The Postmodern Proletariat Essay Example for Free

The Postmodern Proletariat Essay ABSTRACT Although the landscape of the business world has changed dramatically, there is disagreement among scholars as to whether Marx’s theory of alienation still applies to the current workplace environment. Although the advent of unions and teamsters groups, employee stock options and ownership sharing plans, and job benefits seem to ameliorate working conditions thereby minimizing the existence of alienation, some scholars believe that other inventions from capitalism such as globalization and information technology communications offset the balance gained from these improvements in labor relations thereby further promulgating its effects. Using historical observation from the early years of capitalism in America, social identity theory, and literature on information technology and corporate cultural diversity, a disparity emerges regarding how the social alienation of minorities differs from that of non-minority members. A dialectical inquiry is made to determine how the history of capital labor in America is related to social alienation based on a worker’s racial or cultural heritage. INTRODUCTION Some scholars suggest that Marxian theory is antiquated and that due to advances in technology, the evolution of industry and the change in the way business is conducted, individuals in the workplace may experience less alienation than before. The evolution of organizational and employee developments such as the unions and teamsters groups, employee stock options and ownership sharing plans, and job benefits may offer explanations as to why symptoms of alienation have yet to birth a proletariat revolution as theorized by Marx. Additionally, socio-economic â€Å"safety nets† established by legislation to save capitalism such as the creation of the â€Å"living wage†, welfare, child labor laws, equal employment opportunity and affirmative action programs, and social security have also assisted in the maintenance of capitalism thereby minimizing the impact alienation has on individuals in the workplace. However, for most minorities and women these developments that have occurred throughout American history have done little to ameliorate alienation because until approximately the last 30 – 40 years few labor laws were designed with minorities in mind. As a matter of fact, even legislation designed to protect minorities and women is often challenging to enforce, allowing alienation to exist from factors including unequal employment opportunities, a lack of diversity in the workplace, and unequal pay between men and women or based on race. Research suggests that women and minorities on average still make as little as between 75% 80% of white men’s wages in paid labor. Marx has been criticized for overlooking this stratum of alienation based on race and gender that illuminates a different face of capitalism. Marx proposed four dimensions of alienation that can be classified as self, social, product, and means of production. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how alienation occurs in different ways overlooked in the literature by redefining the worker through the lens of social identity theory which may explain how alienation is a relative concept. Questions will be addressed such as which workers may experience relative alienation? What other forms of alienation exist and to whom may it apply? And how can the new proletariat be effectively managed in efforts to reduce anxiety as a result of social or cultural dissonance? Following a brief literature review of Marxian theory, social identity theory, and literature on information technology, I will examine how the expansion of capitalism has spawned a modern more diverse proletariat that still experiences alienation, but in varying degrees that differ from non-minority workers. This paper will theoretically demonstrate how time affects the social alienation of minorities in a manner different than non-minority members resulting in a dialectical inquiry of how the history of capital labor in America is related to social alienation. LITERATURE REVIEW The link between capitalism and labor Throughout the history of the world, it is labor power which has elevated any so called civilized society. According to Marx, before the emergence of capitalism, society was more communal and each person in society contributed his/her own labor where it was needed and in the way best suited for his or herself (Marx Engels, 1951). For example, there were blacksmiths, hunters, fisherman etc. and each bartered and traded with one another for their sustenance. Approximately 2,000 years before the dawn of capitalism â€Å"false needs† (those needs that the culture capital industry makes us to believe are real (Marcuse, 1964) did not exist apart from necessary ones such as food and shelter. For almost all of human history people and communities grew, hunted, and traded for what they needed (Agger, 2004). The creation of money changed this, according to Marx (Marx Engels, 1951a), because it could be saved and used for many purposes as it became an intermediary in the trading proces s. Instead of simply being used as a tool of value to acquire necessary needs like basic food and shelter, money began to signify success or social