Henslin James M. Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach

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The largest source of illegal income is probably drug dealing. Twenty-one million Amer-

icans currently use illegal drugs (Statistical Abstract 2011:Tables 7, 203). To serve them,

billions of dollars flow from users to sellers and to their networks of growers, importers,

processors, transporters, dealers, and enforcers. These particular networks are so huge that

each year the police arrest more than a million Americans for illegal drug activities

(Statistical Abstract 2011:Table 320).

The million or so illegal immigrants who enter the United States each year are also

part of the underground economy. Often called undocumented workers (referred to as los

sin documentos in Mexico), they work for employers who either ignore their fake Social

Security cards or pay them in cash. I asked a housekeeper from Mexico who had entered

the United States illegally if she had a “green card” (the card given to immigrants

who enter the country legally). She said that she did, adding, “They’re sold on the street

like candy.”

Work in U.S. Society 421

Percentage

1970Year 1980 1990 2000

Percentage

10%

Year

Percentage

Year

Percentage

1970Year 1980 1990 2000

1970 1980 1990 2000

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100

2010 2010

2010

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100

High school graduates

High school dropouts

College graduates

Some college

Whites

African Americans

Latinas

Asian Americans

Ages 14–17

Ages 6–13

Ages 3–5

Under age 3

Single women

Married women

Divorced, widowed,

and separated women

(d) By Age of Their Children

(b) By Marital Status(a) By Education

FIGURE 14.7 Women in the Labor Force: The U.S. Experience

Note: To understand this figure, ask “What percentage of Group X is working for wages?” The broken lines in Part C are government

projections; the other broken lines indicate projections by the author.

Sources: By the author. Based on Statistical Abstract of the United States 1989:Tables 638, 639, 640; 1990:Tables 625, 627, 637;

2001:Table 578; 2011:Tables 585, 592, 597, 599.

When terrorists struck the World Trade Center, 43 restaurant workers were killed. Of

them, 12 were working with fake Social Security cards (Cleeland 2001). Undocumented

workers from China work primarily in Chinese restaurants and in New York’s garment

industry. Many from India and Pakistan work in fast-food restaurants (Rosenbaum

1998). Those from Mexico and Central and South America are concentrated in Califor-

nia and Texas, but they disperse throughout the country. They do housework, pick let-

tuce on farms, sew garments in clandestine sweatshops, clean rooms in hotels, and serve

food at restaurants. For the most part, they do the low-paying and dirty jobs that U.S.

citizens try to avoid. The rest of us benefit from their labor, for they bring us cheaper

goods and services.

422 Chapter 14 THE ECONOMY

Women in Business:

Maneuvering the Male Culture

work for a large insurance company. Of its twenty-

five hundred employees, about 75 percent are

women. Only 5 percent of the upper management

positions, however, are held by women.

I am one of the more fortunate women, for I hold a

position in middle management. I am also a member of

the twelve-member junior board of directors, of whom

nine are men and three are women.

Recently one of the female members of the board

suggested that the company become involved in Hori-

zons for Tomorrow, a program designed to provide in-

ternships for disadvantaged youth. Two other women

and I spent many days developing a proposal for our

participation.

The problem was how to sell the proposal to the

company president. From past experiences, we knew

that if he saw it as a “woman’s project” it would be

shelved into the second tier of “maybes.” He hates what

he calls “aggressive bitches.”

We three decided, reluctantly, that the proposal had a

chance only if it were presented by a man. We decided

that Bill was the logical choice. We also knew that we had

to “stroke” Bill if we were going to get his cooperation.

We first asked Bill if he would “show us how to pre-

sent our proposal.” (It is ridiculous to have to play the

role of the “less capable female,” but, unfortunately, the

corporate culture sometimes dictates this strategy.) To

clinch matters, we puffed up Bill even more by saying,

“You’re the logical choice for the next chairmanship of

the board.”

Bill, of course, came to our next planning session,

where we “prepped” him on what to say.

At our meeting with the president, we had Bill

give the basic presentation.We then backed him up,

providing the background and rationale for why the

president should endorse the project.As we an-

swered the president’s questions, we carefully de-

ferred to Bill.

The president’s response? “An excellent pro-

posal,” he concluded,“an appropriate project for

our company.”

