Psychology SOC ASSIGNMENT 7

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Chapter 7

Work and Unemployment

Mooney/Knox/Schacht, Understanding Social Problems, 10th Edition. © 2017 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Chapter 7: Work and Unemployment

“When you go to work, if your name is on the building, you’re rich. If your name is on your desk, you’re middle class. If your name is on your shirt, you’re poor.”

—Rich Hall, writer and performer

Learning Objectives (1 of 2)

Explain how the 2007 U.S. economic crisis affected the global economy, describe the differences between capitalism and socialism, and discuss the pros and cons of free trade agreements and transnational corporations.

Give examples of how structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism view work and the economic institution.

Learning Objectives (2 of 2)

Understand problems associated with work in the United States and around the world, including unemployment, slavery, sweatshop labor, child labor, health and safety in the workplace, work/life conflict, alienation, job stress, and issues concerning labor unions and workers’ rights.

Describe strategies for reducing unemployment; creating alternatives to capitalism through worker cooperatives; ending slavery, child labor, and sweatshop labor; making the workplace safer; helping workers achieve work/life balance; and strengthening labor unions.

Identify employment-related human rights issues and present examples of how and why these human rights are being violated in workplaces around the world.

Chapter Outline

The Global Context: The New Global Economy

Sociological Theories of Work and the Economy

Problems of Work and Unemployment

Strategies for Action: Responses to Problems of Work and Unemployment

Understanding Work and Unemployment

The Global Context: The New Global Economy

In recent decades, innovations in communication and information technology have spawned the emergence of a global economy—an interconnected network of economic activity that transcends national borders and spans the world.

The 2007 global financial crisis, which originated in the United States and spread throughout the world, illustrates the globalization of the economic institution.

Economic Institution: The structure and means by which a society produces, distributes, and consumes goods and services.

What Do You Think? 1

Do you view Americans who critically examine capitalism as being “un-American” or disloyal to the United States? Why or why not?

The Global Context: The New Global Economy

Capitalism and Socialism

Capitalism

Economic system in which private individuals or groups invest capital to produce goods and services to sell for a profit in a competitive market.

Socialism

Economic system in which the state owns the means of production (factories, machinery, land, stores, offices, etc.) and oversees the distribution of goods and services.

The Globalization of Trade and Free Trade Agreements (1 of 2)

Free Trade Agreements: Pacts between countries that make it easier to trade goods across national boundaries.

Reduce foreign restrictions on exports

Reduce taxes on imported goods

Prevent technology from being copied through intellectual property rights.

The Globalization of Trade and Free Trade Agreements (2 of 2)

Transitional Corporations are corporations that have their home base in one country and branches, or affiliates, in other countries.

Transnational corporations contribute to:

The trade deficit

The budget deficit

U.S. unemployment

Poverty, urban decline, and racial and ethnic tensions.

Sociological Theories of Work & Economy

Structural-Functionalist Perspective

Economic institution provides basic necessities (food, shelter) common to all societies.

After survival needs of a society are met, surplus wealth/materials may be allocated for social uses: military, education, recreation.

Conflict Perspective

Corporatocracy: A system of government that serves the interests of corporations and involves ties between government and business.

Corporations influence government through lobbying, and donations to politicians, campaigns, and Super P A Cs.

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

One's work role is a central part of one's self concept and social identity (occupation is master status).

Symbolic interactionism emphasizes the fact that attitudes and behavior are influenced by interaction with others.

Employers and managers use interpersonal interaction techniques to elicit the attitudes and behaviors they want from their employees

Problems of Work and Unemployment (1 of 5)

Unemployment: To be currently without employment, actively seeking employment, and available for employment, according to U.S. measures of unemployment.

In 2014, more than 200 million people worldwide—about 6 percent of the global labor force—were unemployed.

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 10 percent in the last quarter of 2009, as companies went out of business and plants closed.

A recession refers to a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy and lasting for at least six months.

Problems of Work and Unemployment (2 of 5)

The long-term unemployment rate refers to the share of the unemployed who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more.

By 2015 (March), U.S. unemployment had dropped to 5.5 percent.

