Psychology
Term Papers
Control
Over Workplace
American workers were color-blind
to other ethnic groups at work. A worker was a worker, whatever
his or her ethnicity. Workers were concerned with class only
with regard to labor unions. But ethnic distinctions became very
important outside of work. Neighborhoods and communities were
often split along ethnic lines. In other countries, the
separation between work and home was different. In the
capitalist countries of Belgium and Holland, for example,
ethnicity (and not class) dominated workplace relations.
Order your
psychology term papers now!
Order Now
Katz nelson says that other alternatives could have developed in
place of the work-community divide in the new American
industrial order. For example, the old workingmen’s parties
attempted to fashion a politics based on class divisions between
the haves and the have-nots. Another view, supported by natives
groups like the American Republicans and the Know-Nothings, saw
an America divided between Irish-Catholic immigrants and
American Protestants. Both views failed, however, because the
groups weren’t able to mobilize voters. (Steven Peter Vallas,
1993.)
If you study the causes of
recessions and depressions, you'll learn about the business
cycle. Now, let's ask the question, why does business go through
economic downturns periodically in the first place? There is
more than one theory, but one of the most popular is
overproduction. This is also called the inventory cycle. At some
point companies produce more goods than can be sold. With market
saturation, inventories begin to build up and workers are laid
off to keep profits up. These unemployed workers don't buy as
much, so sales drop in many other industries also. These in turn
lay off even more workers. Thus is created a vicious cycle with
more and more layoffs as sales cycle downward. After a few
years, the inventories are depleted, companies begin re-hiring
to build up depleted stocks. These newly-employed workers can
buy more again. This stimulates the economy, and there is an
economic recovery. And so it goes until the next downward cycle.
That's capitalism.
Order your
psychology term papers now!
Order Now
There is also a long-term economic downturn in the United States
from de-industrialization due to capital flight. Companies flee
overseas or down south, say, to Mexico, attracted by the cheap
labor and capital available, and also the lack of safety and
environmental regulation on business. Both the presidential
candidates supported NAFTA, which will encourage even more US
companies to flee to Mexico. So what's the solution to these
economic woes? Government ownership of the means of production?
There are several objections to this by those who recognize the
need for basic social and economic change.
First, governments do not necessarily behave any better than
private owners. They too are quite capable of laying workers off
when economic times are bad witness the French Socialist
government under Mitterrand laying off thousands of workers in
the name of "modernization" of state-owned industries in the
1980's. Second, if the state owns the industries, and the
conservatives come back to power, they surely would privatize
state-owned industries, as we have seen in Britain under
Conservative rule following the nationalization of various
industries under Labor governments. One might argue that
democratic socialists would never lose an election, but this is
wholly utopian. Marxist-Leninist states didn't lose elections,
but they didn't have free elections. But now most of these
communist governments have collapsed largely due to the terrific
inefficiency of bureaucratic, state-owned industries. These were
noted for their shortages and shoddy goods, with no chance for
consumer choice.
Order your
psychology term papers now!
Order Now
This brings up the third objection to government ownership it
destroys competition and thus encourages inefficiency and
corruption. Political democracy depends on free competition
between ideas, parties and candidates. So too does economic
democracy. Without a market system there is no hope for an
efficient economy. We must come to recognize that command
economies have been tested and have proven themselves to be
failures and there is no going back. (Tom Payne, 1993.)
An objection to common ownership was made over two thousand
years ago in Athens by Aristotle in The Politics as a reply to
Plato's advocacy of communism. Aristotle believed in the
superiority of the m! ale as well as upholding slavery. But he
did make a good point in saying that we neglect what is held in
common and care less about it than what we privately own.
References
Tom Payne, A Company of One: The Power of Independence in the
Workplace, Pr. Of Albuquerque, 1993.
Steven Peter Vallas, Power in the WorkPlace: The Politics of
Production at At&T, State University of New York Press, 1993.
Order your
psychology term papers now! |
