximum achievement. But our team is incredibly happy to have the opportunity to work in this company. A guaranteed social package, vacations and a salary depending on the ability of each employee to work encourages them to work perfectly. Personally, I am proud to work for this company.
Juli 10/19/2013 at 10:32 am
Sadly, after reading the article, I realized that I am an office plankton... And apparently all my employees are too. That's right. We are really a gray mass of our companies. They came in the morning, buried themselves in their computers, and so on until the evening. No talking, no discussing anything. I have been working at the company for more than a year, there are 20 people in the office, and I don’t know everyone by name! Where are we going? That's right, everyone is on social networks. Because there you can speak to everyone and about everything, but with your colleagues only about work. There is practically no live communication. Everyone is amorphous, lacking initiative, boring. I’m not sure that everyone here is “on fire” at work, really stupidly fulfilling their immediate duties. And rarely does anyone strive to grow in their career. Not a single attempt in a year! And we are quite satisfied with the management. The job is done. Albeit slowly, but in the right direction, without rush jobs and fuss. It somehow became disgusting. This is how life will pass: home-work-shop-home... And so every day. No, something needs to change, you can’t live like this!
Varvara 10.20.2013 at 22:20
The main idea of the author is how embarrassing and disgraceful it is to be an office worker! Office workers are presented as one and all, boring, gray masses who only want to receive a big salary and do nothing. I also consider myself an office plankton and I can say that this article is not about me. Yes, indeed, I have a stable working day from 9 to 6. Firstly, I don’t see anything wrong with this: it’s better than working overtime, at night, on different shifts, etc. Secondly, if I have free time, I spend it on self-development: studying English or reading literature. I don’t have time for this at home: I have two children. My team consists of mostly versatile people, almost everyone is interested in something or has a hobby. We share our impressions with each other, tell each other something interesting, and have intellectual debates. We are not interested in gossip and conversations at the level of the yellow press. Besides, I love my job and I constantly have to learn something new, study new software products. That is, the brain, as they say, “does not dry out.” In general, stability in life is more important to me, rather than throwing from one extreme to another.
Oleg 10.20.2013 at 23:08
And what’s wrong with being an office plankton? It’s just that everything is presented here in such a way that people don’t do anything. Cut by half and the company will not suffer. Maybe so, but I don’t consider myself part of this gray mass and I think that by losing me, the company will lose something. That’s why I have a decent income and am appreciated.
In addition, at present, remote work, for example, is not developed. Many of these plankton need a constant kick. If you don't kick, it won't fly. In principle, my opinion is that such people should not be kept at work. But the issue of personnel lies with every manager.
Some people are simply not ready or cannot pay everyone a high salary, so they make do with what they have.
However, there are people who come out of this state, but there are not many of them. Someone opens their own business, someone successfully invests, which is also a type of business. Another question is that not everyone can do this.
I see this as the fault of the system and education itself. We are taught from childhood that stability is good, that we should find a specialty and become a professional there.
Where can one become an independent person?
Zinoviev Vitaly 10/21/2013 at 10:14
Why did you put all office workers under the same brush? I have been working among, as you say, “plankton” for four years now. Yes, there are those who are leaving work and looking forward to Friday, to whom management does not trust anything serious. But the majority are professionals in their field who bring good results with their achievements. Management values them and stimulates them with bonuses and fees. And believe me, it is not necessary to become the head of a department or regularly go on business trips abroad, it is important to love your job, because it brings satisfaction, because you are valued, your opinion is listened to and respected. I am not a plankton, I value my work not for easy work, but for stability and confidence in the future. And why do you talk about this with such disdain? For the well-being of the family and the future of the children, in my opinion, this is important. Then you will be confident that you will be able to pay for your children’s education, medical care and much more.
Alina 10.21.2013 at 11:38
Once again I was convinced that I am not the only one who has such thoughts. Office plankton is indeed a rather negative phenomenon on the labor market. Especially because the process of work dominates there, not the result. And even an active employee in such a system quickly loses motivation. So people sit for 8-9 hours, falling asleep from boredom. I respect office workers for whom the result is important, who really work throughout the working day, having completed the work ahead of schedule, they can be free, and their wages correspond to the results of the work performed. As for stability, in our country I would not use this word at all. You just need to live, work and develop, balancing opportunities and needs, since caring about a “foggy stable future” can result in a loss of meaning in life in the present. There is nothing better than realizing your own freedom, when you realize that at any moment you can take on more work for more pay or slow down a little for the purpose of some rest.
