terms - chapter 5 (Schnaiberg & Gould)

Labor Productivity and the Environment

Labor productivity

• A measure of the output generated per unit of labor input. It is used to indicate how efficiently workers are producing goods and services, commonly reported as output per hour worked. Labor productivity compares the amount of goods or services produced to the amount of labor used to produce them.

• As international trade increased and manufacturing shifted to lower-wage societies, labor productivity became labeled as a key component of “global economic competitiveness.” Productivity tends to be a solution primarily for investors and some managers to increase production without increasing employment, thus increasing profits in part by decreasing labor costs per unit.

• For workers, their communities, and the natural world in which they are embedded, this has become one of the most egregious bait-and-switch social policies. The corporate strategy of constant increases in labor productivity is a central element of the treadmill of production.

• Often generates greater pressure on workers to work harder, longer, and with more workplace tension than they faced previously.

• Productivity typically has negative effects on the social fabric of a society and the ecological sustainability of its natural environment.

profitability

Measure applied to assessing a business’s income compared to its expenses. Expenses include labor, material inputs, equipment, shipping, and marketing. Income is based on volume of goods and services produced and the price of those goods and services. A business is profitable when its income exceeds its expenses. Profitability is the goal of all business ventures in a capitalist economy. In classical and Marxist economics, profit is the return to an owner of capital goods or natural resources in any productive pursuit involving labor (or a return on bonds and money invested in capital markets). In Marxist economic theory, the maximization of profit corresponds to the accumulation of capital, which is the driving force behind economic activity in capitalist economies.

economic Darwinism

A theory that proposes that only the fittest individuals or organizations will prosper in a competitive economic environment. Representing socially constructed economic structures as natural processes, this theory views economic “winners” (firms or individuals) as inherently more “fit” than economic “losers,” and so justifies outcomes as natural and thus morally acceptable.

worker willingness: coercive measures

“Work more or we’ll fire you.” Effective where workers have few better job opportunities. However, the coercive strategy carries with it new potential threats of slowdowns, sabotage, and higher worker turnover in response to the rising stress of the workplace.

worker willingness: seductive measures

“Work harder and we’ll pay you some additional bonus payments.” More effective when the firm has more control of its other costs than its competitors, allowing more flexibility in bonus payments without impeding profits.

corn production

As corn production was industrialized, rural labor forces were eliminated, rural communities contracted, and locally owned small businesses collapsed because of a lack of wage income and consumer spending. As the dependence on rural labor decreased, so did rural populations, as economically displaced farmers and their children left rural areas in search of employment opportunities. Rural schools closed, services diminished, and the aging population that remained grew increasingly disenchanted. Much of the dissatisfaction in rural America today can be traced to capital’s emphasis on increasing agricultural labor productivity.

Moreover, agricultural wastes from cornfields increasingly became toxic; and with growing irrigation, there was an increased runoff of chemical pesticides and herbicides into local streams and rivers. And the fossil fuel demands per bushel of corn produced rose substantially.

Labor efficiency increased, but energy efficiency declined, producing fewer jobs and more fossil fuel demand simultaneously. Production processes generated fewer social benefits (jobs, local small businesses, communities) and more ecological disruption (climate change, aquifer depletion, surface water contamination).

Outsourcing

The process of subcontracting an existing production process or service that an organization previously performed internally to another organization, often in another country.

depreciation allowances

Tax deductions that allow taxpayers (mostly corporations) to recover the cost of wear and tear, deterioration, or increasing obsolescence of property they own. This tax break allows firms to reduce their taxes and use the money they save to invest in new production technology (which often reduces labor demand and increases energy demand). In that way, depreciation allowances act as a public subsidy (in the form of a tax break) for firms to make investments that reduce employment and increase energy use.