HISTORY 144G Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: John Kenneth Galbraith, United Steelworkers, Industrial Revolution

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26 Apr 2018
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Recessions negatively affected the steel industry a lot after like the 1980s
United Steelworkers of America went from 1 million to 200,000 in basic
steel + equal number in light manufacturing and services
By 1990s, US only industrial nation not self-sufficient in steel
Throughout era, recessions got worse and happened more frequently—>more
unemployment + less efficiency
Productivity growth fell so much
Became less than that of most of US's trading partners
§
Still economic growth but way less than it had been in the post-WWII
period
Families earned more but only because people started working way
more hours
§
Income inequalities widened
§
1970s + 1980s disaster for union movement—lost members + power
Losses mainly happened in old, unionized core of economy—factory
shutdowns
Heavily affected by international competition but even those
industries of manufacturing that didn't experience that competition
lost just as many members
§
Beyond Industrialism and Fordism
Explanations of this era's union decline + economic difficulty
Technics of production + character of market
Politics of society + labor movement itself
Post-industrialism
Daniel Bell: was just the latest stage in evolution of society
Perspective sustained by US census (more workers laboring in
service instead of manufacturing sectors)
In this type of society, production + business decisions
influenced by other forces
§
John Kenneth Galbraith: mature corporation part of comprehensive
structure of planning that is shaped by social goals + created by
growing public sector
§
Lichtenstein, Ch. 6: A Time of Troubles
Monday, April 16, 2018
9:45 PM
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John Kenneth Galbraith: mature corporation part of comprehensive
structure of planning that is shaped by social goals + created by
growing public sector
Devalued anything characteristic of old order: production of things
in actual factories, various forms of routine service work, existence
of trade unions
§
Post-Fordism
Postwar Fordism didn't last long (where mass consumption and
production made to work in harmonious tandem)—cyberworld high
tech, greater intl. competition, cultural differentiation of product
markets undermined this production regime + consumption
patterns it depended on
§
Must accommodate to new world of "flexible specialization" that
required more highly educated workforce, rapid shifts in production
technology, smaller firm serving specialized markets, and creative
deployment of skilled labor
Meant radical shift if ideology and institutions
§
"Globalization": And its Limits
Where working class and institutions still play animating, democratizing role
(from the text on 219)
Argues that analysts of this saw what would happen to trade unions + other
institutions that stood in the way of worldwide market dependent on how much
raw market forces were able to grow
William Greider: intl. finance capital=the thing that will punish nations,
companies, unions, politicians who try to hinder free flow of money, labor, and
goods
"reform" + "liberalization" now denote process whereby open market in labor
and capital replaces regulatory regimes that used to be in place earlier in the
century (219)
The left basically has to choose what kind of capitalism it's able to support
From POV of labor mvt: vision of global, post-industrial, post-Fordist economic
world—>unions don't have their functional rationale + social legitimacy
Globalization of trade + transformation of productive tech on worldwide
scale—>more power/influence to anti-union critique
Globalization brought competition—>bad for unions
High wages made American manufacturing uncompetitive + union
requirements stifled creativity/generated inflexibility
High wages for unions—>wage differential between union/non-
union—>American managers wanted to put wages back into
competitive play
§
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High wages for unions—>wage differential between union/non-
union—>American managers wanted to put wages back into
competitive play
Globalization also mean new international laissez-faire that challenged a lot of
social-democratic arrangements and regulations
"Services are complements to manufacturing, not potential substitutes or
successors." (221)
Computer revolution blurred line between production of things + production of
ideas and services
Globalization in US has slashed blue-collar jobs in many older industrial
regions—it's cheaper for companies to pay for the laborers in other countries
than it is for laborers in US
Economies of countries not as globalized as it may seem—>national living
standards still highly determined by domestic conditions
For unions, there's a lot of plant-closing threats when they try to organize—>
unions lost more than 2/3 certification elections
"'globalization' is part of a complex dialectic that has certainly destroyed jobs
and communities in the United States" but it keeps struggling against decisive
managerial victory
Example: RCA
Began to search for labor early in 20th century: looked for low
wages, docile, quasi-rural workforce, abundance of young,
unemployed women
Looked to Eastern European women in Camden, New Jersey
and then farm girls from Bloomington, Indiana until both
groups unionized
Even Memphis, Tennessee African American workers
unionized
Moved to Ciudad Juarez where there was a bunch of rural
teenage women
They now had cheaper labor but eventually these
women began to rebel
®
§
Concession Bargaining: where trade unions surrender or give back previously gained
improvements in pay and conditions in exchange for some form of job security
Unions in US got greatest leap forward during Great Depression
Idea that unionism seen as working-class defending their rights against
forces let loose by the market
In most European nations and Japan, after 1973, unions went from being
politically and economically repressed to one which they had role to play in
center stage of politics
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Document Summary

Recessions negatively affected the steel industry a lot after like the 1980s. United steelworkers of america went from 1 million to 200,000 in basic steel + equal number in light manufacturing and services. By 1990s, us only industrial nation not self-sufficient in steel. Throughout era, recessions got worse and happened more frequently >more unemployment + less efficiency. Became less than that of most of us"s trading partners. Still economic growth but way less than it had been in the post-wwii period. Families earned more but only because people started working way more hours. 1970s + 1980s disaster for union movement lost members + power. Losses mainly happened in old, unionized core of economy factory shutdowns. Heavily affected by international competition but even those industries of manufacturing that didn"t experience that competition lost just as many members. Explanations of this era"s union decline + economic difficulty. Daniel bell: was just the latest stage in evolution of society.

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