April 22nd Sign in Last Day to Drop with a “W” Quick Writing Lecture 12: Work in the Post-Industrial Society Homework: Introduction to Sociology: Chapter 19 HMWK #4

Quick Writing: 5-10 minutes Write your name on a piece of paper, since you will hand this in. Explain your worst work experience Explain your best work experience

Work in the Post-Industrial Economy Lecture 11 Work in the Post-Industrial Economy

Social Organization of Work As our society becomes more interdependent, the ways in which we organize the production and consumption of goods becomes more complex The advent of industrialization brought about a new type of economic organization that we call capitalism Modern capitalism has both encouraged globalization and has been intensified by globalization

Modern Capitalism Capitalism: economic system based on private ownership Private property is a socially constructed norm Institution of wage labor Capitalists invest not to produce goods of value – although valuable goods are produced – but to make profit. Liberalism and Privatization Economic liberalization is a broad term that usually refers to fewer government regulations and restrictions in the economy in exchange for greater participation of private entities; the doctrine is associated with neoliberalism. The “Invisible Hand”: self-regulating markets In The Wealth of Nations and other writings, Smith argued that, in a free market, an individual pursuing his own self-interest tends to also promote the good of his community as a whole through a principle that he called “the invisible hand”. He argued that each individual maximizing revenue for himself maximizes the total revenue of society as a whole, as this is identical with the sum total of individual revenues. firms, in the pursuit of profits, are led, as if by an invisible hand, to do what is best for the world. Nobel Prize winning economist says that this is a fallacy: But unlike his followers, Adam Smith was aware of some of the limitations of free markets, and research since then has further clarified why free markets, by themselves, often do not lead to what is best. Whenever there are “externalities”—where the actions of an individual have impacts on others for which they do not pay or for which they are not compensated—markets will not work well. Some of the important instances have been long understood—environmental externalities. Markets, by themselves, will produce too much pollution. Markets, by themselves, will also produce too little basic research. (Remember, the government was responsible for financing most of the important scientific breakthroughs, including the internet and the first telegraph line, and most of the advances in bio-tech.) Modern Capitalism is an economic system based on private property where goods are bought and sold on a market and prices are determined by supply and demand Profit incentive, free competition to buy goods, drive to accumulate capital ($) Capitalism is driven by rational thinking & organization with the goal of finding the most efficient means to gain profit

Working in a Corporate Society As a global corporate society grows, we can ask: How does it affect workers and the social organization of work? To begin to answer this question we want to examine how labor is socially reproduced The wages, working conditions, and social relations of work are determined by economic, social, and political contexts (social structure)

Selling Our Labor Capitalism creates an institution of wage labor that forms the foundation of our social structure One sociologist, Karl Marx, spent his life examining capitalism and its affect on workers and society as a whole According to Marx, in an industrial society our labor is no longer voluntary, but forced What do you think he means by this? Human must produce Capacity to produce makes us human We pour ourselves into a product Capitalism solves the issue of production, but at the expense of alienating and dehumanizing the majority According to Marx, capitalism means alienation from: Labor power and creativity Fellow workers Products we make Labor is no longer voluntary, but forced “A mere appendage of flesh on a machine of iron” Fictitious commodities: not produced for the market, but treated as if they are Land – subdivided nature Labor – human labor ower

Modern Capitalism: Alienated Labor According to Marx, workers in Industrial society (the many who do not own the means of production) become alienated since they are required to sell their labor They become alienated in three ways From themselves From the labor process From other people

Alienated from ourselves Marx believed that work is the essence of humanity The ability to produce for ourselves is what makes us human When workers must sell their labor they are alienated from their own labor power, creativity, and the products they make “the worker cannot use the things he produces to keep alive or to engage in further productive activity....” The more productive workers are the cheaper they become

Alienated from the labor process/products According to Marx, when we must sell our labor we (in general) lose control over how we will labor We have no say over the conditions in which we work and how our work is organized, and how it affects us physically and mentally Through the rationalization of the labor process (deskilling) workers become “a mere appendage of flesh on a machine of iron”

Alienated from fellow humans We are alienated from those that control our labor and those who produce goods for us The commodities of each individual producer appears in depersonalized form, regardless of who produced them, where, or in what specific conditions Alienated form fellow workers According to Marx, since we must sell our labor we are forced to compete with other workers for jobs *Think about how globalization affects competition for jobs* Creates false consciousness vs. class coconsciousness

Rational Organization of Labor Capitalist economies rationally organize production to find the most efficient means to achieve profit accumulation Therefore, corporations (the dominant organizations) look to find the cheapest inputs possible for profit maximization – including labor However, the cost of labor is socially reproduced As companies seek out the cheapest labor on the market they encounter social, political, and economic contexts that determine the cost and conditions of labor/work

Using the case studies from the book Threads we can examine the social reproduction of labor by looking at the organization of rational production changes in from a period of industrial apparel production with the Tultex corporation to a more globalized apparel production with the Liz Claiborne corporation

Tultex & Fordist Organization of Production Fordism is defined as a system of mass production tied to mass consumption; in others words workers needed to be paid enough to buy the goods that are being produced in the economy A fordist style of economic organization requires: A stable workforce – workers generally worked for one company their whole loves Automation technology and deskilling – the creation of the assembly line High level of unionization – where workers were able to bargain for high wages and benefits

Industrial Economic Growth The fordist style of economic organization created significant economic growth, a large middle class, and the birth of the consumer economy in American society With automation technology, workers become more productive and earned high enough wages to consume the goods produced However, a capitalist system creates increasing competition among corporations and therefore they are looking for ways to cut the cost of their inputs including labor One of these ways was to look for workers who did not need to consume at the levels that American workers had become accustomed to

Liz Claiborne Corporation The Liz Claiborne corporation started in the apparel industry when industrial production started to expand around the globe and they were able to take advantage of this globalization During this period of time the social organization of production and work can be labeled post- fordism, whereby the global economy is organized for mass production of goods at various stages in different part of the world, but the mass consumption of goods takes place in only a few parts of the world

Post-Fordism Post-fordism is defined as the social organization of production based on flexibility and innovation being maximized to meet market demand A fordist style of economic organization requires: A contingent workforce – workers are generally hired for short periods of time Automation technology and deskilling – the creation of the assembly line, but around the world Information technology – allows corporations to make decisions in one location and hire labor in other locations No unionization – workers are not able to bargain for high wages and benefits or improved working conditions

Changing organization of labor; changing cost of labor The previous two case studies demonstrate how the cost of labor is socially reproduced buy the type of organization of production With fordist organization, automation and the assembly created a demand for deskilled labor and therefore reduced the cost of labor, however workers still needed to earn high enough wages to purchase the goods produced in this type of economy With post-fordism this changes with information technology which makes it possible to move around the world and utilize automation technology to find workers who do not need to earn wages to consume at the level of American workers

Cheap people or Cheap Labor ? What we want to remember is no one’s labor is cheaper than someone else’s labor – it is the social organization of a society that makes ‘cheap labor’ possible There are no ‘cheap’ people, just ‘cheap’ wages When thinking about cheap labor, ask yourself: “How is my labor socially reproduced in this society to be more expensive that the labor of workers in Mexico, China, Jamaica, etc?” For example, some of the political policies that make American labor more expensive are: minimum wage, unemployment insurance, medical leave, workplace safety, etc.

Increasing Alienation? To conclude, we can think about how globalization and post-fordist organization of production affects the alienation of workers that Marx discussed Do you think that globalization increases the alienation of workers? From themselves? From the labor process? From other people?