Chapter 5 Consumption, Consumerism And Happiness

Chapter 5 Consumption, Consumerism and Happiness ( Economies, Work and Consumption ) 1.0 Introduction This chapter explores the operation and significance of economies, investigating he changing character of work in today’s world , showing how economies are interdependent with other features of societies, and suggesting that they are now more closely interconnected internationally than ever before. 2.0 The Great Economic Transformations All societies have to deal with the production, distribution and consumption of goods ( such as food, clothing and shelter ) and services ( religious leaders, doctors ) 2.1The Agricultural Revolution Agricultural emerged as people harnessed animals to ploughs, increasing the productive power of hunting and gathering more than tenfold. The resulting surplus freed some people in society from the demands of food production. Individual began to adopt specialized economic roles: forging crafts, designing tools, raising animals and constructing dwellings. 2.2The Industrial Revolution By the middle of the eighteenth century, a second technological revolution was proceeding, first in England and then elsewhere in Europe and North America. It transformed social life. Industrialization introduced 5 notable changes to the economies of Western society. 1. New Forms of Energy 1

Steam engine. 2. 3. 4. 5.

The centralization of work in Factories Manufacturing and mass production. Division of labor and specialization. Wage labor Instead of working for themselves, industrial workers entered factories as wage laborers

2.3Sectors of the Economy 1. Primary sector This sector generates raw materials directly from the natural environment and includes agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, forestry and mining. 2. Secondary sector This sector transforms raw material into manufactured goods and includes the refining of petroleum, and the use of metals to manufacture tools and automobiles. 3. Third sector This sector generates services rather than goods and includes teachers, shop assistants, cleaners and solicitors. 2.4The Global Revolution : The Global Economy As technology draws people around the world closer together, another important economic transformation seems to be taking place. Globalization has become key features of the late modern world. 1. The economies of the richest nations, including Europe, now specialize in service sector activity.

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2. Workers in the poorer countries working long hours for little pay in what have been called ‘the sweatshops of the world’. 3. An increasing number of products pass through the economies of more than one nation. 3.0Economies : Differing Kinds Contemporary economies of the world can be analyzed in terms of two abstract models – capitalism and socialism. 3.1Capitalism Capitalism refers to an economic system in which resources and the means of producing goods and services are privately owned. There are 3 distinctive features. 1. Privately ownership of property. It support the right of individuals to own almost anything. 2. Pursuit of personal profit. 3. Free competition, consumer sovereignty and markets. No government interferences, sometimes called a laissez – faire approach. 3.2Socialism An economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing goods and services are collectively owned. There are 3 distinctive features of socialism. 1. Collective ownership of property. 2. Pursuit of collective goals 3. Government control of the economy. 4.0The Changing Nature of Work 4.1Work in Europe 3

In 1999, the active labor force aged 16 – 64 in the European Union was around 68% of the population. Working around 40 hours per week. 4.2The Decline of Agricultural Work When the twentieth century began, about 40 % of the industrial world’s labor force were engaged in farming. By now, it nearer to 2 % and many agricultural workers worked part time. 4.3From Factory Work to Service Work Industrialization swelled the ranks of factory workers during the nineteenth century. By 1911, more than 45 % of the UK workforce had service jobs. A major new form of work in the service industry involves ‘teleworking’ at ‘call centres’. Growth of the new IT sector. The growth of service occupations is one reason for the widespread description of Europe as a middle-class society. Example : sales position, secretarial work, job in fast-food restaurant –yield little of the income and prestige of professional white-collar occupation and the prestige of professional white-collar occupation, provides fewer rewards than factor work. It only provide a modest standard of living. 4.4The Dual Labor Market 1. The primary labor market includes occupations that provide extensive benefits to workers. Example : white-collar professional and high management positions. They are jobs that people thinks of as careers. 4

Have high income and job security and is also personally challenging and intrinsically satisfying. 2. Secondary labor market – job providing minimal benefits to workers. The labor is employed in the low-skilled, blue-collar type of work found in routine assembly-line operations and in low –level service –sector. Examples : clerical positions. The secondary labor market offers workers much lower income, demands a longer working week and affords less job security and opportunity to advance. Experience alienation and dissatisfaction with their jobs.