Problems of Work and Unemployment (3 of 5)

Causes of Unemployment:

Job exportation, or the relocation of jobs to other countries where products can be produced more cheaply.

Outsourcing, which involves a business subcontracting with a third party to provide business services, saves companies money as they pay lower salaries and no benefits to those who provide outsourced services.

Automation, or the replacement of human labor with machinery and equipment, also contributes to unemployment.

Problems of Work and Unemployment (4 of 5)

3-D printers, such as the one depicted here, are expected to have a major impact on manufacturing jobs.

Problems of Work and Unemployment (5 of 5)

Effects of Unemployment on Individuals, Families, and Societies:

Unemployment has been linked to depression, low-self esteem, and increased mortality rates

Long-term unemployment can have lasting effects, such as increased debt, diminished retirement and savings accounts (which are depleted to meet living expenses), home foreclosure, and/or relocation from secure housing and communities to unfamiliar places to find a job.

Problems of Work and Unemployment

Employment Concerns of Recent College Grads (1 of 2)

The unemployment rate for young college graduates (without an advanced degree and not currently enrolled in further education) tends to be more than twice the overall unemployment rate.

In 2014, 46% of employed college graduates under age 25 were working in jobs that did not require a college degree.

Employment Concerns of Recent College Grads (2 of 2)

College grads hope their education will pay off. But many recent college grads remain unemployed or work in a low-paying job that does not require a college degree.

Slavery (1 of 2)

Slavery, also known as forced labor, refers to any work that is performed under the threat of punishment and is undertaken involuntarily.

An estimated 35.8 million people throughout the world live in slavery, more than half of whom live in just five countries: India, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Russia.

Chattel slavery is an old form of slavery in which slaves are considered property that could be bought and sold.

Slavery (2 of 2)

Forced Labor in the United States: Each year, 14,000 to 17,000 people are trafficked into the United States and forced into slavery, most commonly in domestic work, farm labor, and the sex industry.

Migrant workers are tricked into working for little or no pay as a means of repaying debts from their transport across the U.S. border, similar to debt bondage in South Asia.

What Do You Think? 2

In U.S. state and federal prisons, inmates work for little to no pay and corporations are able to purchase prison labor for a low price, and then make profits from contracts with U.S. military. Should large corporations be allowed to profit from prison labor? Should prisoners have the same workplace protections as other workers? Why or why not?

Sweatshop Labor (1 of 3)

Sweatshop Labor:

Work environment characterized by:

less than minimum wage

excessively long hours

unsafe conditions

abusive treatment by employers

lack of organizations aimed at negotiating better working conditions.

Sweatshop Labor (2 of 3)

Sweatshop labor commonly occurs in the garment industry.

Sweatshop Labor (3 of 3)

Sweatshop Labor in the United States

In 2012, the Department of Labor found widespread “sweatshop-like” labor violations in the Los Angeles garment industry.

Immigrant farm workers, who process 85 percent of the fruits and vegetables grown in the United States, also work under sweatshop conditions.

Child Labor (1 of 3)

Child labor involves a child performing work that is hazardous, that interferes with a child’s education, or that harms a child’s health or physical, mental, social, or moral development.

Child labor is involved in many of the products we buy, wear, use, and eat.

Child laborers work long hours with few (or no) breaks or days off, often in unsafe conditions.

Child Labor (2 of 3)

Hundreds of thousands of U.S. child workers labor on commercial farms (Human Rights Watch 2014). Child farmworkers in the United States are typically of Hispanic origin; many are U.S. citizens. Girls who work on U.S. farms are sometimes victims of sexual harassment.

Child Labor (3 of 3)

Child labor also exists in the United States in restaurants, grocery stores, meatpacking plants, garment factories, and agriculture.

Despite federal prohibitions, U.S. youth employed in service and retail jobs are exposed to harmful conditions and dangerous equipment.

What Do You Think? 3

Suppose a corporation is guilty of a serious violation of health and safety laws. What penalty do you think corporations should pay for such a violation? Why do you think penalties for violating workplace health and safety laws are so weak?

