global problems and the culture of capitalism ir 204

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


Elements of Capitalism Baptism of Money

The Construction, Anatomy and Characteristics of the working class

Elements of Capitalism



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

or value 2 types:

Capital Goods (C)

Consumer Goods (C’)


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


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’


Lp and Mp as contributor to fully developed capitalism :

MO

NE

Y

M C

API

TA L

GO

OD

S

C PR

OD

UC

TIO

N

Por MP/LP

CO

NSU

ME

R

GO

OD

S

C’

MO

NE

Y IN

VE

STE

D

(PR

OFI

T)

M’


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 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 Baptism of Money


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 consumer may drive the culture of capitalism,

but WITHOUT the laborer, there would be no

commodities to consume”

Characteristics of the Working Class


Labor Mobility

Disciplined and

Controlled

Segmented

Militant



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.


0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

Emigrated Permanently Agricultural laborers Others


Italian migrants from 1860 – 1901



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



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



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



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


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 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



* *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


Conclusion

global problems and the culture of capitalism ir 204

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