Transcript
The Construction and Anatomy of the Working Class
Presented by: Nikki and Saleha
“The capitalist system makes it very much easier for people not to realize what they are doing, not to know about the danger and hardship, the despair and humiliation, that their way of life implies for others.”- Edmund Wilson, The Shores of Light
Working Class
Defined
4 Characteristics of the Working Class:
1. Labour Mobility
2. Segmentation
3. Discipline and Control
4. Resistance and Rebellion
Labor Mobility
19th Century
Italian Migrants› Chain Migration› http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcU2YtpvwwA
Segmentation
Working class divided by race, religion, ethnicity, age and gender
Karl Marx; The Communist Manifesto
Blacks vs. Irish
The Segmentation of the Workforce
Women Discussion Question:
› Why do you think these corporations stationed in developing countries prefer to employ women over men?
› http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bhodyt4fmU&feature=related
The Domestic Garment Industry of Neza
The Black box of Capitalism Primary vs. Secondary
Discipline and Control
Introduction of ‘The Factory’
Time Discipline
Introduction of Free Labor
Factory Discipline› http://
www.pbs.org/kqed/chinainside/edlesson1.html
Resistance
Karl Marx- The estranged Labor : “The worker becomes all the poorer the
more wealth he produces, the more his production increases in power and size. The worker becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates”
› Please expand on what Karl Marx is trying to convey in his quotation extracted from the reading.
Political economy Alienation
Resistance continued...
“Social revolution of the poor.”
Proletariat vs. Bourgeois
Resistance and Rebellion
“Disciplined Worker”
Resistance to Capital Discipline
The Creation of Free labour
Capitalist society › Working Class
Example of Mexico
Free Trade
Do you think that the working class has an option to opt out this game of capitalism? Also, in some countries people still prefer to be independent workers as farmers and crafts people rather than a life dependent on wage labour, why do you think they prefer it this way and do you think it can last in this fast paced economy?
Weber Iron Cage
Weber quotes:› "Specialists without spirit, sensualists
without heart; this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilization never before achieved.“
› What do you think Weber is trying to say in this quote.
Historical Materialism
The Growth of Assembly Plants
Maximizing surplus value= paying the laborer as little as possible
Black Box of Capitalism + laborer = crucial
American Workers Losing their Job
Conclusion
top related