The System and Its Discontents

America has fashions in dirty words (or phrases) and good words (or phrases). Examples from the not very distant past are motherhood (good) and red or commie (dirty). It would seem that recently ecology has been substituted for motherhood. . . . Peace is, of course, a good word—as it has always been— but it is mouthed with as much understanding and purpose as were the words Liberty, equality and fraternity by the mobs of the French Revolution, the very mobs which were engaged in the destruction of all three. Military industrial complex is, I would estimate, our favorite dirty phrase of the present time. 

Engineers efforts to redefine their bonds of service, in short, were complex and heterogeneous, with dramatically different personal and professional consequences. The nexus of ideology, identity, and local 

MIT s shutdown was presented not simply as a question of sponsored research but as a battle over conflicting futures. At stake was the ability 

Like many interdisciplinary research groups at MIT, Fluid Mechanics was an extension of a traditional department, in its case Mechanical Engineering. Also, like many laboratories at MIT, Fluid Mechanics received the majority of its funding for military applications. Until 1967 it was dedicated to research on jet engine and re-entry physics for spacecraft and ballistic missiles. Of its graduates that did not go onto similar university work, 80 percent found employment in the defense industry. 

Three years later, as the Lincoln and Instrumentation Laboratories came under attack. Fluid Mechanics had increased in personnel and 

---

Personal reason for desiring a way out may involve initial poor enculturation, so we don t fit in well, knowledge of other cultural systems that seem advantageous in certain ways, and/or hope that a more satisfactory substitute can be found for our faulty culture, various kinds of personal discontent make it difficult or impossible for an individual to find meaning in his life within the consensus reality of the culture, if he acts out these discontents, he may be classified as neurotic or psychotic, as a criminal, or as a rebel, depending on his particular style, if he acts out in a way that capitalizes on widespread cultural discontent, he may be seen as a reformer or pioneer. Or, he may outwardly conform to the mores of contemporary society but be inwardly alienated. 

Many grocery stores and fast-food stores leave the scheduling of part-time workers to be done manually by administration. While they try to do a good job, it is time consuming and inequitable schedules can inadvertently arise. Such schedules can lead to discontent and employee unrest. A good system must be set up for this task. 

---