4.5Gender, Women and Work One of the most striking features of the modern world is that more and more women are working across the world, accounting for around 36 – 40 % of the world’s labor force. Men, by contrast, become increasingly unemployed, both when young and as they get older. The characteristics of women’s work are often very different from those of men: 1. They work more often for wages ( as opposed to salaries ) 2. They are usually paid lesser than men. 3. Often their work has less status. 4. Job insecurity is greater. 5. They are more likely to become unemployed in many countries. 6. Advances into administrative and managerial positions are often blocked by what has been called ‘ the glass ceiling’. 4.6Doing the dirty work 5

Domestic labor – middle-class men and women to employ other women. Such work is often disproportionately performed by racialised groups and migrant workers. In 2000, Bridget Anderson in her study of migrant domestic workers in five European cities – found that that such work not only brought low pay and long hours, it could amount to a kind of ‘slavery’. 4.7The Sweatshops of the World In lower-income countries, women are often compelled to work in the ‘sweatshops of the world’- where apart from exceptionally low income ( less than a dollar a day ), their work condition are subject to little or no regulation are casual and temporary, and are often hazardous. Much of these work’s work here is uncounted, so official figures can mean very little. The are also ‘on the move’, migrating to where the work is. 4.8The Spread of Part-time and flexible work Over the past –decade, part-time work has become more common, especially for women in the UK in 2000. Companies scrambling to ‘remain competitive’ in the global economy are ‘downsizing’ and decentralizing to gain ‘flexibility’. These trends mean not only cutting the number of people on the payroll, but also replacing long-term employees with temporary workers. BY hiring ‘temps’, companies no longer have to worry about providing insurance, paid vacations or pensions. Workers can be released without further cost when no longer needed. 6

4.9Changes in the Trades Unions Declining role of the trade unions – organization of workers seeking to improve the wages and working conditions through various strategies, including negotiations and strikes. Memberships of trade unions has declined over the recent years, in UK< US and Europe. Reasons: 1. Countries have lost ten of thousand of jobs in the highly unionized factories as industrial jobs are ‘exported’ overseas. 2. Many plant managers have succeeded in forcing concessions from workers, including, in some cases, the dissolution of trades unions. 3. New service sector job being created today are not unionized. 4. Temporary workers does not belong to union. 4.10Self Employment Earning a living without working for an organization. Self-employed is vulnerable to fluctuation in the economy. Lack compensation and health-care benefits. The number of self employed in UK increased throughout the 1980s to peak at 3.6 millions in 1990. In 1996, there are some 3.3 million self employed in UK and three-quarters of whom are men. 4.11Unemployment Five major groups who are likely to become unemployed. 1. Those who experience redundancies due to economic change. 7

2. Unskilled youth trying to make from transition from school to work. 3. Unemployed women. 4. The long-term unemployed. 4.12Non-work. Three broad groups: 1. Those looking after family and home ( mainly women ) 2. The long-term sick and disabled. 3. Students 4.13The Underground Economy Economic activity involving income unreported to the government as required by law. Examples: family makes extra money form car boot sales, baby sitting, Criminal activities, people trafficking, illegal drugs and weapons, trafficking of stolen goods, bribery, extortion, illegal gambling. 4.14The Branding of Commodities Nike, Starbuck, Mistsubishi, Shell, Wal-Mart, McDonalds’ , Sony, IBM, Coca-cola, Toshiba. The Branded World is organized through style, logos and image. 5.0The World of Corporation At the core of today’s capitalist economy lies the market which is composed centrally of corporations – organizations with a legal existence, including rights and liabilities, apart from those of its members. By incorporation, an organization become an entity unto itself, able to enter into contracts and own property. 8

5.1Corporation and Competition Large corporation are not truly competitive because: 1. Their extensive linkages mean that they do not operate independently. 2. A small number of corporation come to dominate many large markets. 5.2Corporation and the Global Economy Corporation have grown in size and power so fast that they are now responsible for most of the world’s economic output. Corporation become multinational in order to make more money ,since most of the world’s people are found in lessdeveloped countries. Worldwide operations , then, offer access to plentiful materials and vast markets. In addition, labor cost are far lower in poor countries of the world. 6.0Consumption in Modern economies In the past, socialists have been concern wit the production of goods and, with the focus on either business or workers and work. Today, socialist have come to recognize the importance of what and how we consume. Shopping and consuming has now become a major social practices of everyday life and in some markets, such as the youth markets, it has almost become the number one social activity. 6.1Mass Consumption and a Shallow World The rise of so much consumption has given sociologist much to discuss. 9

1. Consumerist culture is having a deleterious effect on the quality of life. 2. It destroy traditional cultures and solidarities. 3. The ‘loads a money’ culture promotes self-gratification and wit the market dominating, leads to a general flattening of life – destroying differences and communities. 4. This is seen to lead to the weaken of creativity, the decline of participatory communities as people now go to the impersonal shopping mall and not the ‘corner shop’ and it generates a materialism. 5. Creation of ‘brand name society’ , where what is on sale is not so much a commodity but as a logo. 6.2Inequalities and Consumption Consumption patterns lead to 3 ways of excluding people: 1. It is through money. Many people simply cannot afford to purchase new or high quality goods and services and suffer ‘economic exclusion’ as a result. 2. Excluded spatially : without a car or good public transport they cannot easily get to shopping centres and other places of consumption. 3. Excluded due to the lack of knowledge and skills to consume.

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