To be successful, we had to maneuver through the

treacherous waters of the “hidden culture” (actually

not so “hidden” to women who have been in the com-

pany for a while). The proposal was not sufficient on

its merits, for the “who” behind a proposal is at least

as significant as the proposal itself.

“We shouldn’t have to play these games,” Laura

said, summarizing our feelings.

But we all know that we have no choice. To be-

come labeled “pushy” is to commit “corporate sui-

cide”—and we’re no fools.

Source: Written by an insurance executive in the author’s introduc-

tory sociology class who, out of fear of retaliation at work, has chosen

to remain anonymous.

Down-to-Earth Sociology

Because of its subterranean nature, no one knows the exact

size of the underground economy, but it probably runs around

10 percent of the regular economy (Barta 2009). Since the of-

ficial gross domestic product of the United States is about $14

trillion (Statistical Abstract 2011:Table 666), the underground

economy probably totals well over $1 trillion a year. It is so

huge that it distorts the official statistics of the country’s gross

domestic product. It also costs the IRS billions of dollars a year

in lost taxes.

Stagnant Paychecks

With our extensive automation, the productivity of U.S. work-

ers has increased year after year, making them some of the most

productive in the world (Statistical Abstract 2011:Table 1352).

One might think, therefore, that their pay would be increasing.

This brings us to a disturbing trend.

Look at Figure 14.8. The gold bars show current dollars. These

are the dollars the average worker finds in his or her paycheck.

You can see that since 1970 the average pay of U.S. workers has

soared from just over $3 an hour to over $17 an hour. Workers

today are bringing home more than five times as many dollars as

workers used to.

But let’s strip away the illusion. Look at the green bars,

which show the dollars adjusted for inflation, the buying power

of those paychecks. You can see how inflation has suppressed

the value of the dollars that workers earn. Today’s workers,

with their $17 an hour, can buy little more than workers in

1970 could with their “measly” $3 an hour. The question is

not “How could workers live on just $3 an hour back then?”

but, rather, “How can workers get by on a 29-cent-an-hour raise

that it took 37 years to get?” Incredibly, despite their having

more years of college and more technical training, despite the

use of computers, and much higher productivity, the average

worker’s purchasing power increased just 29 cents an hour be-

tween 1970 and 2007.

Patterns of Work and Leisure

Suppose that it is 1860 and you work for a textile company in Lowell, Massachusetts. When

you arrive at work one day, you find that the boss has posted a new work rule: “All workers

will have to come in at the same time and remain until quitting time.” Like the other work-

ers, you feel outrage. You join them as they shout, “This is slavery!” and march out of the

plant, indignant at such a preposterous rule. (Zuboff 1991)

This is a true story. The workers were angry because up until then, they had been able to

come and go when they wanted. Let’s consider how patterns of work and leisure are re-

lated to the transformation of economies.

Effects of Industrialization. Hunting and gathering societies provide enormous

amounts of leisure, time not taken up by work or necessary activities such as eating

and sleeping. Assuming they didn’t live in a barren place or have to deal with some

calamitous event, such as drought or pestilence, it did not take long for people to

hunt and gather what they needed for the day. In fact, most of their time was leisure,

and the rhythms of nature were an essential part of their lives. Agricultural economies

Work in U.S. Society 423

Dollars per Hour

1970 19901980

$3.23

$6.66

$10.19

$14.00

$8.03

$7.78

$7.66

$8.03

$8.88

20072000Year

$19

Current

dollars

Constant

dollars

Note: Constant dollars are dollars adjusted for inflation,

with 1982 as the base.

$18.62

Source: By the author. Based on Statistical Abstract

of the United States 1992:Table 650; 1999:Table 698;

2011:Table 643.

FIGURE 14.8 Average Hourly

Earnings of U.S.Workers in Current

and Constant Dollars

leisure time not taken up by

work or necessary activities

also allowed much leisure, for, at least in the western hemisphere, work peaked with

the spring planting, let up in the summer, and then peaked again with the fall har-

vest. During the winter work again receded, for by this time the harvest was in, an-

imals had been slaughtered, food had been preserved and stored, and wood had been

laid up.