status which gradually distanced individuals from one another (Agger, 2004), hence the term alienation. Another type of labor Marx termed free labor (Marx Engels, 1951b), although the term â€Å"free† is a misnomer. This form of labor was one in which slaves provided labor. They were bought and sold along with their labor power once to a slave owner thereby becoming a commodity such as a dishwasher or a tractor. It is important to note that the slave is the commodity so his labor power is no longer a commodity that belongs to him. Marx’s account of history explains how the bourgeoisie capitalist emerged (Marx Engels, 1951a) but for the purposes of this paper I will fast forward to capitalism in colonial America which includes the most recognized form of labor that still exist today, wage labor. Although wage labor is labor that is at first owned by the worker, it can be sold by the worker thereby making it so that the labor is no longer under the worker’s control. â€Å"The worker receives means of subsistence in exchange for his labor power, but the capitalist receives in exchange for his means of subsistence labour, the productive activity of the worker, the creative power whereby the worker not only replaces what he consumes but gives to the accumulated labour a greater value than it previously possessed.†(Marx Engels, 1951b, pp85) This type of relationship between the worker and the capitalist along with the creation of currency creates what Marx termed as alienation (Giddens Held, 1982). Marx’s theory of alienation Marx attributes four types of alienation to labor under capitalism (Giddens Held, 1982). According to Marx, when the worker gets paid for completing an assigned task, he is actually selling his labor as a commodity. This commodity is a form of capital that Marx terms as having social power because the power is transferred from the proletariat or worker to the capitalist (Marx Engels, 1951b). Once this transfer of labor power occurs, alienation develops for many reasons as outlined by Marx (Giddens Held, 1982). The first includes the alienation of the worker from his or her true self as a human being rather than a machine due to the lack of opportunity for self expression and directly benefitting from the fruits of one’s individual labor. The profit or commodity created as a result of one’s labor is privately owned by someone other than the creator. The second form of alienation, social alienation, occurs between workers since capitalism reduces labor to a commodity to be traded on the market and disrupts the social relationship among workers. Thirdly, since the product is controlled by the capitalist, alienation exists between the worker and the product itself. The worker no longer has control of his own life because he no longer has any control of his own work. Before the emergence of capitalism, labor was a person’s life activity. According to Marx a worker never become autonomous or experience self-realization because their life activity or work becomes controlled by someone else. The manifestation of their life through the fruits of their labor is no longer realized by the worker herself. Now their labor is only significant in the way the bourgeois want it. Lastly, alienation exists from the act of production itself due to high specialization and the division of labor (Smith, 1991) among workers that results in high efficiency for the capitalist but becomes a meaningless activity, offering little intrinsic satisfaction for the worker. Marx also noted that religion strengthens the alienation process by causing individuals to accept their lot in life no matter its condition. Social identity theory Tajfel (1978) defines social identity as â€Å"that part of an individual’s self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership.†(pp. 63). Tajfel and Turner (1979) further described social categorization as one of three processes that underlie social identity theory (SIT). Social categorization is the process by which individuals categorize others into groups in efforts to organize social information (Ellemers, De Gilder, Haslam, 2004; Tajfel, 1978). According to Tajfel (1978), social categorization is the underlying process of SIT that is sufficient as well as necessary to induce forms of in-group favoritism and out- group discrimination. The second process, social comparison, occurs when people make comparisons between the self–perceived categories of groups in relation to the group’s perceived values and their own individual values ( Tajfel, 1978). Social identification, the final process, allows people define themselves based on their level of affiliation with a group that they believe shares the same values they wish to attain. The choice of group affiliation is also based on the perceived value that the group holds in expectation of receiving personal benefit from such membership (Ashforth Mael, 1989). Ashforth and Mael (1989) also note that this categorization process serves the purposes of (a) helping people make sense of their environment by defining other in relation to their group membership, and (b) enabling individuals to define themselves in comparison to other groups. People are then more likely to identify with a group with whom they share similarities, because their identification is based on how they categorize