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Rating: 
Summary: Succinct and unflinching view of capitalism
Review: Though published in 1994 and being reviewed in 2003, this book is not irrelevant to the present. Ostensibly, the book is concerned with hours worked and employment, but it is far more a primer on the realities of capitalism and its control of the social relations of production. The timing of the book missed the economic surge of the late 1990s and the bust in the early 2000s, but the boom-bust cycle of capitalism is described and predicted by the author. During WWII and in its aftermath for 25 years, American corporations somewhat accommodated the American working class, especially those segments that had substantial union representation. But the fragility of that accord was clearly demonstrated as the global hegemony and profits of American businesses began to erode in the early 1970s. American businesses reasserted their ability to dominate the political and economic landscape by taking measures both directly and through the government to discipline the working class. The author makes abundantly clear that capitalism is by definition an economic system that is exploitative of the working class. The power of capitalists is hidden through the rhetoric of free enterprise, which holds that neutral, or "invisible," forces work to the advantage of all. The fact is that by the early 1980s and continuing through the early 1990s, the entire employment situation had changed considerably through the exercise of that power. Factories were closed, jobs moved to the South, unionization rates were slashed in half, wages declined, especially for the high school-educated, and contingent work became much more widespread, that is, part-time, temporary, and contractual. At the same time, marginal tax rates for the rich were greatly reduced, inequality in income and wealth increased, and the investing class received a huge bailout from losses incurred in the S&L scandal. In addition, unemployment levels soared throughout the 1980s, officially averaging over 7 percent across the decade. As the author points out, the unemployed are an important component of capitalism as they are an immediate source of workers, but more importantly they force the employed to moderate wage requests. However, it is not in the best interests of capitalism to have the official unemployment rate be too high. Conveniently, the Labor Dept has lax standards in defining an employed person, but stringent standards in declaring someone unemployed. The net result is an official unemployment rate that is always several percentage points below actual un- or under-employment. Though mainstream economists debate and constantly adjust the level of unemployment that is considered to be indicative of "full" employment, the author invokes President Roosevelt's State of the Union address of 1944, where he called for the right of all Americans to be employed who wanted to be, even if government is the employer of last resort. It is clear that public employment and/or a minimal guaranteed income are doable, but the employing class rabidly opposes any measure that would minimize the life-and-death dependency of the working class on private sector employment. The author also points out the devastating social effects of unemployment: increased crime, health and mental problems, and suicides. The working class in America has the "potential" political power to change the entire economic landscape. But that has not happened. Divisions within the working class based on skill, position, race, ethnicity, and gender have obscured the fact that capitalism is primarily based on the social relations of work. It cannot be ignored that capitalism has managed to persuade huge portions of the working class that consumerism is a form of empowerment. Nonetheless, worker organizations, whether they are unions or otherwise, will have to develop workers' class-consciousness for them to have any chance of radically changing the current exploitative relationship that exists in producing goods and services. The author calls for increased unionization, but it is unclear as to whether he regards co-opted, bureaucratic unions as adequate vehicles to represent workers' interest. It is clear that workers' efforts will have to proceed along political lines as well as within workplaces. In addition, he calls for non-capitalistic modes of production. But it would seem that production in the interests of the general population is mostly a matter of control, not formal structure or name. The social democracies of Europe have been successful in taming capitalism, though that is eroding at the time of this review. The book succinctly makes some key and irrefutable points about capitalism and capitalistic society. An interesting angle to this book will be its connection to the author's newest book, "Naming the System." From the vantage point of 2003, will the author extend or alter the points made here?
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