...The chapter on alienated labor clarifies the moral case against capitalism, at least as Marx saw it at this time. This has been touched on in a couple of earlier posts here but I wanted to highlight one piece of the argument. Marx's point here is that alienation is prior to private property and to such quantitative expressions of private property as exploitation, wage inequality, etc. “The alienation of the product of labour merely summarizes the alienation in the work activity itself.” In other words, how much of the product of alienated labor is available to the worker to consume is a secondary, and ultimately unimportant, issue compared with the fact of alienation itself. A couple pages later he makes this point even more emphatically: “An enforced increase in wages … would be nothing more than a better remuneration of slaves, and would not restore, either to the worker or to the work, their human significance and worth.” The claim that the level of wages is politically and morally irrelevant is very different from mainstream and even many Marxist approaches that see questions of wellbeing in terms of consumption and justice in terms of distribution of income, and don't consider the qualitative character of work at all. Marx characterizes alienation of labor in various ways: - “the work is external to the worker”; - “he does no fulfill himself in his work”; - the worker “has a feeling of misery rather than wellbeing”; - the worker “does not develop freely his...
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...In Marx’s Alienated Labor, he explains how Capitalism alienates people and turns them into objects as opposed to subjects or people. He goes over, in this, the effects the division between capital and labor, private property, and greed on the “have nots” of society. In the workplace, the working class, the labourers, undergo a process to which the title of Marx’s manuscript is named. To be separated from one’s work, to be seen as a replaceable, to then be seen as an object, and finally to view others as such, This is the is the process of Alienation Marx depicts in his manuscript. This process that we have so readily accepted as a part of society. As Marx says, “We have accepted its language and its laws” (pg 58). Is this process actually forced...
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...Idealism versus Reality I wish to begin my inquiry and understanding of what Schiller is trying to say by defining and listing Adam’s Smith ideas on division of labor and its beneficial and undesired effects. It is important to do so as Smith is a predecessor to Schiller and the society/circumstances Schiller is subject to is a product of adherence or implementation of Smith’s philosophy since its propagation. Adam Smith theorizes that division of labor leads to increased efficiency by saving time, as direct result of specialization of labor at each step in production, this specialization on part of labor needs to increased dexterity and ingenuity on part of the laborers who with their experiential knowledge will improvise production or invents things to save their labor and time. All this will leads to betterment of the society because there will be more good and commodities available for the society as whole, but at the cost of the individuals or the class of workers subject to DOL system of production. According to Smith they will turn in to dull human beings, incapable of analysis and protecting their country. And he proposes the idea of compulsory universal education that will at least lessen this undesired outcome of DOL to some degree. A necessary sacrifice by the part of the society for the betterment of society as a whole. This separation of part from the whole at a macro level is what is going to form the basis of Schiller’s opposition to Smith’s argument...
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...Orientation: Within the Office Walls Through the sayings of Marx you are bound by the limitations of your social standing along with the level of your working class. As a new employee at the office you are shown the dos and don’ts of the floor that you are on restricted to what movements or actions you execute to the working environment around you. Being part of the middle class labor force you get introduced to the atmosphere and given insight to the people around you. It shows how big an effect capitalism impacts what you do in the office and how your personal benefits are stripped away from you to the limitations of what you can do within the given environment. At the very start you are shown your area of work. “Those are the offices and these are the cubicles. That’s my cubicle there, and this is your cubicle.” Furthermore your personal benefits of your life outside of the office are stripped away “This is your phone. Never answer your phone. Let the Voicemail System answer it. This is your Voicemail System Manual. There are no personal phone calls allowed.” From the bat you are alienated from the people around you within the workplace cubicles that separate each laboring individual from each other. Though everyone is nearby you are limited to that small cubicle to yourself shut out from the fellow workers near you. Apart from this you have been given strict instructions that personal calls or even answering your phone is forbidden. This further alienates you from the...