OMAG 10/21/2013 at 1:33 pm
Remember the movie "Office Romance"? So, office plankton existed in Soviet times. And it appeared much earlier than the nineties. Only people communicated more with each other back then. Today, of course, we sit more in offices and communicate on the Internet. For example, I have done my main work and am reading useful articles. I am educating myself, so to speak. And I don’t see anything wrong with this. And I'm sure all my colleagues do the same. And what's wrong with a stable situation? Many people only dream about this! But I don’t agree about systemic slave thinking. It all depends on the leadership. If the boss is a despot, then it’s unlikely that you can fix it. We have a very adequate boss. Maybe I was just lucky. He himself offers to organize corporate events, and on Fridays we have get-togethers at the end of the working day. So, office plankton is not a gray mass at all. You can find your advantages in routine office work, if only you would like to diversify your life!
Rodion 10/22/2013 at 04:50
By the way, I consider myself a quite suitable employee for the term “office plankton” and I am not offended by it. Yes, we sit at work from 9 to 6, wait for Friday, and often surf the Internet, but this does not mean that my work is useless and of no use to anyone. The term itself doesn’t seem offensive to me, it’s just that everywhere there are uninitiative and lazy people who just want to sit through the working day from bell to bell and quickly go home to watch TV.
But there is some kind of stability, evenness in life, and on the whole I am satisfied with this. Not everyone makes some discoveries and strives to go into space, for example, some people need to work in an office.
And the article, by the way, is offensive, the car considers everyone a gray mass who work without the proper enthusiasm, and this is not true. Of course, there are enough such people, even in my company, but, I repeat, we cannot equate everyone. For example, I have been working in my company for 15 years, of course, sometimes it gets boring and the routine gets stuck, I want something new and interesting, but on the other hand, I have a stable salary, confidence in the future and I look into the future with optimism. So I think the conclusions from this article are too general.
Western Marxists have long been talking about the “office proletariat” and the “white collar revolution” since about the 60s of the last century. Attention was drawn to the fact that this “office proletariat” plays a role in the “information society” that is similar to the role of the “industrial proletariat” in an industrial society. However, in the West, no white-collar revolution occurred, just as there was no “ordinary” revolution, so all the dreams of Western Marxists remain dreams.
In my opinion, we are again being let down by the habit of imagining Russia as “the West, only worse.” Our “office plankton” is something fundamentally different than the Western "office proletariat", at least in terms of the situation in which they find themselves.
Let’s not delve into the jungle of theories of the “information society”, in which, supposedly, some kind of “knowledge production”, etc., comes first. etc. Let's keep it simple. What is “office plankton”? This - a set of people who are elements of various management systems. Together, these systems manage the entire economy of the country, the national economy.
Please note: not all people engaged in “mental work” can be included in the “office plankton”. Let's say a doctor is a representative of the intelligentsia. But when a medical school graduate, after suffering for several years in an internship, gives up on everything and gets a job as a pharmaceutical sales manager, he moves into the “office plankton” stratum. Similarly: production engineers are the intelligentsia, and system administrators are “office plankton.” Police officers and private security guards. Writers - and journalists. Classic: scientists and teachers - and administration staff of scientific and educational institutions, all these department secretaries, etc. etc.
So: the intelligentsia is engaged, roughly speaking, in solving intellectual problems. “Office plankton” performs the function of a gear, a drive belt in a control system. Clerks plus servants - that's what it really is.
What properties most distinguish the “office plankton” from other social groups? Education? Yes, for most “office boys and girls” it is higher, but it is clearly inferior in quality to the education of the intelligentsia. Mobility? It's unlikely. Many representatives of the Saratov “plankton” dream of “moving to Moscow,” but these dreams remain dreams, but hard workers and villagers every year go to work in the capital or “to the north.” So, in terms of mobility, the working class, in my opinion, will give “plankton” a few points ahead.
