From: Paul Adler (padler@usc.edu)
Date: Tue Jan 14 2003 - 10:43:32 EST
Thx Jerry. Re Bill Warren: I'd like to do some homework: perhaps you or someone else on the list can point me to useful assessments/critiques. Paul At 9:37 AM -0500 1/14/03, gerald_a_levy wrote: >Re Paul A's [8333]: > >> * There are two quite distinct issues under the "reduction" from >> complex to simple labor: a question of how to measure the value of >> complex labor power relative to simple (expressed as relative wages), >> and a question of whether capitalist development actually simplifies >> complex labor by deskilling. On the former, presumably we can rely on >> the relative amounts of "socially necessary labor time involved in >> producing" the relevant capabilities. > >Like simple labor, I would say that what constitutes SNLT varies spatially >and temporally. This means that instead of there being one uniform >standard for SNLT, there are many. SNLT is a "moving target". > >> On the latter, my view is, >> obviously, not. (Just so I know where we're up to in this discussion: >> do you really think deskilling is the dominant tendency?) > >I think that 'deskilling' and 'upgrading' are both long-term historic >processes. Which of those tendencies is the dominant one may >vary conjecturally (and perhaps regionally). > >> * Globally, I think we might agree that international competition >> tends over the longer term to bring wages into closer alignment. As >> imperialism reaches into less-developed regions to exploit low wages, >> wages do tend to rise relative to advanced countries -- as we saw >> with the "Asian tigers". The demands of capitalist industrialization >> lead these countries to build their education system, upgrading the >> country-specific standards of simple labor and the supply of complex >> labor. (As you can see, my paleo- proclivities have led me close to >> Bill Warren's position!) > >OK, I'll bite. How is your position on imperialism different from >Warren's? Do you see imperialism as being responsible for the >upgrading of workers skills internationally? > >> The state and workers' movements can help or >> hinder in this upgrading, and give it the skill-formation >> institutions their specific shape. > >Agreed. > >> Are we moving forward in this? > >If moving forward means in part that we are deepening our >discussion by extending it into other areas and challenging >our preconceptions, then I think the answer is yes. > >Solidarity, Jerry -- * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Prof. Paul S. Adler, Management and Organization Dept, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0808 USC office tel: (213) 740-0748 Home office tel: (818) 981-0115 Home office fax: (818) 981-0116 Email: padler@usc.edu List of publications and course outlines at: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~padler/ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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