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Macionis uses separate chapters to address the economy and
politics; and work. Because economy and
work are so closely related, I’ve combined Chapters 11 and 12 under the
heading of “Economy, Politics, and Work.”
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I. Interesting themes in Macionis (p. 273):
A. In the U.S.
more government assistance (welfare) goes to corporations than to the poor.
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B. “U.S. corporations give more money to
political campaigns than to any other type of organizations, including labor
unions, civil rights groups, and women’s organizations.” (But, how does Macionis
explain donations from corporate magnates like Bill Gates who have given away
hundreds of millions of dollars?)
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C. Macionis
reports that voter turnout in the U.S.
is low—in recent national elections about 50% of the electorate (those
actually eligible to vote) turned out.
(In 2000 about 55% turned out).
This was exceeded in 2004. The Washington
Post reports that voter turnout was higher in 2004 than it had been in 36
years (when Nixon defeated Humphrey in 1968).
Its estimated that nearly 60% of the electorate turned out in 2004
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II. Some Notes on Economic
Systems (Palen,
2000) and (Macionis, 2004):
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A.
Capitalism-- The economic system most associated
with industrialization is capitalism,
in which the means of production and distribution of goods is privately
owned. Capitalism legitimizes private
ownership of wealth-producing property; it values the pursuit of personal
profit, and states that market competition should determine what goods are
produced.
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B.
Socialism-- Throughout
most of the twentieth century, socialism
has competed with capitalism.
Socialism is an economic system in which the means of production and
distribution are collectively owned.
The market economy is replaced with a demand economy administered by
the state, in which goods are produced based on the needs of the overall
society, not economic demand. Since
the 1992 collapse of the Soviet
Union, the former
socialist states of Russia and Eastern
Europe have largely
abandoned socialistic economic policies.
China maintains the system in theory while being increasingly capitalistic
in practice.
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C.
Mixed Systems-- Most economies today are actually mixed economies which combine free
enterprise economics with some government controls. Western Europe
has more social controls while America is more laissez faire.
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III. Economy and Politics:
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A.
Democracy
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B.
Authoritarianism
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C.
Monarchy
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IV. The U.S. Political Economy-- “the economic and political
life of a nation or region of the world” (Macionis,
p. 278)
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A.
The corporation—“businesses with a legal existence, including rights
and liabilities, apart from those of their members” (p. 278).
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1. Over
the past century and a half, America has been transformed from a nation of
small business owners to a nation where economic power is concentrated in a
few large corporations. One hundred corporations control
three-quarters of the nation's assets.
Moreover, conglomerates
composed of many corporations increasingly dominate the nation. Multinational
corporations that ignore national boundaries and view the world as one
market increasingly dominate the international scene. Multinationals have worldwide integrated
systems of finance, production, and distribution. They increasingly move production
facilities out of high-wage nations to low-wage nations. Corporate profits, not local needs or national
interests, determine corporate decisions.
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2. Corporate Power: Review capitalism, socialism, and mixed
economies. Where does the economic system of the U.S.
fall in this scheme? What is
“corporate welfare?” (Note that the text claims that the U.S.
corporations benefit by about 15 billion dollars each year. Look at the statistics provided by the text
for examples of how corporate welfare works in the box on p. 278—e.g. in 1993
Alabama gave
Mercedes-Benz $240 million to build an auto plant in that state. The plant employed 1,500 workers which that
the state subsidized the auto manufacturer approximately $169,000. per job. What is a
“corporation?” What is meant by “limited liability?” Look at the text’s
statistics on corporate power. In the U.S.
the 500 largest corporations account for three-quarters of the gross national
product. The largest 100 hold
three-quarters of this nation’s assets.
Only one entity in the world exceeds General Motors’s annual
budget—The United States! (Palen, 2000).
Distinguish between multinationals and conglomerates. (In the year, 2000, the largest U.S.
multinationals were GM, Ford, and General Electric, which together, employed
over 1 million workers). What are the major concerns about multinationals?
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B.
The Federal Government--
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1. The federal government expanded rapidly
during World War II and continued to grow during the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
A commonality of interests between the military in the Pentagon and
defense oriented corporations led to the development of a self reinforcing military-industrial
complex. C. Wright Mills wrote
extensively about a power elite in the United States. Another
concept that infers corporate power is that of interlocking directorates. Since
the 1989 end of the Cold War, military expenditures have been declining as a
proportion of the national budget (This has changed since the invasion of Iraq).
Contrary to the common myth, the federal government is actually
declining in size, and proportionally is only half as large as it was in 1960.
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7. The
decline in the size of the Federal Government—The fed has declined in size
and in the proportion of federal workers employed in the labor force. In 1960 the fed employed approximately 4
percent of the U.S.
labor force—Today, that has been cut to 2 percent. It should be remembered that today fed
employers make up only 16 percent of all government workers and that the
growth in government has primarily been at the local level. There should be no question about which of
the following; government, labor, or industry is the most powerful in the U.S.
