CHAPTER 2 THE LABORER IN THE CULTURE

OF CAPITALISM

Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism

CHAPTER 2 THE LABORER IN THE CULTURE

OF CAPITALISM

Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism

Three main categories of people in

the culture of Capitalism

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

•  Person or business entity that desires to make a profit

•  Invests money •  Provides the money to

get the production of goods

Capitalist

•  Performs the work/labor needed to produce the goods

•  Sole means of support comes from the sale of their labor

Laborer

•  Purchase goods and services

Consumer

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

Elements of Capitalism Baptism of Money

The Construction, Anatomy and Characteristics of the working class

Elements of Capitalism

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

5 Elements of Capitalism 1.   Commodities (C) – something of use, advantage

or value 2 types:

Capital Goods (C)

Consumer Goods (C’)

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

5 Elements of Capitalism…cont

2. Money (M) – standard means of exchange Money Invested (M’)

3. Labor Power (lp) - work that is needed to transform one type of commodity into another 4. Means of Production (mp) – raw materials and means of labor 5. Production (p) - combination of lp and mp to produce commodities

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

Types of Values in Commodities:

• Usefulness of an object

•  Commodities for people to use

Use Value

•  Goods that are obtained not for use but for exchange or for money/profit (m’)

Exchange Value

C → C’

M→ C’

M→C →M’

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

Lp and Mp as contributor to fully developed capitalism :

MO

NE

Y

M C

API

TA L

GO

OD

S

C PR

OD

UC

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N

Por MP/LP

CO

NSU

ME

R

GO

OD

S

C’

MO

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Y IN

VE

STE

D

(PR

OFI

T)

M’

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

CYCLE OF CAPITALIST PRODUCTION

C(mp/lp) (Production)

C’ (Product)

M’ (Sale)

M (Money/Investment)

C = Commodities (Capital goods)

C’ = Commodities (Consumer goods)

Mp = Means of production (textiles, factories, machines)

Lp = people who design, assemble the product

M = Money invested

M’= Money invested plus money earned(profit)

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

THE BLACK BOX

Money (M) Investments (Input) Profits (Output)

More Money (M’)

The Black Box

The Black Box can be anything from a bank account, insurance policy, to a stock portfolio or shares from corporations

The Baptism of Money

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

The Baptism of Money

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

Karl Marx refers to commodity fetishism as the sense of excessive reverence for commodities or money. He also referred commodities as fetishes because they conceal and mask the exploitation of labor, land and people.

The Construction and Anatomy of the Working Class

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

“ The consumer may drive the culture of capitalism,

but WITHOUT the laborer, there would be no

commodities to consume”

Characteristics of the Working Class

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

Labor Mobility

Disciplined and

Controlled

Segmented

Militant

Characteristics of the Working Class

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

Labor Mobility

•  Members of this class were by necessity mobile, free to move to wherever workers are needed, unhampered by property or family connections.

•  Laborers were mobile because they had been forced off their land or the products they produced were no longer in demand.

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

Emigrated Permanently Agricultural laborers Others

Characteristics of the Working Class

Italian migrants from 1860 – 1901

Characteristics of the Working Class

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

Segmentation

•  Members of this class were divided, or segmented by race, religion, ethnicity, age and gender.

Two categories: 1.   Labor Aristocracy – workers who

often benefit from the profits of the capitalists; benefits through political influence and union organization

2.   Workers/day laborers - accept lower wages and less secure jobs

Characteristics of the Working Class

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

Discipline and Control

•  Members of this class were being disciplined to a new concept of time

•  Time was a necessity that should

not be wasted

•  In the middle of the 19th century supervision of labor, fines, bells and clocks, money incentives, preaching and schooling , a new TIME discipline was imposed on society and on the laborer

Characteristics of the Working Class

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

Militant and Resistant

•  Members of this class were characterized by a new militancy and was close to being seen as WORLD REVOLUTION

•  Revolutions were an expression of

developing patterns of conflict between the rich and the poor

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

Characteristics of the Working Class

Jean –Baptise Say(France), David Ricardo &Thomas Malthus (England)

•  Argued that the poor had only themselves to blame for their condition

Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Robert Owen, Henri Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier

•  Blamed the exploitation of labor for poverty

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

According to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels , SOCIETY WAS DIVIDED INTO 2 CLASSES:

BOURGEOISIE

•  Middle Class or the ruling class •  Consists of capitalists ,

manufacturers, bankers and other employees

•  Owns the means of production

PROLETARIAT •  Class of wage earners or

industrial workers •  Does not possess any property;

must sell labor to survive

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

The Growth of Overseas Assembly Plants

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

The Growth of Overseas Assembly Plants

Maximize profits

> Maximize surplus value of labor

>Pay workers as little as possible

> Get laborer to produce more in the same period of time

Keep labor costs down

> Import Labor from peripheral areas >Hired inmates as laborers >Slave labor

>Free trade zones

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

The Growth of Overseas Assembly Plants

* *Poor working conditions * Low pay of laborers *Discouraged formation on unions * Loose environmental regulations(degradation) *Abandoned old site plants(Unemployment) * Immorality *poor Family values

Companies compete w/ other manufacturers *Helped 3rd world countries (employment) *Consumers pay less for goods *Investors get higher return *Women were employed

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism

Conclusion

The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism