'The Book' - Blog 10

Chapter three continued...

The authors feel that it is the quest for profits that is the root of what is creating this 'undemocratic' capitalist system. Along with the process of getting an increased amount of labour for the lowest possible wage. As was stated before the authors see most of this inequality stemming from the unequal ownership of production and financial resources that creates this undemocratic society. From this balance the only 'bargaining chip' that employees have is to trade their labour for a wage. Therefore power is given over to owners and managers. Employers also have the power to hire and fire employees (when the cost is high to the workers being hired and fired.) This is due to the fact that there is an abundance of capable workers. This is coupled with anti-labour laws that exist. Yet the authors feel that it is not really the laws that are enforcing this unbalanced relationship. It is the widely accepted social ideology.

This is in the form of the technocratic - meritocratic viewpoint described in the previous chapter.
It is this viewpoint that keeps capitalism running. (That one can get ahead based on their merits, skills and it is essentially your fault if you do not get ahead. This idea was discussed in class when our teacher looked at the following: If you do not get into the education program it was because you did not work hard enough, or you just didn't score well on that test you took. It takes the responsibility away from the system judging you to the fact that you failed. It is this meritocracy that enables the capitalist society, to put the fault in the hands of the workers and not because the system is actually flawed.)

The authors then look at the market and property institutions in the U.S. and relates it to how the minorities (corporations) can exert social control over the majority.

1. The private ownership of the means of production (owners have full control)
2. Workers do not own by and large the tools of his / her trade. This is where the 'bargaining chip' mentioned above comes into play, the only control a worker has is exchanging labour for pay. This separates the workers from the means of production, which means they are relatively powerless, which brings about this idea of social control.

The authors then pose the following idea: They compare the social relations of the work process with those of the education system. What is the nature of the day to day work relationships? Understanding the market relationships alone cannot reveal what it is really like to work in factories and offices. This is what they want to look at in their analysis of the U.S. education system.

To be continued...