The Economy

The Economy
Workers are more productive than
ever, yet job insecurity is high.
As a result, many people are working
longer hours, especially people at
higher income levels, in order to
prove loyalty or achieve marginal
benefits.
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In recent American history, especially as
the economy has declined in previous
years, the landscape of the workforce has
changed.
There are fewer jobs available than
historically, which gives employers the
opportunity to select workers, and also to
tell them that if their performance is not
the best there are other people lined up
and waiting to take the job.
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This has contemporary workers
working harder, and trying to make
sure they are able to keep their jobs.
Less emphasis is placed loyalty to
employees because priority is placed
on profit, and employees are a big
expense! These considerations are
changing work in America.
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Creative class
a category of workers in many different
occupations and industries united by the
fact that creativity is central to their
productive work
fast-growing, well paid segment of the
workforce, now in high demand
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The feudal system came before
capitalism in Europe.
Feudalism- economic system
characterized by the presence of
lords, vassals, serfs, and fiefs
Lords owned the land, the vassal gave
protection, and the serfs worked the
land
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This system began to change as
early as the fifteenth century with
the enclosure movement, which
forced people off what had been
public land and sent them looking for
work in cities.
Those who were without private land
had to pay those with the private land
for the necessary resources.
The beginning of the haves and have
nots?
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In the eighteenth century, new
farming technologies led to an
agricultural revolution that:
helped increase the population and the
value of land.
innovated manufacturing and
transportation technology because of an
increased labor pool to fill new jobs.
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The agricultural revolution and
industrialization changed society in
specific ways:
from barter to the use of a legal
currency to buy and sell goods
from agreements between individuals to
contracts between corporations
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Monetization-the establishment of
legal currency
The use of currency rather than barter
is a huge change in the way that
humans interact with one another.
This enabled people more flexibility
for gaining what they needed. With
currency, constraints are eliminated.
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Capitalism-economic system where
property and goods are owned
privately; investments are decided
by private decisions; prices,
production, and distribution of goods
are determined by competition of the
free market
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Adam Smith was an economist who
believed that:
Competition helps maintain a cohesive
society.
Specialization increases productivity and
innovation.
Using money, rather than barter, makes
trading more efficient.
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Georg Simmel believed that:
Changing from piecework payment to
wage labor to a salary would
depersonalize exchange.
This was a great way to separate public
and private spheres and give workers
more freedom to enjoy the private, or
leisure, sphere.
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Karl Marx
Stated that capitalism created alienation in
workersincluding alienation from the products
they produced, from the production process,
from other workers, and from themselves and
their creative tendencies
Predicted both that capitalism would ultimately
destroy itself and that the working class would
rise against the capitalist class, leading to a
period first of socialism and then of
communism
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Max Weber
Linked the rise of capitalism to
technology, ideas, and beliefs, as
well as the Protestant Reformation
Expressed concerns about capitalism
because he thought people became
obsessed with working and making
money that they could never enjoy
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Do you agree or disagree with Marx
and Weber? Is capitalism bad? Why
or why not?
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In society today, people actually earn
less money (relative to the cost of
living) compared to the early 1900s.
This is because:
Only men were supposed to work.
Men were paid enough to provide for the
whole family (the family wage).
Unfortunately, the higher wage was at
the cost of womens freedom and
autonomy.
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Compared to other industrialized
countries and some developing
countries, Americans work longer hours
and have fewer vacation benefits and
less generous family leave policies.
Even when generous benefits are
available, workers often do not take
advantage of them, which suggests that
work is central in the lives of Americans.
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While more American companies are offering family-
friendly policies such as flextime and flexspace,
employees are not necessarily taking advantage of
them in great numbers.
Hochschild suggests that there has been a reversal
of sacred and profane that people would rather be
at work than at home, because at least work is less
chaotic.
Studies show that working mothers are less
depressed and have higher self-esteem than mothers
who do not work, yet they are also more likely to feel
tired and anxious and they have higher divorce rates.
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Globalization refers to the processes
that create and intensify worldwide
social exchanges and
interdependencies.
creates an increase in trade and
economic exchanges
magnifies the division between the
worlds rich and poor (champagne-glass
distribution)
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What is Globalization?
The intensification of global
interconnectedness
A process that promotes economic,
political, and other cultural connections
among people living all over the world.
The world condition created by relatively
recent developments in information,
communication and transportation
technologies.
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Is Globalization Really New?
Precursors to Globalization:
Human groups have always moved
around carrying their culture,
exchanging goods, stories, and ideas.
European Exploration and Colonialism
1500-1950
Spread of Industrial Capitalism
1850-present
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Globalization is characterized by
time-space compression (Harvey
1989)
deterritorialization (Gupta and
Ferguson 1997)
flattening the world (Friedman
2005)
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Global Scapes
Ethnoscapesflows of people
Technoscapesflows of technology
Mediascapesflows of info and images
Financescapesflows of capital
Ideoscapesflows of ideologies
Important to realize that these flows
are overlapping and are not
unidirectional.
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The Positive and the Negative of Global Flows
Money comes easily, money goes easily.
Jobs are created more easily, jobs are relocated more
easily.
You can spread information easily, you cannot control
information easily.
Corporate networks more easily established, illicit and
terrorist networks more easily established.
Computers and programmers move more easily, weapons
and sex traffickers move more easily.
New medical technologies spread more easily, diseases
spread more easily.
Etc.
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A corporation is a juristic person
an entity that has all the legal rights,
duties, and responsibilities of a
person, although their primary goal
is generally pursuit of profit.
They can buy and sell property, sue
and be sued in court, and so on.
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However, corporations arent people
(they are psychopaths); what about
morals and ethics?
This model raises concerns about
corporate ethics
environmental responsibility
fair wages
offshoring of labor (taking jobs
overseas)
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To fight for workers rights, workers
sometimes form a union - a collective
organization that formally unites for the
purpose of collective bargaining.
When a company refuses to negotiate or
renew a contract, this is called union
busting.
Are unions are still necessary today? Are
they helpful or hurtful to employees and
employers?
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