Industrialization, however, broke this harnessing of work to seasonal rhythms. Going

against all of human history, bosses and machines began to dictate when work was to be

done. Workers resisted, clinging to their traditional patterns. After working for several

weeks—or even just a few days—a worker would disappear, only to reappear when money

ran out. For most workers, enjoying leisure was considerably more important than amass-

ing money (Weber 1958/1904–1905). Since regular, efficient production brought more

profits, bosses began to insist that all workers start work at the same time. To workers of

that period, this seemed like slavery. Today, in contrast, work patterns that corporations

and bosses impose on us have become part of the taken-for-granted cultural rhythms that

coordinate our lives.

Trends in Leisure. It is not the activity itself that makes something leisure, but the pur-

pose for which it is done. Consider driving a car. If you do it for pleasure, it is leisure, but

if you are a cabbie or if you must commute to the office, it is work. If done for enjoyment,

horseback riding and reading a book are leisure—but these activities are work for jockeys

and students.

Patterns of leisure change with the life course, following the U-curve shown on

Figure 14.9. Young children enjoy the most leisure, but teenagers still have considerably

more leisure than their parents. Parents with small children have the least leisure, but after

the children leave home, leisure picks up again. After the age of 60 or so, the amount of

leisure for adults peaks.

Compared with workers during early industrialization, today’s workers have far more

leisure. A hundred years ago the work week was half again as long as today’s, for then

workers had to be at their machines 60 hours a week. When workers unionized, they de-

manded a shorter work week. Over the years, the work week has gradually shrunk. In

Germany the work week is 35 hours, with Friday afternoons usually taken off. Volkswagen

was the world’s first multinational corporation to adopt a 30-hour work week. In addi-

tion, German workers get six weeks of paid vacation a year. A strange thing has happened

in the United States, though. This trend toward more leisure has reversed course. U.S.

workers now average over 1,800 hours of work a year, as much as workers in Japan (Gor-

nick and Heron 2006).

Teleworking. Just as the Industrial Revolution took workers from home to factory and

office, so our technological revolution has allowed two million workers to leave the office

and work at home (Shellenbarger 2008). Corporations save office space, and workers

avoid traffic jams. Managers often fret about a loss of control over workers, and telework-

ing does produce mixed results. For some workers, out of sight means that it’s time to goof

off. Without the structure that forces them to quit at the end of the day, others go on 24/7

work binges (Johnson 2004).

Work is more than just the job a person performs. Although the paycheck is the typ-

ical motivation for taking a job, friendships at work become so significant that they af-

fect even the self-concept. It isn’t surprising that teleworkers miss the camaraderie of

their office mates. Lacking face-to-face communications with co-workers and bosses,

they are also deprived of nonverbal cues—the facial expressions and body language—that

are so essential for our understanding one another. E-mail helps, but it isn’t the same as

seeing the look on Bob’s and Mary’s faces when they tell a joke or repeat the latest office

gossip. Some teleworkers power up at coffee houses, just so they can see the faces of oth-

ers (Cava 2006).

Many teleworkers find work at home to be a soulless experience. Here is what a stu-

dent who read this text reported:

424 Chapter 14 THE ECONOMY

Most Leisure Time

Least Leisure Time

Teen

years

Years of

parenthood

Years after

parenthood

Early

childhood

Old

age

Source: By the author.

FIGURE 14.9

Leisure and the Life

Course:The “U”

Curve of Leisure

My husband is still working as a software engineer. His company “wired” most of their em-

ployees for home offices. So he now works from home and has a boss in another state whom

he rarely sees in person. He misses his “community” at the office and often, out of the blue,

will just go in for a few hours for no good reason. He’s usually disappointed, though, because

most everyone else works at home, and he finds few people to chat with. His company rec-

ognizes this as a big problem. It’s hard to keep the team spirit, so they have tried to gently

“mandate” once a week togetherness lunches. But it’s not the same as everyday contact.

Teleworkers, of course, enjoy not having a boss breathing down their necks, and

they revel in the ability to plan their days or even to take an afternoon off to visit the

zoo when the kids don’t have school. And they don’t miss the traffic jams, either.

Global Capitalism and Our Future

Global capitalism has had vital effects on all of our lives, and it will continue to do so.

Let’s look at just one more aspect of our changing economic times.