The main thing that distinguishes the “office plankton” from the proletariat, peasantry and intelligentsia is its information connectivity. The reason is simple: firstly, it is among office workers that the majority have regular and practically free Internet access. Secondly, working with information and communication is the main professional function of the “office plankton”!
The dissemination of information on the Internet has a number of features compared to both traditional media and “personal communication” in real life. A lot has been written about the media, let’s not repeat it. But when compared with interpersonal communication, what is striking is the amazing speed of information dissemination due to the fact that:
Network secondary communication (a message caused by another, primary message) is carried out at lower costs than in real life (roughly speaking, reposting an important message on your LiveJournal that will be read by ten of your friends is much faster and easier than calling these same ten friends on the phone and telling everyone about everything)
During secondary communication on the Internet the original message is much less distorted than in real life (i.e. less “the effect of a broken phone”), which is understandable: on the Internet it is easier to copy text than to put it “in your own words”, and it is not difficult to find the “source” using links
Thus, the “office plankton” immersed in the Internet and able to use it has colossal connectivity: an event that happened on the other side of the country not only instantly becomes known, but also witnesses, “people who are in the know,” etc. are easily found. etc.
The point is not at all that the “office plankton” is homogeneous in terms of interpretation of events, far from it. It is precisely in interpretation that he is rich: everyone strives to “make their contribution”, to offer some idea “that others have not thought of.” But here the general “agenda” of “plankton” is formed instantly, despite the vast distances.
So, we have determined what “office plankton” is (a set of elements of management systems for various structures, from a small company to Gazprom) and what is its main property that distinguishes it from other social groups (information connectivity). Let's now try to understand why its role in political processes is increasing, while the role of the “classical” protest layers (the proletariat and intelligentsia) is decreasing. Is it just about the Internet?
Let's remember what classical Marxism said about the proletariat. “The bourgeoisie itself creates its own gravedigger.” Why? Yes, because capital benefits from larger, machine production, and such production requires a proletariat. It is from the labor of the proletariat that the bourgeoisie extracts surplus value. But this was at the end of the century before last! And now in Russia?
The regime that was established in our country after 1991 calling it capitalism is simply incorrect, because there is no capital growth in the country. On the contrary, capital “flows” from the country to the West or is simply destroyed. This applies to the remnants of Soviet industrial potential, and to energy resources (they are also capital), and to “human capital” (“brain drain”).
That is The “classical” protest classes - the proletariat, the peasantry and the intelligentsia - are simply not needed by the regime: he is not going to extract any “surplus value” from them. They are “superfluous” and should simply disappear (drink and die, go abroad, move to another stratum). It’s not that they are being deliberately destroyed, it’s just that their fate is not of concern to those who are now in power.
But The regime needs “office plankton”. It, as I wrote above, is an essential element of the economic management system. That is, in our conditions, systems of destruction of a country and people in order to benefit a group of individuals.
Does this mean that “office planton” is some kind of evil? Of course not. But he performs a function that Evil needs, and this is what Evil serves. And therefore Evil is forced to create it and even to some extent develop it, just as the classical Marxian bourgeoisie is forced to develop the proletariat. I repeat, we are talking specifically about our specifically Russian situation.
Does the “office plankton” have any interests of its own and what are they?
Of course, office workers, like everyone else, want to “live well.” As quite rightly noted morky , at the moment the “housing issue” is critical for this group of the population. But is that the only reason? It is necessary to clearly understand that a significant part of the “office plankton” consists of former representatives of the intelligentsia (the same doctors who retrained as sales managers, physicist engineers who became system administrators, philologists who write advertising articles, etc.). They may be quite happy with their salaries, but experience a feeling of “moral dissatisfaction”(This is not why they studied, defended diplomas and dissertations). At the same time, no amount of “stability” will help: a physicist can become a system administrator, but a system administrator cannot return to scientific work after a ten-year break.
