Chapter 9: CAGE(s) in Paid Work

Question 1

What is like to work in the garment industry? Who most works in this industry? How are they taken advantage of?

Answer 1

The garment industry is is bad and hard work. Owners acts as agents in using their power to exploit workers. They hire the least expensive workforce to maximize profits, leaving women and immigrant workers disproportionately represented in this industry.
- In Quebec, 82% are women
- Women make up between 88-96% of the three lowest-paid occupations in the garment industry
Workers fire older workers, replacing them with new cheaper ones by closing their factories and re-opening under a different name; this leaves them with no paycheque and losing their vacation pay/health benefits.

Question 2

How do garment industries escape bankruptcy?

Answer 2

When they go bankrupt, they shut down and open a new shop three or four months later under a new name. Allowing them rid of their debts, and hire cheaper non-unionized workers. Canadian bankruptcy legislation has done nothing to stop this.

Question 3

What are the three differences between good and bad jobs?

Answer 3

1. The physical environments of workplaces
   - comfortable, safe, healthy
2. Intrinsic rewards
   - challenging, high autonomy, low alienation
3. Extrinsic rewards
   - high pay, benefits, job security, promotion

Question 4

What are the four dimensions of alienation presented by Marx?

Answer 4

Workers are alienated if they are:

1. Separated from the products of their labour
   - working on a product without knowing it’s purpose
2. Separated from their labour processes
   - little autonomy over how their work is done
3. Alienated from themselves
   - unable to derive meaningful existence from their work
4. Separation of workers from each other
   - capitalism establishes inherently antagonistic relationships across classes

Question 5

What is autonomy in relation to work?

Answer 5

Ability of workers to make their own decisions about how to do their work, how fast to do it, and what needs to be done
- the control over their work processes

Question 6

What is capitalism? What is the capitalist ideology surrounding jobs?

Answer 6

The economic and social organization of production processes in modern industrialized countries.
- good jobs and bad jobs are distributed on the basis of merit, or through a system of meritocracy
Good jobs are reserved for highly educated and skilled workers, since their contributions to the economy are considered more valuable

Question 7

Define meritocracy.

Answer 7

The allocation of positions, roles, prestige, power, and economic reward whereby “excellent” individuals are over-benefited in relation to others.

Question 8

What do sociologists view as the solution for workplace inequalities?

Answer 8

Capitalism justifies inequality, so the abolition of capitalism in Canada is thought to be the fundamental solution.

Question 9

How does capitalism organize processes of production? (five characteristics)

Answer 9

1. Private ownership and control of the means of production by relatively few people
2. Continuous growth; owners of capital continually strive to increase their profits
3. Exploitation; owners of capital profit at the expense of workers
4. Labour-wage exchanges; workers at as free agents in selling their labour power to capitalists in exchange for a wage
5. Commodity exchange that takes place in free markets; subject to supply and demand, which regulates economic activity

Question 10

How does Marx view capitalism? How does it relate to the coalescence framework and the continuum of good and bad jobs?

Answer 10

Marx was among the first to recognize capitalism is a social system in which production processes are organized according to the social relations of production.
Unequal access to the rights and powers associated with productive resources shapes the social relations of production.
The coalescence framework states that in capitalist systems CAGE relations are characterized by oppression, power, exploitation, and opportunity hoarding which constitute the social relations of production.
The social and economic organization of the processes of production result is a continuum of good and bad jobs.

Question 11

What are the three consequences of polarization into two social classes: the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, described by Marx?

Answer 11

1. Reduction in the proportion of small business owners, hence a shrinking old middle class
2. Increased proportions of income going to owners of large businesses and a reduction in the earning of middle-class workers
3. Continued deskilling of work and corresponding increases of alienation of workers

Question 12

Which class has decreased the most in the 1900s?

Answer 12

Small businesses declined the most until 1970. Between 1930 and 1970, they declined from 25% to 10-12%, most in the agriculture industry due to advances in farm technology that made small farming unprofitable.

Question 13

Which class structure has changed the most in the past 20-30 years?

Answer 13

There has been a significant increase in the old middle class; non agricultural self-employment increased from 5.8% in 1975 to 7.4% in 1990 and then to 15% in 2015
- most of these businesses have 0-3 employees

Question 14

How do some see the increase in a small businesses in a positive light while others do not?

Answer 14

Some say it is a positive thing since small business owners are free of the control of large capitalist enterprises; allowing for more autonomy and intrinsic rewards and less alienation
Some say it is a negative thing since the rise of small business owners is the result of globalization and lose extrinsic benefits that they would receive from large businesses

Question 15

How has the presence of women in the labour force changed? What inequalities do they still face?