Health and Safety in the U.S. Workplace

Job Stress:

A Gallup poll found that 28% of respondents are “completely or somewhat dissatisfied” with the amount of stress in their jobs.

Toxic workplace: a work environment in which employees are subjected to co-workers and/or bosses who engage in a variety of negative, stress-inducing behaviors such as intimidation and workplace bullying, gossiping, and “backstabbing.”

Job Burnout: Prolonged job stress that can cause or contribute to high blood pressure, ulcers, headaches, anxiety, depression, and other health problems.

Work/Life Conflict

A major source of stress for U.S. workers is the day-to-day struggle to meet the demands of work and other life responsibilities, including family and education, simultaneously.

Work-life conflicts are common among U.S. workers: Seventy percent of U.S. women and men report some interference between work and nonwork responsibilities.

Alienation (1 of 3)

Alienation is the condition that results when workers perform repetitive, monotonous work tasks, and they become estranged from their work, the product they create, other people, and themselves.

Alienation has four components: powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, and self-estrangement.

Alienation (2 of 3)

McDonaldization: Sociologist George Ritzer uses this term to describe how the fast food industry applies to work:

Efficiency. Tasks are completed efficiently.

Calculability. Size, cost, and time are more important than quality.

Predictability. Products are standardized.

Control through technology. Automation replaces human labor.

Alienation (3 of 3)

This poster is part of McDonald’s advertising campaign to discredit the negative image implied by the term McJob.

What Do You Think? 4

The slang term McJob is found in several dictionaries. Do you think that the Oxford and Merriam-Webster dictionary definitions of McJob are accurate and fair?

Labor Unions and the Struggle for Workers’ Rights (1 of 2)

Labor unions are worker advocacy organizations that developed to protect workers and represent them at negotiations between management and labor.

Benefits and Disadvantages of Labor Unions to Workers

Declining Union Density

Union Density: the percentage of workers who belong to unions.

Labor Unions and the Struggle for Workers’ Rights (2 of 2)

Labor Unions:

Corporate Antiunion Activities

Antiunion Legislation

Weak U.S. Labor Laws

Labor Union Struggles Around the World

Strategies for Action: Responses to Problems

Reducing Unemployment (1 of 2)

Workforce Development:

The 1998 Workforce Investment Act (W I A) provides a wide array of programs and services designed to assist individuals to prepare for and find employment.

These include the following: assessment of skills and abilities; access to job vacancy listings; job search and placement assistance; individual career planning and counseling; resume preparation; English as a second language instruction; computer literacy; wage subsidies for on-the-job training; and support services such as transportation and child care to enable individuals to participate in W I A programs.

Reducing Unemployment (2 of 2)

Job Creation and Preservation:

In a national poll, one in four Americans said that the best way to create more U.S. jobs is to keep manufacturing jobs in the United States and stop sending work overseas.

The 2010 Small Business Jobs Act provides tax breaks and better access to credit for small businesses so that small businesses can create new jobs.

Unemployment Insurance: A federal-state program that temporarily provides laid-off workers with a portion of their paychecks.

Worker Cooperatives

Conversation started with 2007 global financial crisis

Worker cooperatives or workers’ self-directed enterprises are businesses owned and governed by the employees

Efforts to End Slavery, Child Labor, and Sweatshop Labor (1 of 4)

One strategy to fight slavery is punishment.

Convicted slave traffickers in the United States are subject to prison sentences.

U.S. corporations are also being held accountable for enterprises that involve forced labor and other human rights and labor violations.

Education is a primary means to combat child labor.

Efforts to End Slavery, Child Labor, and Sweatshop Labor (2 of 4)

The Fair Labor Association (F L A), established in 1996, is a coalition of companies, universities, and nongovernmental organizations (N G Os) that works to promote adherence to international labor standards and improve working conditions worldwide.

More than 40 leading companies that sell brand-name apparel, footwear, and other goods voluntarily participated in F L A’s monitoring system, which inspects their overseas factories and requires them to meet minimum labor standards, such as not requiring workers to work more than 60 hours a week.

Efforts to End Slavery, Child Labor, and Sweatshop Labor (3 of 4)

Student Activism

United Students Against Sweatshops (U S A S), formed in 1997, is a grassroots organization of youth and students who fight against labor abuses.

