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.

(1) Explain your worst work experience

(2) Explain your best work experience

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

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?

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?