Lecture 7: Global division of labour

This week
• What is meant by ‘division of labour’?
• different divisions of labour
• Is an advanced division of labour something positive?
• different theoretical positions
• Work in the context of production process changes
• What is the nature of the division of labour in the world political economy today?
• Migration and migrant workers in the world political economy
• Labour conditions and workers’ rights in the world political economy
• Economic inequality between and within countries

Division of labour
• Definition
• ‘the roles that people occupy in the production process’ (p.210)
• ‘the division of a production system into specialized work tasks and
occupations’ (Giddens)
• Versions
• simple: many people do several and similar tasks
• advanced: people specialise in doing one or two tasks
• Levels
• local community
• nation-state
• world at large (international, global)
• What about different categories of people?
• gendered, racial, and ethnic divisions of labour
• General question(s)
• who does what (if anything), where, under what conditions, and with what
reward in connection with productive-economic activity?
• what determines who does what...?

Is an advanced division of labour something positive?

• Liberalism
• yes, because it increases productivity or the wealth-creating capacity of a
society
• this applies also internationally (liberal trade theory)
• assumption: all participants in the division of labour benefit
• Criticism of liberalism
• everybody does not (necessarily) benefit from a division of labour
• a particular division of labour is not natural, but rather shaped by power
relations

Work & production process changes

• Fordism and post-Fordism
• mass production (factory system) for mass consumption (Taylorism; Fordism)
• flexible specialization and customization (Toyotism)
• Increased automation of production and economic activity
• role played by artificial intelligence and robots in the execution of work tasks
• Rise of digital platforms and the ‘gig economy’
 • direct connection between customers and service providers or asset owners
with the help of digital technologies (cf. disintermediation)
• employment characterized by ‘short-term, casual work where freelance
workers are paid for one-off jobs or piecework’ (p.219)
• Question
• what are the implications of the above changes in the production process for
how and on what terms people fit into the work process?

Divisions of labour in the world political economy

• International division of labour
• ‘countries specialize in the production of particular things for export’ (p.211)
• specialisation of particular countries in distinct branches of production
• ‘New’ international division of labour (1970s-)
• development of manufacturing in newly industrialising countries (NICs)
• Global division of labour (2000-)
• ‘a form of organisation that reaches around the planet, but where work is not
confined to particular states’ (p.211)
• jobs are plugged into a transnational production process, but not confined to
particular parts of the world
• Overall trend towards a global division of labour...
•  
• Integration of China and India into the global economy
• creates both opportunities and tensions...

Migration in the world political economy

• In contrast to capital, labour does not flow freely in the world political economy
• there is no global labour market, even if labour everywhere is affected by the
world political economy
• In spite of this, ‘economic migration’ occurs, and migrant workers play an important
role in the world political economy
• why is there economic migration?
• how do migrant workers play an important role?
• Nature of economic migration
• illegal
• regulated (contractual; time-limited)

Labour conditions & workers’ rights in the world political economy

• Labour conditions vary a lot within the world political economy
• general worsening (neoliberalism; competition for FDI; competitive
deregulation of national labour markets)?
• Ongoing struggle to improve working conditions and workers’ rights
• state-based solutions?
• extraterritorial regulation?
• multilateral agreements?
• market-based solutions?
• dominant today
• second-best strategy?
• Labour and the (neo)liberal world political economy
• how much of a challenge can labour put up?
Economic inequality in the world political economy
• Enormous economic inequality between and within countries
• Recent developments (21st century)
• decrease in inequality between states
• increase in wealth concentration at the very top
• Three trends
• large growth in the global middle class
• stagnation in wages/incomes of the middle class in advanced industrialized
countries
• significant increase in the wealth of the richest 10% of people
• The ‘elephant graph’
• Much focus on the ‘stunning rise of the global super-rich’ (p.231)

About the ‘global super-rich’

• Sources of their rise
• tax abuse
• transformation of tax systems
• Implications
• ‘vast amounts of wealth bring vast amounts of power and confer on the rich
the ability to influence the living conditions of everyone else’ (p.233)
• they ‘may be able to insulate themselves from pressing political concerns and
thus show little interest in helping address the problems facing the global
community’ (ibid.)
• feeds into ‘the rise of right-wing populism’ in many countries
• A question
• How to address economic inequality between and among countries?