Work And Globalisation Flashcards
What are the three Ts
Trade
Technology
Transport
Castells and beck
castells (2010) and Beck (1992, 2000) suggest that globalisation has affected work in several ways:
Fewer standard jobs and more non standard lower quality jobs
More outsourcing and potential unemployment
Strengthening power of owners and wreaking power of workers
More migrant workers
What type of job has globalisation led to
Non standard, insecure jobs
• Edgell (2011) argues that those in non-standard jobs suffer a ‘wage penalty (around 15%) as they often do not qualify for in-work benefits from their employer or the government.
What is outsourcing
Work that used to be performed in the uk moved to another country
Edgell outsourcing
• Edgell (2011) uses the example of call centres, which used to be based in the UK, but many of which are now based in India. A ready availability of English-speaking staff was one reason why companies were able to transfer this service provision abroad. Indian call centre employees need to adjust their lives to fit into UK time zones and holidays, by working nights etc. Edgell also says that they are encouraged to mask that they are calling from abroad. Edgell calls this TIME SPACE COMPRESSION
• Such outsourcing threatens not only routine work, but also highly qualified
‘knowledge work’, taking advantage of lower wages among highly skilled workers in countries like China and India. Knowledge work deals with ideas, information and analysis, rather than making or distributing physical products.
Strengthening power of owners and weakening power of workers
• Castells and Beck argue that the capital (wealth and assets of the business) is global, but work is local / national.
This means that the different parts of multinational companies are organised and coordinated across many countries, while the workforce is organised within individual countries or individual factories.
• Compared to capital, labour is therefore disorganised and weak; this works against the interests of the workforce.
• Transnational companies also have the ability to relocate their businesses to countries where labour is less regulated and is cheaper.
Gratton - migrant workers
• Globalisation has caused an increase in the flow of workers both to and from the (migration).
• Gratton (2012) uses the term ‘transnationals’ to describe a global elite of workers with specialist skills from across the world.
• Transnationals are willing and able to relocate at any time and will migrate from UK to wherever they are needed, but this may also include members of this elite group emigrating to the UK from all around the world.
• There is also a much less privileged group. Globalisation has meant that people from poorer countries often risk their lives in search of a better life in developed countries such as the UK.
In the UK, low-paid jobs have become so devalued in recent years that they are difficult to fill and the UK often relies on migrants from low-wage countries (e.g. some Eastern European countries) to fill these positions.
Mackinnon et al
MacKinnon et al (2011) found that many people in local communities were deep affected by globalisation of labour through migration, especially from Eastern Europe and felt threatened and disempowered. They noted that this can lead to negative reactions towards these migrant workers and argued that this had led to HIERACHY OF WHITENESS which creates tensions and divisions in communities.
Atkinson
Labour Markets
The patterns of work in the UK are changing, largely as a result of globalisation.
Atkinson (1984) argued that this caused an increase in a divided workforce, referred to c the dual labour market.
What are periphery workers and core workers and which are in the primary labour market and which are in the secondary labour market
Periphery: secondary labour market, non essential jobs e.g. artist
Core workers: essential jobs, primary labour market , e.g. bin man
Statistics from the 2020 labour work force
Growing insecurity at work: the casualisation of the workforce
According to the 2020 Labour Force Survey:
>
Approximately 1 in 4 people in employment was working part-time
> 1.2 million people had second jobs
> 1.4 million people had a temporary job
> One-quarter of temporary employees were temporary because they could not find a permanent job
> 11% of part-time workers worked part-time because they could not find a full-time job
> People on zero-hours contracts are more likely to be young, women, or in full-time education
