Not quite what I was going to write about
I initially wanted to write a post on the psychological costs of precarious employment but became a little sidetracked while making supper. I often listen to podcasts when I am in the kitchen, especially discussions on history. I find it very relaxing. Somehow, a more distant timeline is a lot more comforting than 24-hour news cycles. This particular discussion was on poetry as a lens on historical events.
The discussion made me think of William Blake’s And did those feet in ancient time (1808), today better known as the rousing patriotic hymn Jerusalem (Sir Hubert Parry, 1916) – frequently sung in football and rugby stadiums in the UK. Jerusalem also made a memorable appearance in the soundtrack of the movie Chariots of Fire (1981). The music is beautiful, but the context in which And did those fee in ancient time was written, a little more unsettling. The contextual background is the first Industrial Revolution – a subject also covered by Charles Dickens in Oliver Twist (1838) and Hard Times (1854).
The darker side of technological change
The first Industrial Revolution was a time of rapid urbanisation, slums, pollution, debtors’ prisons, child labour, rising death rates, and worker exploitation. I immediately looked up Blake’s poem to read it more closely. The line ‘Among these dark Satanic mills’ seemed to leap off the page.
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon Englands mountains green;
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!
And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?
Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my sward sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant land.
What struck me – obviously this is a superficial observation – is that now in the midst of the fourth Industrial Revolution similar social issues have become part of everyday conversation: rising living expenses, affordability, the shortage of affordable housing, job losses, job insecurity, homelessness, debt and the exploitation of contract workers. And, like then, concerns about the loss of creative, artisanal and traditional skills and crafts.
In over 200 years, the only difference between then and now is that in the first round of technological change impacted manual workers, the fourth round has added white collar workers and professionals. Many job categories that were once thought to be ‘safe bets’ are no longer that safe. Copy writers, editors, photographers, graphic designers, even therapists, medical service provides and law practitioners are all adapting to the working environment.
Of course new job categories will be created, while others will fall away, but historical perspectives tend aggregate the personal dramas of disruptive change and social upheaval.
Is progress a spiral or have we come a full circle?
We cannot be naive about progress. The second Industrial Revolution introduced assembly lines (cars), electricity, steel construction (Eiffel Tower, 1889) and new resources (oil). In the third Industrial Revolution, it was computers, nuclear energy and electronics. So here we are on the threshold of another Industrial Revolution and learning an entirely new lexicon of progress: robotics, artificial intelligence, nano technology and bio technology.
We have all benefited from previous industrial revolutions. Successive generations have experienced higher standards of living than their parents.
However, the hard truth is that progress has never been without collateral damage. History tells us that these costs tend to rise exponentially until it becomes more expedient to reduce them through legislation. People who are at the coal face of change rarely have agency in this process. Consumers seem to have an insatiable appetite for the bright baubles tossed in our direction, but what is really at stake when we reach out to grab them?