Answer 15

There was dramatic increases of women in the labour market in 1961. Increase from 30% in 1961 to 80% in 1996 (aged between 25-34).

• women are overrepresented in the working class and underrepresented in the middle class
• women are underrepresented in all occupations that involve decision-making and authority
• there has been an increase in women as business owners, but most do not have employees, which could mean they are working from home because of caregiving responsibilities

Question 16

What does “pink collar” refer to?

Answer 16

Occupations in administration, clergy, retail, and sales. Industries which are largely dominated by women.

Question 17

Today, which jobs are dominated by men and which by women?

Answer 17

Women’s jobs are concentrated in health care, social assistance, services-producing, and educational-service industrial sectors
Men’s jobs are concentrated in goods-producing and manufacturing sectors.

Question 18

What is the most significant way that globalization has affected Canada?

Answer 18

The gradual reduction in government restrictions on trade and imports; WTO, GATT, and NATFA has allowed Canadian companies to restructure their operations and move their production processes to Mexico and the US, reducing production costs and increasing profits but losing jobs.

Question 19

What are primary labour markets and which ethnicity is most represented in this market?

Answer 19

Primary labour markets are a pool of good jobs that are characterized by high pay, good benefits, and job security. Members of British and Jewish English-speaking groups have dominated.

Question 20

How does race and ethnicity affect social class and jobs? Which groups are represented the most in the Marxists classes?

Answer 20

Minority groups are underrepresented in professional and managerial occupations groups, and in the upper and middle class; they overrepresented in the working class.
- with the exception of Arab and Chinese

Immigrants are the ones who suffer the most from overqualification, and when they do succeed at getting a job that they are qualified for, they are paid much less. Leaving most of them to be self-employed.

For both genders:

• German and Jewish = old middle class
• French and Italian = working class
• Jewish male immigrants are the most likely to be among the bourgeoise than any other ethnic group.

Question 21

How does age affect employment?

Answer 21

Young youngers are segregated in low-paid, part-time, service-sector jobs even though their educational attainment rates are higher than previous cohorts. Overrepresented in in retail trade, accommodation, and food and beverage services. As well as clerical, sales, and services occupations.

Older workers are overrepresented among the self-employed, in the resource sector (agriculture and fishing), parts of the manufacturing sector (clothing), the transportation, communication, and utilities sector, and some parts of retail (furniture and appliances). As well as service occupations and resource-sector occupations.

Prime age workers were overrepresented in some parts of the manufacturing sector, the finance, insurance, and real estate sector, and the business services sector. As well as most professional and technical occupations, production occupations, crafts and trades.

Only two industries: construction and whole-sale trade, have a uniform age distribution (Betcherman and Leckie)

Question 22

What is the cumulative advantage/disadvantage hypothesis? Which theory does it belong to?

Answer 22

It belongs to the life-course.
The cumulative advantage/disadvantage hypothesis is the idea that social and economic advantage and disadvantage cumulate over time; “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”
We are all born with a specific class, gender, race and ethnicity and at the beginning it may not make a difference but as time passes it cumulates to create a heterogeneous group.

Question 23

What is non-standard work and who does it affect the most?

Answer 23

Younger (especially) and older workers are more likely to be employed in non-standard work; part-time, multiple jobs, temporary, own-account self-employment
Women, regardless of age and geographic location, are more likely to hold non-standard jobs.

Question 24

Which provinces suffer the most from unemployment and which jobs are the most affected?

Answer 24

The Atlantic provinces suffer the most unemployment. Manufacturing, construction, and fishing industries suffer the most.
Professional and highly skilled occupations have more unemployment now than in the past, but they are still the least like to suffer.

Question 25

How has unemployment rates changed based on gender historically?

Answer 25

1950-1966; higher unemployment rates for men
1966-1990; higher unemployment (but similar rates) for women
1990-present; convergence of rates between genders

Question 26

How does race and ethnicity affect unemployment rates?

Answer 26

Ethnic and visible minority groups, and recent immigrants ave high levels of unemployment, especially in Quebec.
Aboriginals suffer the most; 1 in 4 are unemployed

Question 27

How does age affect unemployment?

Answer 27

In the 1990s there was a dramatic increase in unemployment of older workers than for any other group; however, young workers suffered the most with unemployment doubling for this age group and hardly changing through time.
However, older workers are unemployed for longer periods of time.

Question 28

What is the surplus value?

Answer 28

The value of surplus product that results when workers labour for more hours than would be required for them to achieve their means of subsistence. In capitalist systems of production, workers labour for themselves and for the owners of the means of production. If workers owned the product they produced and were able to sell it, they would need to work for fewer hours than they currently do to make the same wage. The excess time that they work and the surplus product that results from it (surplus value) is appropriated by owners.

Question 29

Is there an increasing polarization of income in Canada?