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...Describe and evaluate the key elements of Frederick Taylor's approach to 'scientific management' and comment on its applicability in contemporary organisations. (You might select a particular industry or occupational area for this analysis). Scientific management is represented as the priority of task efficiency over the minimal socio-interaction between labourers through the segregation via skill elements (Littler, 1978). Frederick Taylor (1856-1915) describes the role of a worker to instinctively follow orders and execute them with minuscule aspects, without excessive wastage of resources (Bratton, et al., 2010). The contemporary organizations in our society are that which has abolished the traditional configuration and orientates information throughout the entire organisation, thus minimizing reaction time to various stimuli (L, 2012). As technology improves, ease of communication and transport has significantly reduced lag time between processes and so creates the importance of the service industry. The key elements of Taylor’s approach still applies in such organisations despite the many changes in the workplace, however, these have been modified and consequently evolved to suit the different needs and environments these organisations face. The core context of Taylor’s view on scientific management is the segregation of job responsibilities. Given the many processes it takes for a complete product to be transferred from being raw materials to the hands of the consumer...
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...Eloïse Stark Midterm Essay How to explain that women still get lower wages than men in the OECD countries? In western countries since the Second World War, women’s growing participation on the labor market has been one of the most profound transformations not only of the economy but also of society as a whole. Dual income families have become the norm and in a bid for sexual equality, most OECD countries have created laws to protect pay equality for men and women, such as the Equal Pay Act in 1963 in the US, or the article 119 of the EEC treaty. Nonetheless, women continue to earn less than men in all OECD countries. There are different ways of measuring this. Comparing annual or monthly earnings shows the difference between what both sexes “take home”, which is interesting from a sociological perspective. However we shall focus on the “gender pay gap”, defined as the “the relative difference in the average gross hourly earnings of women and men working full time”. This shows the difference between the actual “price” of women and men’s labor, taking into consideration the fact that men work more hours on average. How does the gender gap stand today? Despite differences between countries the gender pay gap remains a persistent characteristic of OECD labor markets. In 2006, women earned an average of 16% less than men, per hour worked. … Although we can see a slow but continuous drop over the past few decades in all countries In OECD countries, which are...
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...of a field experiment in which a random subsample of older workers was given information about key Social Security provisions, while a control group was not. The experiment was designed to examine whether it is possible to affect individual behavior using a relatively inexpensive informational intervention about the provisions of a public program and to explore what mechanisms underlie the behavior change. We find that our relatively mild intervention (sending an informational brochure and an invitation to a webtutorial) significantly increased labor force participation one year later and that this effect is driven by female subjects. The information intervention increased the perceived returns to working longer, especially among female respondents, which suggests that the behavioral response can be attributed at least in part to updated information about Social Security. Key words: Social Security Incentives; Field Experiment; Labor Force Participation; Knowledge; Expectations; Retirement; Benefit Claim Age, Earnings Test. * Liebman: Harvard Kennedy School and NBER. Luttmer: Economics Department at Dartmouth College, and NBER. Corresponding author: Erzo Luttmer, Erzo.FP.Luttmer@Dartmouth.Edu. We thank John Geanakoplos, David Laibson, Annamaria Lusardi, Brigitte Madrian, Susann Rohwedder, and Stephen Zeldes for helpful comments. We thank Kate Mikels, Abdul Tariq, and Victoria Levin for superb research assistance. This research was supported by the U.S. Social Security...
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...What is Child Labor? Child labor is work that harms children or keeps them from attending school. Around the world , growing gaps between rich and poor in recent decades have forced millions of young children out of school and into work. The International Labor Organization estimates that 246 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 currently work under conditions that are considered illegal, hazardous, or extremely exploitative. Underage children work at all sorts of jobs around the world, usually because they and their families are extremely poor. Large numbers of children work in commercial agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, mining, and domestic service. Some children work in illicit activities like the drug trade and prostitution or other traumatic activities such as serving as soldiers. The child is the father of the man”. Children should be imparted noble values and virtues so that they can grow up as good and responsible citizen of the country. It is indeed unfortunately that we find children being forced to wok in order earn their livelihood. Thus the hand should be used for play or studies are used for hard manual work. Thus a childhood is wasted, which comes once in life of a man. Child labor in Bangladesh, it is a very sympathetic also a great sorrow for us we are really unable to take necessary action against them to remove elegy of child labor. Somebody say Bangladesh is a developing country but actually our country is poor. Economic problems are a most...