themselves as similar to those within the group (van Knippenberg van Schie, 2000). Turner (1978) demonstrated in various experiments where groups were created with minimal categorization, when there is no category placed on them, participants artificially created in- groups and out- group dynamics. This showed evidence that individuals in groups will create artificial divisions between themselves and individuals from other groups even when no observable differences are salient. Other experiments demonstrated that since race is a very salient characteristic, its social categorization may induce in-group favoritism and out-group discrimination as well. One such example of how inter-group bias is resolved through an understanding of SIT is taken from what is known as the Robber’s Cave study in which two groups of boys campers were placed on two different sides of the campgrounds unaware one another (Gaertner, Dovidio, Banker, Houlette, Johnson, McGlynn, 2000). Upon each group’s awareness of each other, they immediately began to discriminate against each other for no salient reason other than the fact that they were in different groups. This resulted in each group creating an in-group and out-group condition. However, using decategorization, conflict between the two groups was ameliorated (Gaertner, Dovidio, Banker, Houlette, Johnson, McGlynn, 2000). Decategorization is the process by which individuals in groups are isolated from their group and placed in a situation in which they must interact with a member from another group they deem as the out-group. Over time, surface level differences erode and deep level similarities emerge which helps them to decategorize themselves in relation to their group membership. Isolation from the influence of their group members enables this decategorization to occur, thereby reducing conflict between the members from different groups. The contemporary workplace Managing diversity. Some diversity scholars suggest that a demographically representative workforce results in more innovation and creativity (Jackson, 1991; Cox Blake, 1991). There has been an increased recognition of the need for more diversity as it is not only ethical, but is also good for business. A diverse workforce assists companies in attracting customers by having sales teams that â€Å"speak the language† of the minority consumer. Marketing and promotion becomes more effective because a company with a diverse workforce has a greater understanding of the culture and values of its consumers helping them to connect with them. Overall, this paradigm shift in the hiring practices of current companies occurs as it heavily impacts their bottom line in a profitable manner. This new shift is very evident as the backlash from majority group members such as White males mounts. Protests against affirmative action programs and blaming minorities for economic crises such as job layoffs, falling real incomes, and diminished access to quality education have resulted in racial profiling and hate crimes (Agger, 2002), other ways to alienate minority members. Information communication technology (ICT). Communication via technologies has been shown to change group interaction. It tends to equalize participation, because group members participate more equally, and charismatic or higher status members may have less power (Kiesler, Siegel, McGuire, 1984). Social psychological aspects of computer- mediated communications studies of groups that make decisions via computer interaction have shown they were more uninhibited and there was less influence from any one dominant person. It appears that groups that communicate by computer experience a breakdown of social and organizational barriers. This may occur because we as individuals can recreate ourselves forming a new identity, a cyber self (Agger, 2004). The cyber self is described by Agger as the self-assembled, manipulated persona that â€Å"accesses† the world via online. According to Agger, a capitalist system thrives off consumer self-invention as we create status and false needs for ourselves. In a cyber-capitalism (Agger, 2004) this still occurs but with one’s true identity hidden. This may be beneficial for minorities who still may become socially alienated even after reinventing themselves. THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT Karl Marx said â€Å"the history of all hitherto-existing society is the history of class struggles† (Marx Engels, 1951a). Although many scholars acknowledge overlaps between class and race, I believe the salience of racial color and distinct racial features helps to further explain dynamics regarding the relationship between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie and its effect on promulgating capitalism and alienation. As we have observed, the history of social economic systems depicts changes in how labor was utilized. Consequently, it may also demonstrate the extent of alienation exhibited by workers. The majority of the first settlers and later most immigrants of European ancestry up until present day experienced alienation as theorized by Marx. But unlike the worker who sold his labor as the commodity, the slave laborer was the commodity, providing free labor while the worker or the serf earned a wage. Although Marx does make the distinction