Answer 29

Yes, the top quintile is making more than in the past, while the other four quintiles are remaining the same.
It is not as bad as it could be because of government assistance for the working class.

Question 30

How does Canada rank for gender equality? How does being a women affect income? Why do women face this inequality in wage?

Answer 30

Canada ranks 20th for gender equality, according to the OECD. This is the fourth worst. Among full time workers, women earned 68.5% of what men earned in 2011. Women are most often employed in low-paid occupations and industries that require little skill. But even when they do obtain a high paying job (ex. dentist, physician) they are still paid less than their male counterparts.

Question 31

How does having children affect income based on gender?

Answer 31

Among full-time workers, mothers with children made an average $28 000 and fathers with children made $53 000, in 1976. This trend has continued until today.

Question 32

How does ethnicity and race affect income?

Answer 32

Japanese immigrants have the highest average among visible minorities, while Latin Americans had the lowest.

Workers of colour earn 16.3% less than all other workers, this difference is higher among men than women. This difference remained even after taking education and other social variables into account.

Question 33

What are the poverty rates among Canadians? Which group suffers from poverty the most?

Answer 33

Poverty is a serious social problem in Canada.
There were higher poverty rates in 2001 than in 1989.
16% of Canadians were poor in 2003; 12% of families are poor and 38% of unattached individuals.

Aboriginals suffer extreme financial deprivation and hardship and have higher rates of poverty (43% of aboriginals compared to 19% of non-aboriginals).
54% of aboriginals earned less than $10 000 in 1999. The “best-off” First Nations communities are more disadvantaged than the “worst-off” non-Aboriginal areas.

Question 34

Which groups are most likely to experience poverty for over two years?

Answer 34

Single mothers, older adults (especially women), young people (aged 15-24), children (under 6), those with less than high school education, aboriginals, and visible minority groups.
There is a significant relationship between income and age.

Question 35

What does Braverman argue in relation to capitalism?

Answer 35

As capitalists attempted to maximize profit, they would simultaneously seek to gain the maximum amount of control over the “pace and manner” of the labour processes in order to gain the most value from workers’ labour power.
- this would lead business owners to systematically centralize both skills and knowledge under the control of management, ultimately casting the “worker” as a “manipulable” element of the production process

Question 36

What does Braverman argue in relation to white-collar jobs (ex. clerical and retail)?

Answer 36

Most white-collar jobs should be considered working class and not middle class, because new technology has deskilled the work process and given managers the ability to monitor and control work performance.
ex. cash registers does the math for the workers (deskilling) and are programmed to tell how many customers per minute an employee is serving (monitoring).

Question 37

How do Bell’s views differ from Braverman?

Answer 37

Bell argues that knowledge, and skill, would become a highly valued commodity in post-industrial society, and rewards would be based on level of skill and knowledge.
As the proportion of knowledge workers grew, the historical trend toward the polarization of society into two central classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, would lose speed.

Question 38

Do Clement and Myles agree with Bell or Braverman?

Answer 38

They agree with Bell; they believe the growth in the services sector has brought both skilled and unskilled jobs, but the unskilled jobs are entry level positions and not the formation of the working-class

Question 39

What is the labour-market segmentation perspective?

Answer 39

Tries to help to explain the disadvantages that women, visible minorities, immigrants, ethnic minorities, and younger and older employees experience in paid work.
They argue that good and bad jobs are located in different labour markets; the processes through which people get these jobs are different; there is little movement between these labour markets; and segregation within labour markets occurs on the basis of CAGE.
Bad jobs tend to be located in secondary labour markets, good jobs in primary labour markets.

Question 40

What does the dual-economy perspective argue?

Answer 40

There is a core sector and a periphery sector in the economy.
Core sector: large companies with little competition, they exert considerable control over suppliers and markets and are able to manipulate their political environment
ex. banks, telecommunication, automobile manufacturers, airlines
Peripheral sector: smaller firms that are competitive, less profitable, require less skills and education, have less political and economic power, and less unionization
ex. retail outlets, small manufacturing companies, small hospitality firms

The reason people of colour, women, immigrants, ethnic minorities, and younger and older employees encounter labour-market disadvantages is that they are segregated in the periphery sector.

Question 41

What is the human-capital explanation of labour-market based inequality?

Answer 41

Individuals are sorted into good and bad jobs on the basis of individual skill, education, and experience. Those who invest more in these things with reap greater labour-market rewards, especially higher incomes.

Criticism: assumes there is free and open competition for good jobs and everyone is on a level playing field when it comes to the ability to invest in or use their education.

Also states that workers with more experience should be paid higher because productivity increases with experience; but experience is defined narrowly and “non-productive” skills such as raising children are not considered.