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...Supply and Demand of Labor Shannon Sampson XECO/212 James Nzokah April 20, 2012 Throughout history there have been many different events that have affected the supply and demand of labor, but there are few that have had as great of an effect as the Black Death. Considered to be one of the worst disasters to hit per industrial Europe, the Black Death swept through Europe from 1347 -1353, and was responsible for shifting the demand for labor and the supply of it in a way few other events have done at any point in history, Prior to the onset of the Black Death in 1347 (Routt, 2010) the demand for labor was lower than the supply of it, Europe was crowded and there was plenty of people to choose from to get the work done, so the lords were able to pay lower wages due to the shear fact that there was always someone willing to work for less just to put food on their table. In 1353 when all was said and done the population of the European people had been diminished by a staggering amount. (Routt, 2010) This lose in so many human lives shifted the ready supply of labor. Even though the demand for labor was less due to this same loss of life, it was still higher than the ready supply of labor. This shift to demand being higher than the supply meant that a person could charge more for their labors. This accrued all a crossed the labor markets so it effected everyone. (Routt, 2010) Bibliography Routt, D. (2010, april 02). The Economic Impact of the Black...
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...requirement for one product that is created due to the purchase of another product. It occurs for consumers who purchase goods for further production, because their purchases are based on the demand for their final product.[1] For example, when the demand for automobiles is high, the derived demand for steel, and all other products used to make automobiles, is also high. Should the demand for automobiles drop, so will the demand for the products used to make the automobiles. Derived demand applies particularly to strategic human resources planning in relation to labour. Demand and supply of labour interact to determine the wages and affects the allocation of labour resources in ta corporation. It involves anticipating both the need for labor and the labor supply while planning programs necessary to ensure the organization will have the right mix of employees. The demand for labour is derived form the demand for the goods and services that labour is used to produce. Additionally the demand for labour is influenced by the level of economic activity, the productivity of labour and relative cost of labour compared to capital.[2] The demand and supply of labour are influenced by both macroeconomic and microeconomic factors. Macroeconomics refer to conditions in the whole economy affecting the general labour market. Microeconomic factors include specific industry and company conditions that influence the demand and supply of labour for particular occupations and labour skills. These are...
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...Josh Dean U.S. History to 1877 online Unit 1 essay I chose the northern colonies as the colony that I would most like to live in. I chose the north because it seems more stable for a family to live in. The northern colonies had a much healthier life style with a life span that averaged into the seventies. The north was a much tighter society that lived in smaller communities that worked and socialized together. I also like the fact that the settlements were also more organized then the other two colonies. I like the fact that when the northern colonies layed out a town they did it in an organized fashion with the town hall in the center or town were they would worship and have meeting. Around the town hall they would lay out the houses for the people to live so they were close to the center of town. I think this also would help with town defense against attacking Indians and other hostile groups. I also like the fact that the families were given land that had wood and a place to grow crops. This would help immigrants just arriving that they would have the security of knowing they had land to live on. Also the fact that towns with 50 or more families would start a school, which shows the importance of education in the northern colonies. The fact that the north was moral in most of their choices for the community would be a major factor for me deciding to choose the northern colonies to live in. Like the fact that the northern colonies is the anti-slavery stance...
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...Sociological Research, vol. 50, no. 6, November–December 2011, pp. 17–31. © 2011 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 1061–0154/2011 $9.50 + 0.00. DOI 10.2753/SOR1061-0154500602 G.P. Bessokirnaia The Dynamics of Workers’ Values and Labor Motives (2003–2007) Research on workers in Russia shows that attitudes toward work are strongly influenced by conditions in the workplace, and that this is the case for both males and females. The dynamics of the core values of everyday activities and labor motives of Moscow workers in the 1990s [1], and changes in the basic life values and motives of workers in the period 1990–2003 [2], were the subject of studies the author conducted in collaboration with V.D. Patrushev [3, pp. 77–99], to whose memory I dedicate this article. The present author carried out a comparative analysis of the basic life values and labor motives of workers in Pskov in 1995–2007 [4]. This article presents the results of the analysis of the dynamics of the values and labor motives of workers during a relatively stable period of the development of Russian society, during a period of economic growth. The surveys of workers were carried out in the same machine-building plants in Briansk, Pskov, and Kirov in 2003 and 2007.1 All three cities are oblast centers of regions that, according to the classification devised English translation © 2011 M.E. Sharpe, Inc., from the Russian text © 2010 the author. “Dinamika tsennosti i motivov truda rabochikh (2003–7...
