In Marx’s view , when workers are alienated they cannot be truly free. They may have the political and social freedoms of speech, religion ,and governance, but even with these rights, individuals still are not fully free. Freedom from government interference and persecution does not necessarily guarantee freedom from economic exploitation and alienation, and it is for this kind of freedom that Marx and Engels felt passion
Some would say that one need not wade through Marxist philosophy to get a feel for what Marx and others mean by worker alienation. Just talk to workers themselves, as writer Studs Terkel did. In different ways the hundreds of workers from diverse occupations whom Terkel interviewed speak of the same thing: dehumanization.
Mike Fitzgerald…is a laborer in a steel mill.”I feel like the guys who built the pyramids. Somebody built ’em. Somebody built the Empire state Building, too. There’s hard work behind it. I would like to see a building, say the Empire State, with a footwide strip from top to bottom and the name of every bricklayer on it, the name of every electrician. So when a guy walked by , he could take his son and say, ‘ See, that’s me over there on the 45th floor. I put that steel beam in’. ….Everybody should have something to point to.”
Sharon Atkins is 24 years old. She’s been college and acidly observes, “The first myth that blew up in my face is that a college education will get you a worthwhile job.” For the last two years she’s been a receptionist at an advertising agency. “ I didn’t look at myself as ‘just a dumb broad’ at the front desk, who took phone calls and messages. I thought I was something else. The office taught me differently”
Harry Stallings, 27 ,is a spot welder on the assembly line at an auto plant.”They’ll give better care to that machine than they will to you. If it breaks down, there’s somebody out there to fix it right a way. If I break down, I’m just pushed over to the other side till another man takes my place. The only thing the company has in mind is to keep that machine running. A man would be more eager to do a better job if he were given respect and the time to do it.”
Capitalism faces a number of important critical questions, both theoretical and operational. These criticisms are a powerful challenge, especially to capitalism in its pure laissez-faire form. But, as we have seen, to day’s capitalism is a long way from the laissez-faire model. Corporate behemoths able to control markets and sway governments have replaced the small-scale entrepreneurs and free-wheeling competition of an earlier day . And governments in all capitalist countries actively intervene in the economic realm; they endeavor to assist or modify the so-called invisible hand; and over the years they have reformed or supplemented capitalism with programs intended to enhance the security of the workforce and increase the welfare of their citizens.
This reality complicates the debate over capitalism. Its defenders may be advocating either the pure laissez-faire ideal or the modified state welfare capitalism that we in fact have. Likewise, those who attack the laissez-faire ideal both forms of capitalism and defend some kind of socialism ,in which private property and the pursuit of profit are no longer governing economic principles. We thus have a three-way debate over the respective strengths and weaknesses of laissez-faire capitalism, state welfare capitalism, and socialism.
The rest of this chapter leaves this fundamental debate behind. Instead of looking at criticisms of capitalism in general and at issues relevant to any capitalist society, it examines some of the more specific socioeconomic challenges facing the United States today. These include (1) the decline of American manufacturing and the related problems posed by the outsourcing of jobs and the growing U.S. trade deficit; (2) business’s obsession with short-term results; (3) and changing attitudes toward work.
The Decline of American Manufacturing
Historically, capitalists have made money by producing good. Manufacturing was the backbone of the American economy and the basis of our prosperity. In industry after industry , however, U.S. companies have conceded manufacturing dominance to foreign competitors. Today, for example, one can’t buy a television made in the United States, Wal-Mart employs more people than the Big Three automakers do, and more American work in government than in manufacturing. Whereas manufacturing accounted for 27 percent of GDP in the mid-1960s, it has fallen to about half that, and for the first time since the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing employs less than 10 percent of the American workforce.
Since the 1980s,many U.S. manufacturers have been closing up shop or curtailing their operation and becoming marketing organization for other producers, usually foreign. The result is the evolution of a new kind of company: manufacturers that do little or no manufacturing. They may perform a host of profit-marking function-from design to distribution-but they lack their own production base. Instead, they outsource, buying parts or whole products from other producers, both at home and abroad. The traditional vertical structure of manufacturing, in which the manufacturer makes nearly all crucial parts, is thereby replaced by a network of small operators. Companies that in years past were identified with marketing goods of all sorts now are likely to produce only the package and the label. In contrast to traditional manufacturers, they have become, in current business jargon, hollow corporations.