So, we have at least two factors that can push the “office plankton” to go over to the side of the opposition: the “housing issue” and “moral dissatisfaction.” But there is one more point. This class is currently in the process of self-awareness. Information connectivity contributes to this. And, having realized itself and its place in the system, the “office plankton” may question not so much its function, but function of the system itself, of which he is a part and servant. Roughly speaking, the tool can get out of control.
What will it look like? What could be the catalyst for this? So far, there are simply no answers to these questions. One thing is clear: the process of structuring the “office plankton” will occur not according to the “economic” principle (who has the highest salary), but according to degree of awareness of one’s role in modern Russian society. Some will agree with this role of “servants of Evil” (more precisely, they will not care, they will not achieve “awareness”), others will not. And these “dissenters” will form the “information backbone” of the new Russian resistance.
Finally, I would like to remind you of the old story about “dreg”. This is a small example of how “information connectivity” can work in a situation of spontaneous self-organization of “office plankton”.
Anything that is a generalization of a group of people, depersonalizing it, is a kind of technique in blurring the concept of a person, a person, as such. Just yesterday I had a short conversation regarding the phrase “office plankton”. This concept is very widespread, I would say, successfully imposed on society. The reaction to this word is immediately unambiguous - the imagination draws an image: a mass of identical not even figures, but blurry shadows. But what was surprising was that people, believing that this is irony, consider themselves to be part of this concept and joke about this topic. Those. are not outraged that they were so generalized, recognizing that there are no shadows of individual personalities in that mass! Without realizing this point, people use a “successful” ironic word, depersonalizing an entire group of people every time it is uttered. And there is no longer any attitude towards office plankton as people. This is a funny, faceless mass with which you can do whatever you want and it doesn’t matter what it experiences. Plankton is also plankton in Africa and is only needed to be eaten. Deprive them of pensions, salaries, food... Yes to your health!!! Who will worry about the fate of plankton? Unless Greenpeace waves flags))) And when I tried to explain to my interlocutor that all these “successful” ironic generalizations are special technologies - dehumanization, they told me that they don’t believe in such things. In vain. Because technologies believe in you, they even study and apply their “discoveries” in practice)))
The dehumanized Ukrainians became dill, the junta, Bandera - they can be killed because they are not people. The people going to the polls have become a faceless electorate, cattle, biomass, and they can be fooled because they are not people. People who came to the Maidan to defend their rights became Maidanists - i.e. people, but crazy ones. I immediately liked the word... it was cool... They picked it up and devalued the essence of the idea. That's how it works - dehumanization. Behind a cool generalizing word, a Personality is killed, a Man is killed. You, reading this answer, are also included in this generalization. You are plankton, biomass, dill, katsap. By no means a person, if you also joke about it all, are not outraged and accept your place in the jelly of shadows. It may seem to you that this is not about you, but alas, the attitude of the authorities towards you is precisely that of cattle.
My neighbors on the planet have an instilled hatred of Ukrainians, as something second-rate, simply called by someone with the funny word crests who devour Russian-speaking babies. The attitude towards the Balts, Americans, and Europeans is similar; each has its own “lucky” word.
And in addressing each other, both here and there, we are still man and woman! Not master and lady, not sir and madam (for example), that is, we do not operate with special neutral words, but address each other as a faceless physiological being. Even with this, we have been successfully dehumanized and have.
It is certainly possible to agree with this and change the situation, but there is one moment that is already slowing down the entire process of realizing this very dismemberment - this is the recognition by the person himself of the moment that you were wrong! People are ashamed to admit their mistakes and apologize for outright stupidity. The fact that they killed.. crushed.. blamed.. They will defend their place in the jelly plankton so as not to look fooled.. They will justify the concept, for example. And so they will remain for everyone - office plankton. For which now there will be another lesson to discuss the process which has a name - “wetting the chock”, these are those in Syria. What? Cool word! No people. There are chocks... I don’t feel sorry for the chocks. And who will go to wet? Those who are also not to be pitied in the masses. You think it’s someone but not you... But you’re already in the biomass. Not a person - a shadow! And no one cares about you - they will send you and you will go and kill! Then you will be horrified by what you did, if you survive. But your fate is not interesting to your country, which considers you office plankton. You have already been dehumanized.