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...CHAPTER 9 LABOUR PRACTICES AND WORKING CONDITIONS IN TNCS: THE CASE OF TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR IN INDIA KRISHNA SHEKHAR LAL DAS & SOBIN GEORGE 1. INTRODUCTION The study on the working conditions and labour practices in Toyota Kirloskar in India is part of the network research on Transnational Corporation Monitoring in Asia. Since 2002 the Asian Transnational Corporation (ATNC) Monitoring Network has been operational to build up a regional network through which labour organisations in different Asian countries can pursue concrete solidarity actions to improve working conditions of workers employed in transnational corporations (TNC). Against this backdrop, it is aimed to have a closer look at the labour management and forms of employment in automobile and electronics sectors invested by Asian TNCs in Asia. As part of this endeavour, the Centre for Education and Communication (CEC), New Delhi collaborated with the network research coordinated by Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC), Hong Kong to observe the labour practices of Asian TNCs invested in India. In the first phase the network research focused on the movement of capital and its impact on labour by engaging desk research on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and related aspects. In the current phase, emphasis is on specific cases of labour practices and labour conditions in selected ATNCs. 1.1 Methodology The present study is situated in the wider context of the dichotomy between labour and capital. The changes of production...
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...the quantity of output i.e. output depends upon input. Input is the starting point and output is the end point of production process and such input-output relationship is called as "Production Function". All factors of production like land, labor, capital and entrepreneur are required altogether at a time to produce a commodity. In economics, production means creation or an addition of utility. Factors of production can be classified into four categories. Such as: 1. Land 2. Labour 3. Capital 4. Enterprise Factors of production refer to inputs required for conducting production. Input is the starting point of every production activity. According to Prof. Benham, "Anything that contributes towards output is a factor of production." Mere existence of anything doesn't make it a factor of production but its contribution in production process is a necessary condition. Dr. Alfred Marshall described factors of production as "Agents of Production". Cooperation among factors is essential to produce anything because production is not a job of single factor Four Factors of Production in Economics - Chart Following chart provides brief tabulated information on 4 factors of production. * Mention the features of Land, Labor. * Land:- Land is a Natural and primary factor of Production. Land is not created by mankind but it is a gift of nature. So, it is called as natural factor of production. It is also called as original or primary factor of production...
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...production Labor as factor of production is any human effort used productively (with an output of goods or services) for which payment is made. Honorary work and work for enjoyment are excluded Special Features of Labour Perish ability - cannot be stored, today's effort cannot be saved for tomorrow; Inseparability from labour - cannot be transferred by owner; Immobility as compared to capital and enterprise; Supply of labour not adjustable in short run (it takes 20 years to produce a worker). Labor as a factor of production: Labor is human recourse of production. Any form of physical or mental effort done to the production of goods and services with a view to earn reward, is called labor e.g. Worker, clerk, teacher, doctor, judge, typist etc. According to Marshall, "Any exertion of mind or body undergone partly or wholly with a view to some good other than the pleasure derived directly from the work is called labor. Characteristics of Labor: These are the characteristics of labor as a factor of production. 1. Labor is Inseparable: Labor is inseparable from the labor himself, because he is the source of his own labor power. 2. Sole of Labor: A laborer cannot be sold but a laborer has to sell, his labor in person. 3. Perishable: The labor of a laborer cannot be stored because it is perishable. 4. Bargaining power: Laborer has a weak bargaining power and he has to accept the wage offered to him. 5. Wastage of labor: Labor ban be wasted...
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