between wage labor and slave labor to some degree (Marx Engels, 1951b), he does not delve into the consequences or the degree of the difference between the two regarding the consequences of alienation. According to Marx, the capitalist society leads to the alienation of workers by not allowing them to express themselves through their work. The proletariat is alienated because she is compensated less for her labor versus profiting from her own entrepreneurial efforts. Smith argued that this arrangement is fair because the capitalist assumes the risk (Smith, 1991). This debate may be arguable for the average laborer at that period in history, but can this same argument of fairness hold true for the slave laborer? Although Marx spoke about alienation among working class, he failed to detail the condition of the slaves at the time who one could argue were the most alienated. At best, Marx related that the Negro slave is a commodity only if used as one, such as a sewing machine or any other commodity (Marx Engels, 1951b). In reality SIT demonstrates how the saliency of race attaches a stigma to the slave as being only a slave, with skin color serving as an identifier. The result is that not only was the labor of a slave a commodity, but the slave itself was the commodity who could not profit from his/her own labor. This is the first example of how alienation differs between minorities and other workers. A dialectic exists because although alienation exist for all workers, it is greater for minorities, ergo the slaves, due to social injustice. This oversight in Marxian theory is important to recognize as it may mean that levels of strength of alienation should be identified. Ironically, capitalism, the economic force that initially promulgated slavery, became the economic force that would ameliorate the condition of alienation among minorities in a dialectical sense. According to Marx, the mass of wage labor grows as the capital grows (Marx Engels, 1951b). In his words, â€Å"the number of wage workers grows; the domination of capital extends over a greater number of individuals,† (Marx Engels, 1951b, pp 87). When four million Blacks were released from slavery in 1865 (Bennet, 1984), they were forced to compete with White laborers which created a troubled situation. However, Northerners looked south for cheap labor and imported Blacks to beat down a higher standard living or to break up unions (Meltzer, 1984). It was capitalism at its finest which served to create an opportunity for ex-slaves. Although they experienced more alienation than their White counterparts because they were not allowed to unionize, being in a situation where they could a ctually work for a wage could be considered a step –up from their past condition of slavery and poverty. The industrial revolution of the late 18th and early 19th century provides additional examples of how not only the need for labor increased, but how this need created â€Å"token† labor for minorities who ordinarily would have faced discrimination and not found work. The transcontinental railroad project is considered by some to be one of the most important projects in American history because it enabled Americans to connect across the entire U.S. An enormous undertaking, the Central Pacific Railroad, was so large and dangerous that there was a greater than usual demand for labor that minorities were able to fill (Schama, 2009). This important endeavor would not have been completed had it not been for the Chinese immigrants at that time. They were not wanted by the contractors at first, and were mistakenly considered too frail and effeminate for the job due to their small body frame and minimal facial hair. However, due to the need for more workers, they temporarily overcame p rejudice and eventually comprised a significant amount of its workforce until its completion. Positing from Marx, dimensions of alienation existed due to the level of dangerous working conditions and the mind numbing and repetitive division of labor. At the completion of the project, the Chinese were not even recognized for their outstanding accomplishment. However, I argue that they experienced a decrease in the level of social alienation they would experience by having an opportunity to work alongside other Americans at a time when prejudice against them was volatile. Again, the dialectic occurs whereas Marx’s theory of alienation applies to the work situation, but the fact that a job existed at all for the Chinese in a prejudiced society demonstrated the amelioration of alienation for minorities through capitalism. However, when observed as a comparison between minority and non-minority workers I propose that the level of alienation for minorities is still high as compared to non-minorities. This may demonstrate how alienation could possibly be moderated by the race of a worker. Both examples from history provide evidence for what could be termed as relative alienation. Adam Smith assumed that saving money and having a Protestant work ethic of self denial, working hard and delaying gratification was a driving force behind capitalism (Smith, 1991). He was correct in that it supported and helped to ignite its birth in America, but by the end of World War II people needed to spend money in order for capitalism to thrive (Agger, 2002). As