| CLASS, CLASS REPRODUCTION, AND GLOBALIZATION Robert Reich: U.S. is not autonomous - only one �region� of a massive global economy (an economist, Reich served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration) Three basic categories of U.S. private service jobs as they relate to the global economy: 1. Symbolic-analytic services (20% of workforce, 28 million workers, mostly white males) Salaried �Professionals� create and manipulate information (lawyers, financial, management, and education professionals, scientists, engineers, planner/developer profs, entertainment profs, etc). - Work alone or in small groups with little or no supervision. - College + graduate/professional degrees, cosmopolitan, socially liberal. - Roots in universities, geographically concentrated in/near urban educational centers. - Globally dominant (and increasingly so). This is our strongest area in the global economy. 2. Routine production services (25% of workforce, 35 million workers) Hourly medium-wage workers doing simple, repetitive, monotonous tasks in manufacturing, banking, insurance, retail sales, healthcare industry (manufacturing is a declining segment; data work is an increasing segment, putting data in and taking data out of computers). - Work in large group settings, hierarchical, closely supervised. - High school, some college. - Metals - white men, Fabrics/Information - women and minorities - Subject to heavy global competition - both types can be done by cheap labor overseas. - Jobs disappearing (1950 50%+ of work force), wages steadily dropping (global competition). 3. Routine personal services (30% of workforce, 42 million, mostly women/minorities) Hourly low-wage workers doing simple, repetitive, monotonous tasks on site/in person -- security guards, drivers, attendants, cleaners, grooming, restaurant-hotel, retail sales, etc. - "McJobs" � Work in small businesses (often franchises), hierarchical, very closely supervised. - High school education or less. - Sheltered from direct global competition (but competition from poor immigrants). - Largest area of job growth - increasingly. - About half of this sector poor or �near poor� � low wages. The other 25% of the work force (35 million) non-private (government) workers with medium wages, salaries, and benefits, mostly sheltered from global competition. This segment is slowly shrinking mostly through attrition (intergenerational & �invisible�) because of eroding tax bases, tax cuts, and technology. The Poor - 20-25 million adults (+children), overlap with the work force (work available sporadically). - About10 million permanent hard-core poverty � the �underclass� - About10 million in poverty most of the time � the �deserving poor� - About10 million cycle in and out of poverty -- �working poor� The Contemporary U.S. Class System (based on families, not individuals) (emerged from �socialist" economic reforms after the Depression and World War II) 1% Capitalist Class (own most wealth - live off of income from capital) 10% Business/Professsional Class (service & management workers - high salary + full benefits) 30% Stable Working Class (union/bureaucracy workers - medium wages + good benefits) 40% Unstable� Working Class (non-union, unprotected workers - low wages, few benefits) 20% The Poor (unemployed, under-employed, the �underclass�) Class Reproduction (how the classes are reproduced from generation to generation) Note: People usually know little about those in other social classes because they rarely interact Capitalist Class - Parents are college educated and inherited wealth from their families, live off of inherited wealth in rich areas, run their own businesses, sit on corporate boards, manage family wealth, and own several homes. Kids grow up in wealthy areas, attend private prep schools, attend major state and private universities (Stanford, UC, etc.). After graduation, they use family contacts to start businesses, sit on corporate boards, and manage their inherited wealth. They marry a person they met in college (from a similar background), establish a home in a wealthy area, and become parents of the next generation. Business/Professsional Class - Parents are college educated and live in suburbs off of salaries and benefits derived from managing businesses and/or working as professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc.), and own their own homes. Kids grow up in �middle class� suburbs, attend prosperous public schools with college-bound curriculum, and attend state and private research universities. They often work part-time while in high school and college. After graduation, they use their education to move into entry-level business/professional jobs, which develop over time into professional careers. They marry a person they met in college (from a similar background), buy a house in a middle class suburb (often in a different city from their parents), and become parents of the next generation. Stable Working Class � Parents have a high school education and often some college and live in suburban working class areas off of moderate hourly wages and moderate benefits (based on union scale) from production and personal service jobs, and own their own homes. Kids grow up in suburban working class neighborhoods, graduate from public high schools usually lacking parts of college-bound curriculum, and often attend community colleges, trade schools, or state universities. They usually work part-time while in high school. After graduation, they hold a series of entry-level jobs, eventually settling into a more permanent production or personal service hourly-wage job. They marry a person they met in high school (usually from their own neighborhood) or college, buy a house in a working class neighborhood in the same city, and become parents of the next generation. Unstable Working Class - Parents have a high school education or less, live in urban working class areas off of low hourly wages and few benefits (not based on union scale) from transient production and personal service jobs, and usually rent apartments or own small houses. Kids grow up in urban working class neighborhoods, graduate from poorer public high schools completely lacking a college-bound curriculum, and increasingly attend community colleges or trade schools. They usually work part-time while in high school. After high school, they hold a series of low-wage entry-level jobs, but getting permanent positions is hard because of the transience of these jobs. They marry a person they met in school (from their own neighborhood), rent housing near where their parents live, and then become parents of the next generation. The Poor - Parents have less than a high school education, and live in poor transient urban areas off of minimum wages and few benefits from transient personal service jobs, and usually rent apartments, live in projects, or live with relatives in overcrowded housing. Kids grow up in poor and transient urban areas, attend poor public high schools completely lacking a college-bound curriculum, sometimes graduate high school. They usually don�t work part-time because these jobs are needed by poor adults. After leaving school, they hold a series of low-wage menial jobs, but getting permanent jobs is very hard because of the transience of these jobs and their lack of education and work skills. They marry a poor person from their own neighborhood, and live with parents or rent near their parents, and then become parents of the next generation. |