The New Economic System and the Old Divisions

of Wealth

Suppose that you own a business that manufactures widgets. You are paying your workers

an average of $20 an hour (including their fringe benefits, vacation pay, sick pay, unem-

ployment benefits, Social Security, and so on). Widgets similar to yours are being manu-

factured in Thailand, where workers are paid $8 a day. Those imported widgets are being

sold in the same stores that feature your widgets.

How long do you think you could stay in business? Even if your workers were

willing to drop their pay in half—which they aren’t willing to do—you would still be

undersold.

What do you do? Your choices are simple. You can continue as you are and go broke,

try to find some other product to manufacture (which, if successful, will soon be made in

Thailand or India or China)—or you can close up your plants here and manufacture your

widgets in Thailand.

Global Capitalism and Our Future 425

As capitalism globalizes, it is not just the

products but also the cultures of the

dominant capitalist nations that are

exported around the world. The music

of Canadian Avril Lavigne, shown here

in Shanghai, China, brings not only

melodies and words but also ideas and

orientations to life.

Percentage of the U.S. population

Percentage of the nation's income received

20%

50%

23%

15%

The many changes that the globalization of capitalism is bringing include stark choices

for U.S. manufacturers. These are not easy times for them. One wrong decision can de-

stroy a generation of wealth and privilege. Despite the treachery of changing markets,

however, for the most part they open for investors the opportunity for greater profits.

And for workers? One disruption after another. High insecurity with layoffs, plant

closings, and the prospect of more of the same. The insecurity is especially hard-hitting

on the most desperate of workers, the less-skilled and all those who live from paycheck to

paycheck. No matter how hard they work, how can they compete with people overseas

who work for peanuts? They suffer the wrenching adjustments that come from having

their jobs pulled out from under them, looking for work and finding only jobs that pay

lower wages—if that—watching their savings go down the drain, postponing their retire-

ment, and seeing their children disillusioned about the future.

What about the wealthy? Aren’t they hurt by shifting economics, too? Is it really true

that with the huge global competition in manufacturing, distribution, and service, the

wealthy are doing well? Aren’t they, perhaps, being hurt like the workers are? As I men-

tioned, some rich individuals do make wrong decisions. They can get on the wrong side

of investments and lose their collective shirts. In general, though, it is the workers who

suffer. The wealthy continue to do just fine in our challenging economic times. How

can I be so sure, you might be wondering. Take a look at Figure 14.10.

426 Chapter 14 THE ECONOMY

Source: By the author. Based on Statistical Abstract of the United States 2011:Table 693.

FIGURE 14.10 The Inverted Income Pyramid: The Proportion of Income Received

by Each Fifth of the U.S. Population

What happens when oil tankers

wear out? They go to Bangladesh,

where they are turned into scrap.

These workers, an expendable

part of the global economic

system that we are all a part of,

are exposed to PCBs, asbestos,

and other toxins. For this, they

earn $1 a day.

Global Capitalism and Our Future 427

By the Numbers: Then and Now

Percentage of U.S.

workforce made up

of blue-collar workers

1900 NOW

Number of the world’s

25 largest corporations that

are from the United States

2008 2009

Number of the world’s

25 largest corporations

that are from China

2008 2009

Percentage of U S

Average hourly earnings

of workers, in current

U.S. dollars

1970

NOW

Percentage of U.S.

workforce made

up by farmers

1900 NOW

The average U.S. farmer

produces enough food to

feed this many people

1800 NOW

Women who have

children under age 3

who do paid work

1975 NOW

Women who graduate

from college who

do paid work

1970 NOW

Th U S f

Percentage of U.S.

workforce made up of

white-collar workers

1900 NOW

Percentage of U S

Purchasing power

of the U.S. dollar

1941

NOW

Average hourly earnings

of workers, in constant

(1982) U.S. dollars

1970

NOW

428 Chapter 14 THE ECONOMY

SUMMARY and REVIEW

The Transformation of

Economic Systems

How are economic systems linked to types

of societies?

In early societies (hunting and gathering), small groups

lived off the land and produced little or no surplus. Eco-

nomic systems grew more complex as people discovered

how to domesticate animals and grow plants (pastoral and

horticultural societies), farm (agricultural societies), and

manufacture (industrial societies). As people produced a

surplus, trade developed. Trade, in turn, brought social in-

equality as some people accumulated more than others.

Service industries dominate the postindustrial societies. If

a biotech society is emerging, it is too early to know its

consequences. Pp. 398–400.

