Notes on The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein

[cpxbrex]

This is going to be a long one. Shock Doctrine is a complex and fairly personal book for me. I'll give you the short version: it's great. Read it. Put down whatever else you are reading and read it. Now comes the epic long ass version. Be prepared for many diversions.

Comments

[kabal42]

It's too late for me to be eloquent here. But I'm glad you took the time to be ;-) Thanks. It was a very fascinating and sobering read. I wish this book would be standard curriculum in quite a few places!

One point of curiosity: what does she say about Scandinavian workers' control over the work-place? I'm wondering if she misunderstood an existing system or is pointing to a utopia.

[cpxbrex]

She didn't really say anything about Scandinavian workers controlling their workplaces. She said that workers were controlling their workplaces and that the countries were modeling themselves after Scandinavian economies - eliding the two together in a way that made me think she was engaging in some utopian thinking. When proving the central points of her thesis she was much clearer, in general.

[kabal42]

Hm. That does sound pretty muddled. Thanks for elaborating, though.