U S A S student activists have influenced more than 180 colleges and universities to affiliate with the Worker Rights Consortium (W R C), which investigates factories that produce clothing and other goods with school logos to make sure that the factory meets the code of conduct developed by each school.

Efforts to End Slavery, Child Labor, and Sweatshop Labor (4 of 4)

Student protesters from United Students Against Sweatshops protest against Hanes’ use of sweatshop labor.

What Do You Think? 5

Do you know where the clothing with your college or university logo is made? Do you think most students care if the college or university logo clothing or products they buy are made under sweatshop conditions?

Responses to Workplace Health and Safety Concerns

In 2009, the Protecting America’s Workers Act (P A W A) was introduced in Congress—a bill that would strengthen O S H A by extending coverage to uncovered workers.

P A W A was reintroduced in Congress in 2013, but as of this writing, has not passed.

Behavior-based safety programs: A strategy used by business management that attributes health and safety problems in the workplace to workers’ behavior, rather than to work processes and conditions.

Work-Life Policies and Programs (1 of 2)

Federal and State Family and Medical Leave Initiatives:

In 1993, President Clinton signed into law the first national policy designed to help workers meet the dual demands of work and family.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (F M L A) requires all public agencies and private-sector employers (with 50 or more employees who worked at least 1,250 hours in the preceding year) to provide up to 12 weeks of job protected, unpaid leave so that they can care for a seriously ill child, spouse, or parent; stay home to care for their newborn, newly adopted, or newly placed foster child; or take time off when they are seriously ill.

Work-Life Policies and Programs (2 of 2)

Employer-Based Work-Life Policies

Aside from government-mandated work-family policies, some corporations and employers have “family-friendly” work policies and programs, including unpaid or paid family and medical leave, child care assistance, assistance with elderly parent care, and flexible work options such as flextime, compressed workweek, and telecommuting.

Efforts to Strengthen Labor

53% of Americans approve of labor unions; was 75% in 1950s

Merging of labor unions

Building international cooperation and solidarity

Understanding Work and Unemployment

On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Among the articles of that declaration are the following:

Article 23. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24. Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Quick Quiz 1

Roxanne lives in a country where the means of producing goods and services are collectively owned. What type of economic system is this?

A. autocracy

B. capitalism

C. corporate multinationalism

D. socialism

Answer For Quick Quiz 1: D

Roxanne lives in a country where the means of producing goods and services are collectively owned. This is the socialism economic system.

Quick Quiz 2

Which of the following statements are true?

A. Slavery still exists in many parts of the world especially in less developed B. nations.

B. In the U S today slavery still exists for at least 100,000 workers.

C. Today's slaves do not have the same high economic value that many slaves had before the American Civil War.

D. All of these choices.

Answer For Quick Quiz 2: D

The following statements are all true:

Slavery still exists in many parts of the world, especially in less developed nations.

In the U S today, slavery still exists for at least 100,000 workers.

Today's slaves do not have the same high economic value that many slaves had before the American Civil War.

Quick Quiz 3

What is the most common workplace illness?

A. job burnout

B. depression

C. disorders associated with repeated trauma

D. influenza

Answer For Quick Quiz 3: C

The most common workplace illness is disorders associated with repeated trauma.

Quick Quiz 4

Paper is made from wood. Which sector involves this production of manufactured goods from raw materials?

A. secondary work sector

B. tertiary work sector

C. none of these choices

D. primary work sector

Answer For Quick Quiz 4: A

Paper is made from wood. The secondary work sector involves this production of manufactured goods from raw materials.

Quick Quiz 5

Nigel is looking forward to his 10th birthday, when he will be able to work outside the home for wages. He has been socialized from a young age to view work as an important responsibility and as a rite of passage. Which perspective notes the influence of this socialization on behavior?

A. conflict theory

B. symbolic interactionism

C. exchange theory

D. structural functionalism

Answer For Quick Quiz 5: B

The symbolic interactionism perspective notes the influence of this socialization on behavior.

Psychology SOC ASSIGNMENT 7

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