The Transformation of the

Medium of Exchange

How has the medium of exchange evolved?

A medium of exchange is any means by which people ex-

change goods and services. In hunting and gathering and

pastoral and horticultural societies, people bartered goods

and services. In agricultural societies, money came into

use, and evolved into currency, or paper money, repre-

senting a specific amount of gold or silver on deposit.

Postindustrial societies rely increasingly on electronic

transfer of funds in the form of credit cards, debit cards,

and e-cash. Pp. 401–403.

World Economic Systems

How do the major economic systems differ?

The world’s two major economic systems are capitalism

and socialism. In capitalism, private citizens own the

means of production and pursue profits. In socialism, the

state owns the means of production and has no goal of

profit. Adherents of each have developed ideologies that

defend their own systems and paint the other as harmful

or even evil. As expected from convergence theory, each

system has adopted features of the other. Pp. 403–408.

The Functionalist Perspective on the

Globalization of Capitalism

How does functionalism apply to the globalization

of capitalism?

From the functionalist perspective, work is a basis of so-

cial solidarity. Traditional societies have mechanical sol-

idarity; people perform similar tasks and identify with

one another. Industrialization brings organic solidarity,

interdependence based on the division of labor. This

process has continued to the point that we now are devel-

oping a global division of labor. Corporations, with their

separation of ownership and management, underlie the

success of capitalism. Pp. 408–411.

The Conflict Perspective on the

Globalization of Capitalism

How does a conflict perspective apply to the

globalization of capitalism?

Conflict theorists, who focus on power, note that global

capitalism is a means by which capitalists exploit work-

ers. From the major owners of the multinational cor-

porations come an inner circle. While workers lose jobs

to automation, the inner circle maintains its political

power and profits from the new technology. The term

corporate capitalism indicates that giant corporations

dominate capitalism today. Power and wealth have be-

come so concentrated that a global superclass has

arisen. Pp. 411–418.

Work in U.S. Society

How has the workforce changed?

In the transition to a postindustrial society, the number of

farm workers has plummeted, blue-collar work has shrunk,

and most people work at service jobs. Pp. 418–420.

What is the underground economy?

The underground economy consists of any money-making

enterprise not reported to the government, from babysitting

to prostitution. The size of the underground economy runs

about 10 percent of the regular economy. Pp. 420–423.

Each rectangle on the left of this figure represents a fifth of the U.S. population, about

60 million people. The rectangles of the inverted pyramid on the right show the percent-

age of the nation’s income that goes to each fifth of the population. You can see that half—

51 percent—of the entire country’s income goes to the richest fifth of Americans. Only

3 percent goes to the poorest fifth. This gap has been growing over the years, and it now

is greater than it has been in generations. Despite the vast changes forced on us by the tran-

sition to a postindustrial economy, our income inequalities have been perpetuated, even

enlarged. The common folk saying that the rich are getting richer and the poor are get-

ting poorer is certainly an apt observation, well supported by social research. What im-

plications of this division of the nation’s wealth do you see for our future?

Summary and Review 429

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT Chapter 14

1. What global forces are affecting the U.S. economy? What con-

sequences are they having? How do they affect your own life?

2. What are the major characteristics and ideologies of capitalism

and socialism? What changes are taking place in these eco-

nomic systems?

3. How can anyone say that the average U.S. worker hasn’t

gotten ahead in recent years, when the average hourly wage

has jumped from $3 to $17 an hour? What implications

does this have for your own future?

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Where Can I Read More on This Topic?

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How have patterns of work and

leisure changed?

In hunting and gathering societies, most time was

leisure. In agricultural societies, work was dictated by

the seasons. Industrialization reduced workers’ leisure,

but workers have now gained some leisure back. Amer-

icans and Japanese work more hours per week than

do the workers of any other industrialized nation.

Pp. 423–425.

Global Capitalism and Our Future

How do the old divisions of wealth fare

in global capitalism?

The wealthy can make mistakes that jeopardize their economic

welfare, but it is primarily the workers who face the most pre-

carious survival during our current economic dislocations.

Global capitalism has brought more of the old inequalities,

with the wealthy getting a larger share of the economic pie

and the poorest even less than previously. Pp. 425–427.

Politics

Chapter