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C.
Labor Unions--
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1. Unions
are organizations in which workers band together to improve wages and/or
working conditions. Until recently
they served as a counterweight to corporations in the United States.
Union membership peaked at a quarter of the labor force in the 1950s
and now stands at 16.5 percent. Union
workers traditionally came from the heavy manufacturing blue-collar
industries that are now in decline. White-collar
workers have been less responsive to unionization. Unions are once again stepping up
recruitment efforts, especially among government white-collar employees and
female workers, but are not likely to regain their former power.
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2. Another
trend, mentioned in class was the decline in labor union membership. According to the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of U.S.
workers who were members of labor unions had dropped to an all-time low of
13.5 percent in 2000. This represents
about 16.3 million people. Why? Reasons include,
retirements of union members and the failure of unions to recruit
replacements; and layoffs of union workers due to strong foreign
competition. For purposes of
comparison, the peak of union membership was reached in the 1950s when approximately
35 percent of American workers were union members. In the year 1983, union membership in the U.S.
was about 20 percent of the labor force.
Where do we find the highest concentration of union membership. Its actually in
the public sector. Approximately 37
percent of government workers are union members today. (That’s about 7.1 million workers). The private sector has more union workers
in terms of numbers (9.1 million) but in terms of percentages only 9 percent
of U.S.
workers in private industries are unionized.
One union official, John J. Sweeney the president of the AFL-CIO (in
2001) reported that in order for unions to replace losses on a yearly basis,
they would have to recruit 500,000 to 1,000,000 new members each year! (In 2000, they added 400,000 new
members). Unions have had some success
recruiting new members in low-paying jobs (janitors, etc.) and in some
high-paying jobs (psychologists and Doctors) but have been suffering losses
by the steady loss of jobs in industries like autos and steel—which
traditionally have been big union employment areas.
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V. Work--
The informal or secondary labor market in which wages
are low, job tenure is uncertain, and benefits nonexistent dominates much of
the Third World, and is increasingly found in American cities as well. In developing countries much if not the
majority of the labor force is in the secondary or informal labor market. Illegal immigrants in U.S. cities also constitute a secondary labor
market.
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A. There are four important changes in the U.S.
Labor force that have taken place in the 20th century:
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1. The first was a shift from employment
in agriculture to manufacturing and most recently in the latter half of the
century, the move to a service economy.
In 1900 approximately 40 percent of the workforce was employed in
agriculture. Today, the figure is less
than 4 percent! The plight of potato
farmers in Idaho
is just one example of how tremendous increases in agricultural productivity
have lowered the cost of produce to a point where many farmers cannot
survive. A New York Times article
published in March, 2001 noted that as many as a third of the state’s 900
potato growers could go bankrupt within a year. Many farmers are being paid less than $1.00
per 100lb sack of potatoes. Production
costs (which include fuel, equipment maintenance and fertilizer) are
typically about $5.00 per sack. At the
beginning of the century 83 percent of the labor force was engaged in
production work (including agriculture) and care-giving. By the mid 1990s, this figure had dropped
to 38 percent.
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2. The
second major change in the labor force is increased participation of
women. According to a U.S.
Census Bureau report, a milestone was reached in 1998 when (for the first
time) families in which both parents worked became a majority—This includes
families with children. In 1976, 31
percent of women with babies worked outside the home. In 1998, this figure had increased to 73
percent. Claims that more and more
women are choosing to stay home with the children today are just not true,
according to census reports.
Statistics indicate that roughly 50 percent of women are in the labor
force, but the text points out that these statistics may be conservative
because 6 out of 10 women work for wages.
Today the majority of women work for wages outside the home.
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3. A
third major change in the labor force has to do with education. The educational level of workers increased
dramatically in the 1900s. As recently
as 1970, nearly half the labor force did not even have a high school
diploma. Today nearly a quarter of the
labor force has at least a college degree.
(Only 13 percent of workers under the age of 30 do not have a high
school degree. (However, surveys of
college students indicate greater concern over finding a job, and Palen argues that having a college degree no longer
guarantees good employment—“It merely entitles the recipient to enter the
ranks of those seeking employment.”
High school educated workers saw their real income fall 20 percent in
the past two decades.
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4. A
fourth major change in the labor force has been the shift from full-time to
part-time employment. The number of
temporary workers has risen dramatically since the 1980s. Today, between 11 and 18 million U.S.
workers are “part-timers.” While many
workers want part-time work, others have been forced to take part-time or
contractual work by industry in its attempts to save money by not paying
health and retirement benefits.
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VI. Workplace
Alienation
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A. Karl Marx
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B. Max Weber
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C. George Ritzer (McDonaldization)
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D. Deskilling Workers
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