McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 1 SOCIOLOGY Richard T. Schaefer The Economy and Work 18

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide The Economy and Work Economic Systems Case Study: Capitalism in China Work and Alienation The Changing Economy Social Policy and the Economy

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 3 Economic Systems Economic System –A societys system for producing, distributing, and consuming goods and service will depend on its level of development and its political ideology

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 4 Economic Systems –Economic system in which the means of production are held largely in private hands Main incentive for economic activity is accumulation of profits Laissez-faire: businesses compete freely with minimal government intervention Monopoly: exists when a single firm controls the market Capitalism

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 5 Economic Systems –Means of production and distribution owned collectively rather than privately owned Communism: economic system under which all property is communally owned and no social distinctions are made on the base of peoples ability to produce Socialism

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 6 Economic Systems Informal Economy In developing nations, informal economy represents significant part of total economic activity –The transfer of money, goods, or services is not reported to the government, i.e., a haircut in exchange for a computer lesson Difficult to measure

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 7 Economic Systems Table Characteristics of the Three Major Economic Systems

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 8 Case Study: Capitalism in China The Road to Capitalism –The Communist party assumed control of China in 1949, outlawing individual profit- making –By the 1960s, Chinas economy dominated by state-controlled enterprises –From the late 1980s to the mid 1990s, Chinas government slowly eased restrictions against private enterprise

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 9 Case Study: Capitalism in China The Chinese Economy Today –By 2001, number of state-run companies were cut in half –Chinese capitalists now compete with multinational corporations –In 2003, GMs Chinese operation was producing 110,000 automobiles a year for Chinese consumers

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 10 Case Study: Capitalism in China Chinese Workers in the New Economy Advancement is slower for women in China –Loosening state control led to rise in job mobility, increased opportunity, and prosperity for family-owned businesses Struggles include a lag between urban and rural salaries and worker safety

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 11 Work and Alienation Work and Alienation: Marxs View Durkheim argued that as labor becomes more and more differentiated, individuals experience anomie, or loss of direction –Pioneers of sociological thought concerned about the negative impact of industrialism on the worker

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 12 Work and Alienation: Marxs View –Marx believed that as industrialization advanced within capitalist societies, workers lost meaningful relationship with their work Work and Alienation Alienation: condition of estrangement or disassociation from surrounding society Burnout: Modern form of alienation that may affect any occupation or profession

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 13 Work and Alienation Worker Satisfaction Ritzer suggested that the relatively positive impression given by many workers is misleading and that manual laborers in particular have little job satisfaction except for their wages –Factors in Job Satisfaction Higher wages Shorter work week Positive relationships with co-workers

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 14 Work and Alienation Worker Satisfaction –Job Satisfaction in Japan Focus on pride in work rather than wages The employer-employee relationship is long- term and paramount Economic recession led to high unemployment Weakened traditional bond between Japanese employer and its workers

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 15 The Changing Economy –Workforce increasingly composed of women and racial and ethnic minorities Workforce reflects diversity of population Relationships between workers more likely to cross gender, racial, and ethnic lines The Changing Face of the Workface

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 16 The Changing Economy –Deindustrialization Systematic, widespread withdrawal of investment in basic aspects of productivity Can take the form of corporate restructuring –Downsizing: reductions taken in a companys workforce as part of deindustrialization The Changing Face of the Workface

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 17 Social Policy and the Economy Global Offshoring –The Issue Offshoringtransferring types of work to foreign contractors, is global –In India, 245,000 work in global call centers –In Africa, over 54,000 people work in call centers

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 18 Social Policy and the Economy Global Offshoring –The Setting U.S. first outsourced certain types of work for generations –Offshoring began when U.S. companies transferred manufacturing jobs to foreign factories –By 2015, 3.3 million white-collar jobs worth $136.4 billion will move overseas

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 19 Social Policy and the Economy Global Offshoring –Sociological Insights Offshoring can be viewed as beneficial to society Conflict theorists question whether offshoring further global inequality Long-term impact of offshoring in India and developing countries hard to predict

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 20 Social Policy and the Economy Global Offshoring –Policy Initiatives Offshoring a political flashpoint in 2004 presidential election Most policy makers see offshoring as part of the natural process of globalization