Proponents of the new system describe it as flexible and efficient, a logical outcome of the drive to lower the costs of doing business. But critics worry whether the United States can prosper without a strong manufacturing base. As Tsutomu Ohshima, a senior manufacturing director of Toyota Motor Corporation
In Marx’s view , when workers are alienated they cannot be truly free. They may have the political and social freedoms of speech, religion ,and governance, but even with these rights, individuals still are not fully free. Freedom from government interference and persecution does not necessarily guarantee freedom from economic exploitation and alienation, and it is for this kind of freedom that Marx and Engels felt passion Some would say that one need not wade through Marxist philosophy to get a feel for what Marx and others mean by worker alienation. Just talk to workers themselves, as writer Studs Terkel did. In different ways the hundreds of workers from diverse occupations whom Terkel interviewed speak of the same thing: dehumanization. Mike Fitzgerald…is a laborer in a steel mill.”I feel like the guys who built the pyramids. Somebody built ’em. Somebody built the Empire state Building, too. There’s hard work behind it. I would like to see a building, say the Empire State, with a footwide strip from top to bottom and the name of every bricklayer on it, the name of every electrician. So when a guy walked by , he could take his son and say, ‘ See, that’s me over there on the 45th floor. I put that steel beam in’. ….Everybody should have something to point to.” Sharon Atkins is 24 years old. She’s been college and acidly observes, “The first myth that blew up in my face is that a college education will get you a worthwhile job.” For the last two years she’s been a receptionist at an advertising agency. “ I didn’t look at myself as ‘just a dumb broad’ at the front desk, who took phone calls and messages. I thought I was something else. The office taught me differently” Harry Stallings, 27 ,is a spot welder on the assembly line at an auto plant.”They’ll give better care to that machine than they will to you. If it breaks down, there’s somebody out there to fix it right a way. If I break down, I’m just pushed over to the other side till another man takes my place. The only thing the company has in mind is to keep that machine running. A man would be more eager to do a better job if he were given respect and the time to do it.” Capitalism faces a number of important critical questions, both theoretical and operational. These criticisms are a powerful challenge, especially to capitalism in its pure laissez-faire form. But, as we have seen, to day’s capitalism is a long way from the laissez-faire model. Corporate behemoths able to control markets and sway governments have replaced the small-scale entrepreneurs and free-wheeling competition of an earlier day . And governments in all capitalist countries actively intervene in the economic realm; they endeavor to assist or modify the so-called invisible hand; and over the years they have reformed or supplemented capitalism with programs intended to enhance the security of the workforce and increase the welfare of their citizens. This reality complicates the debate over capitalism. Its defenders may be advocating either the pure laissez-faire ideal or the modified state welfare capitalism that we in fact have. Likewise, those who attack the laissez-faire ideal both forms of capitalism and defend some kind of socialism ,in which private property and the pursuit of profit are no longer governing economic principles. We thus have a three-way debate over the respective strengths and weaknesses of laissez-faire capitalism, state welfare capitalism, and socialism.The rest of this chapter leaves this fundamental debate behind. Instead of looking at criticisms of capitalism in general and at issues relevant to any capitalist society, it examines some of the more specific socioeconomic challenges facing the United States today. These include (1) the decline of American manufacturing and the related problems posed by the outsourcing of jobs and the growing U.S. trade deficit; (2) business’s obsession with short-term results; (3) and changing attitudes toward work.The Decline of American ManufacturingHistorically, capitalists have made money by producing good. Manufacturing was the backbone of the American economy and the basis of our prosperity. In industry after industry , however, U.S. companies have conceded manufacturing dominance to foreign competitors. Today, for example, one can’t buy a television made in the United States, Wal-Mart employs more people than the Big Three automakers do, and more American work in government than in manufacturing. Whereas manufacturing accounted for 27 percent of GDP in the mid-1960s, it has fallen to about half that, and for the first time since the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing employs less than 10 percent of the American workforce.Since the 1980s,many U.S. manufacturers have been closing up shop or curtailing their operation and becoming marketing organization for other producers, usually foreign. The result is the evolution of a new kind of company: manufacturers that do little or no manufacturing. They may perform a host of profit-marking function-from design to distribution-but they lack their own production base. Instead, they outsource, buying parts or whole products from other producers, both at home and abroad. The traditional vertical structure of manufacturing, in which the manufacturer makes nearly all crucial parts, is thereby replaced by a network of small operators. Companies that in years past were identified with marketing goods of all sorts now are likely to produce only the package and the label. In contrast to traditional manufacturers, they have become, in current business jargon, hollow corporations.Proponents of the new system describe it as flexible and efficient, a logical outcome of the drive to lower the costs of doing business. But critics worry whether the United States can prosper without a strong manufacturing base. As Tsutomu Ohshima, a senior manufacturing director of Toyota Motor Corporation
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