I Think I Get It

When partial information is worse than none at all

Learning to Labor by Paul Willis is one of the best books that nobody has read. The book focuses on a group of working class boys as they transition toward working class jobs. A pair of behaviors — penetration and limitation — help explain the shortcomings of countless groups, including these boys.

Learning to Labor

Learning to Labor focuses on a group of approximately 15-year-old English boys who call themselves the lads. The lads skip class, drink, and smoke. More importantly, they ensure everyone else sees this type of behavior. The lads reminded me of the freaks from Freaks & Geeks (great show).

The lads realize it is harder for them to climb the socioeconomic ladder than it is for their peers to maintain their higher class, and they recognize the educational system does not do enough to correct this. While it is relatively easy to analyze a different culture, penetrations — insights into one’s own culture — such as this are difficult.

The lads experience many more limitations — impediments to a complete understanding — than penetrations due to this difficulty. They see manual labor as more noble than mental work. Surely, part of this comes from a desire to do something tangible. More importantly, however, the lads seek jobs they are discouraged from doing. They recognize that the system is skewed against them, so they are skeptical of authority figures. The teachers are viewed as perpetrators of the system even though they are the ones trying to provide upward mobility, and the lads respond by doing the exact opposite of what they are told. This partial penetration ironically leads to worse outcomes than if there had been no insight at all.

Partial Penetration

I think of partial penetrations as actions taken in the first peak of the Dunning-Kruger curve. Limited information provides the confidence to act incredibly rashly. Unfortunately, partial penetrations are all too common.

Most people realize the unfairness of the government bailing out large banks while individuals’ homes were repossessed after the subprime mortgage crisis. Turning to deregulated cryptocurrencies instead of demanding more accountability from financial institutions is a limitation.

It is easy to get disillusioned with politics after seeing two poor choices on the ballot in November. Many people choose not to vote instead of focusing on primary elections and down-ballot races.

Manosphere

Young men are growing increasingly lonely and despondent. One contributor is a pervasive partial penetration — the manosphere. Algorithms are leading young men toward content intended to make them understand they are victims. The economy is stacked against them, and the dating culture is poisoned. This belief fosters resentment toward women and isolation.

There is evidence to support this belief. Wages have not kept up with productivity, and it is increasingly difficult to support a family. The average woman on a dating app gets many more matches than the average man. Unfortunately, evidence such as this is used to support increasingly fringe ideas without providing useful guidance.

Dating has never been a painless process, and technology has not simplified this. Young men are not the only group with demanding expectations in the face of difficult economic and social trends. The best approach is to accept the things we can’t change and act on those we can. With so much disinformation, only God — and Paul Willis — can help us tell the difference.