a result people began to spend beyond their means and credit was popularized as a new way of spending. Eventually this new dimension of consumerism led to the Great Depression of 1929. As a result, a host of programs were introduced by President Franklin Roosevelt to salvage the economy and the capitalistic way of life. Many new measures were devised by the Roosevelt administration to combat the Depression. The work week was shortened, young children were forbidden to work, a minimum wage was set, and federal relief programs including social security were implemented. A public works program built new hospitals, schools and community centers, and playgrounds which created millions of jobs (Meltzer, 1984). It was not until these frantic years of the New Deal, as it was called, that Blacks began to move into unions as well as begin to truly benefit greatly from the creation of new jobs. Although discriminated against, minorities again experienced a different level of social alienation in the workplace, as compared to their White counterparts (Meltzer, 1984). Henry Ford is noted for his revolutionary business model using the assembly line as well as for increasing the wages of his workers so that they may purchase his vehicles. The Ford Model T was the first automobile mass produced on assembly lines with completely interchangeable parts, marketed to the middle class. The needed factory worker knowledge and skills were also reduced to one of 84 areas. Although according to Marx this scenario serves as a situation for alienation to exist, for the minority worker it may be considered an elevation in social status in a foreign land in which they experience prejudice. It is noted that approximately 75% of Ford’s workforce were immigrants (Schama, 2009). Unfortunately, this was not due to Ford’s compassion for minorities in need of work, but rather for the need to meet the demands of labor. This demand continued during World War I and through World War II as men serving their country as soldiers were unavailable to meet the labor needs of capitalism. Minorities stepping in, although alienated by the exploitation of their labor, experienced an improvement in social alienation from White co-workers simply by having an opportunity to work with them. The birth of information communication technology has transformed the landscape of business and work group interaction. Its effect of removing barriers and equalizing members within interacting groups helps to ameliorate conditions of alienation of minorities with co-workers. The cyber self can be used to better connect with members from all cultural backgrounds. First, it is a self- assembled invention of the self that allows minorities get a â€Å"foot in the door† thereby enabling them to connect with co-workers in manner that blinds them from bias or prejudice. Secondly, computer-mediated interaction between members equalizes participation by removing the influence from dominant personalities or members. This is akin to a decategorization process by which majority members and minority members may converse via ICT without influence from ethnic, racial, or gender group member affiliation. I propose that this will enable deep-level characteristic to emerge while surface-level difference dissolve, enhancing the interaction between members. As a result, the probability of alienation occurring between co-workers may diminish in the contemporary workplace. CONCLUSION The sonnet inscribed on the Statue of Liberty reads: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. These words convey an offering of liberty and prosperity by capitalism and democracy that can be perceived as sincere. The history of capital demonstrates that the mantra of Lady Liberty may have in reality been a call for cheap labor to perpetuate capital and grow the U.S. economy. In turn, the rise of industry with an influx of immigrants created more than just a melting pot, but also bred a new type of worker different from the proletariat described by Marx. By deconstructing this new proletariat, we find that over time alienation in the workplace has manifested itself in a disguised manner for all Americans, but simultaneously improved co-worker interaction for minorities as a result of contemporary business practices. Recognizing this dialectic, the construct of alienation should be examined further in order to identify its different dimensions relative to the cultural and racial identity of workers. Additionally, managers and leaders should continue to foster business diversity practices that serve to be inclusive of all so as to minimize cultural or social dissonance among co-workers. Although capitalism has been attributed a major cause of alienation, it is ironic that the contemporary ways of doing business spawned from capitalistic expansion may save capitalism from becoming a socially dominant force that transgresses the basic rights of humanity. The new ways that businesses communicate and produce services and products at may seem to only intensify workplace social alienation at first glance. Ideologies created by capitalism such as globalization, just-in-time production, and the culture industry seem to have heightened alienation among workers in our wealth building society. 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