GEOG 240: Day 5

1. GEOG 240: Day 5 Chapter 3 (cont’d)

2. HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS • Case study outlines are due a week from today • We’ll hear from Steve today, and then I’ll show you part of a video, “The Global Car” (https://marlin.viu.ca/malabin/door.pl/0/0/0/5?srchfield1=GENERAL%5e&SUBJECT%5e&GENERAL%5e&record%20id%5e&searchdata1=100041400) which is available on-line from the VIU collection. It deals with a lot of the themes we have touched on so far: ∙commodity (and supply) chains ∙outsourcing ∙firms moving to lower (labour) cost locations ∙emerging markets in developing countries, etc.

3. The labour process • As per the video, when most manufacturing was done in the developed countries, workers had a lot of clout because they could withhold their labour – i.e. strike or engage in work stoppages. • But employers have more tricks up their sleeve: like Walmart, they can simply close stores that attempt to unionize; they can hire scabs (Rocky Mountaineer); they can relocate operations overseas; or governments can impose wage freezes as part of budget-cutting exercises, as with our strike a year and a half ago. • Anyone here have experience in a union or know someone who has?

4. The labour process • Labour also has to be “reproduced” – fed, clothed, and housed, and new generations of workers raised up. Companies often benefit from the unpaid labour (largely by women) carried out in the home and from the education and skilling process that is at least paid for by the state. • Originally craftsmen were responsible for the entire process of manufacturing something.

5. The labour process Source: Bing • Adam Smith pointed out that it was far • more efficient to divide up the operations of • making a pin or a pair of shoes and have each worker do one tiny operation, at the end of which the whole product is assembled. • This leads to the deskilling and intensi-fication of the work process. This was put on a scientific footing through the application of Taylorism.

6. The labour process (cont’d) • As we will see in the video, labour has become more specialized, but in some instances firms are producing whole assemblies and not just single parts. • While manufacturing workers in the past have earned relatively high wages, the work was and is extraordinarily monotonous.

7. Consumption and retailing • The most successful retail operations tend to those that source from the cheapest labour markets and that dictate prices to their supplies (see case study box on Tesco). They also pay much lower wages and benefits than what was and is typical in the manufacturing sector. • “Retail salesperson” is now the largest occupation in the U.S. • With the rise of global markets, the textbook authors claim that ‘”the consumer’ has become a kind of ‘global dictator’, with the demands of affluent Western consumers determining how goods are produced and services delivered throughout the world.” Do you agree with statement?

8. Consumption and retailing • We talked last time about the role of advertising and marketing in fostering wants as opposed to meeting genuine needs and a taste for status goods that starts, arguably, in grade school because of peer pressure. • Consumerism has gone through a number of phases.

9. Consumption and retailing (cont’d) • For a long time, women did most of the shopping, though men had more influence on the big ticket items (see Box 3.6). In big cities, retail districts developed, such as in Manhattan, but these have largely been replaced by shopping malls and strip malls. Spectacle, and even an entertainment component, has become an important aspect of shopping. • Interestingly, some countries have a stronger service culture of retail than others. • The Fordist regime of mass products, while in place, has been supplemented by market fragmentation “into distinct segments and niches” and appealing to pseudo-individualism and ‘rebel’ sub-cultures. This ties in with the growing importance of the youth market.

10. Consumption and retailing (cont’d) • What do you think are some of the key demographic segments? Source: Bing

11. The Role of the State under capitalism • The role of the state varies from country to country and from historical period to historical period. Both Roosevelt and Labour governments in the UK intervened massively in the economy and in society as a whole, as have Scandinavian countries. • That has since changed dramatically, with the influence of neo-liberalism, though government employment and spending remain high in all developed nations. • Let’s go through Table 3.3 on p. 63 and talk about examples of each of these categories of roles vis-à-vis the economy.