Impact Of Neoliberal Policies On Kenyan Workers

Two of the world’s most popular and diverse economic systems are Communism and Capitalism. Capitalism, or a free enterprise economy, is an economic system constructed by the freedoms of the marketplace. The capitalist economy has several promising advantages. The capitalist government subtly changes and adjusts to the current conditions with ease. A communist system can be defined as an economic system where many, if not all, factors of production are controlled and owned by the government.

According to Marx however, modern societies are characterized by capitalism and who owns the means of production.  Marx distinguished four types of production that have succeeded each other; these are primitive communism, ancient society, feudalism and capitalism.  These types of production are characterized by a set of class relations.  Those who own the means of production exploit the labor of those who do not own the means of production.  In ancient society, masters exploited slaves.  In feudal society, Lords exploited serfs who were tied to the

Neoliberalism has been described by many authors as “the dominant ideology shaping our world today” (Saad-Filho and Johnston, 2005). Neoliberalism is an ideology for economic policy that many economies actively employ worldwide. The idea that neoliberalism is a reincarnation of liberalism suggests that they possess a number of similar core values as the development and demise of liberalism paved the way for neoliberalism to grow to what it has become today (Dag Einar Thorsen and Amund Lie, 2006). However, many people hold the belief that neoliberalism may have descended from liberalism, but should be clearly distinguishable from it’s predecessor. Neoliberalism holds similar values to that of economic liberalism, which is the idea of refraining from any state intervention in the economy, and should be left to individual participants in self regulated markets, which Thorsen and Lie (2006) believe should be seen separately to liberalism. The idea that state intervention should refrain from involvement in the economy touches off Neoliberalism’s

Neoliberalism is a terminology that defines a wide range of economic policies that emphasize the freedom of trading and deregulation of the market. Although the term is rarely used by mass media or government report, it is important to understand how influential it is and what allows it to spread all over the world after 1970s. In this paper, I will be discussing the fact that the neoliberalism we see today is not the inevitable result of social progression; instead, it was adapted to the era and social status of its emergence.

The pervasive nature of neoliberal capitalism, as the primary ideology of success upheld among Western countries, in an increasingly globalized world has led to the widespread adoption of certain cultural conventions that influence interpersonal interactions with those seen as of a less advantageous class, race, religion, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or nation. These cultural beliefs and practices include the perception of neoliberalism and Western culture as the quintessential model (Genital, Fadiman, Muslim/Egg, HG, Famine), the idealization of specific personality traits (Wall St, Apache, Cosmetic), and the acceptance of inequality as the result of individual failure in a meritocratic system (Homeless, Waste, Barter, Disaster, Cargo).

Capitalism is an economic system in a society in which private owners control industry and trade within a country, rather than the state. Both Karl Marx and Max Weber, have written theories on how this system develops in countries and creates a nation state that is characterised by production and wealth. Marx’s theory takes more of a top-down approach, suggesting that people have little power in how their society is run. On the other hand, Weber’s bottom-up approach demonstrates how people have the ability to initiate capitalism and change their society. Marx’s theory of historical materialism is based on a 5-stage system inevitable of any society, Weber’s theory of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism states that it was a much smaller group within a feudal society whose religiosity inadvertently kick-started capitalism. Although both these theories look at how capitalism develops within a society, Marx’s macro-scale theory is more applicable to every society, unlike Weber’s micro-scale approach that focuses on one group within society and their ‘spirit of capitalism’. Naturally, the theories vary due to the time of writing and the economic or political situation. Marx wrote of historical materialism during a German economic crisis, whereas Weber wrote his theory a generation after, seeing the economy develop and stabilise. This impacted the message they were portraying and influenced two opposing theories.

As mentioned above capitalism is a process through which wealth is generated concentrating on it’s creation, distribution, structure and economic relationships. Spatial divisions of labor arise where particular types of economic activity are concentrated in specific geographical locations. America’s number one cash crop is cotton. They are also the world’s largest producer of cotton for over centuries. Since the 1950’s, cotton has tripled its yield due to genetically modifying seeds. In 2013 the farm shown in the video will produce 13,000 bales of hay which is equivalent to 9.4 million T-shirts (Blumberg, 2013). In order for a capitalistic society to survive and maintain uneven development it is imperative to have international divisions of labor (Coe, Kelly, and Yeung, 42). Jasmine, a shirt maker in Bangladesh, creating the men’s shirt for Project Money generates an income of about $80 a month. Due to extreme poverty in her village resulting from family debt and hunger, Jasmine is one of 4 million workers in the Bangladesh garment industry. In contrast workers in Columbia are being paid almost four times the amount a month for producing the same shirt. Although both workers have the same job, their respective countries’ uneven economic development is a result of capitalism. This unbalanced economic system is due to the low labor costs dictated by the individual

As transnational corporations (TNCs) grow more powerful than some nations and dominate the world market, governments favor neoliberal policies. Neoliberalism, a movement toward less government involvement in the regulation of markets, illustrates the push for open markets and free trade by core countries. (Knox, 299) Since the core countries already gained wealth and power, they possess the means to adopt neoliberal policies without the fear of being exploited. Without state intervention, the TNCs form monopolies and outsource labor to the cheapest bidder without concern for the factory conditions. Many allege social goals and standards must be abandoned for the profitability of business. (Knox, 299). Others claim making the markets open and

(Barbara et al, 2010). Another main policy of neoliberalism is privatisation, which involves state-owned enterprises, products and services being taken over by the private sector. This includes banks, train lines, schools and hospitals. Cavaliere & Scabrosetti (2008) discuss privatization being argued by many to be done for the benefit of greater efficiency, however has mainly had the effect of entrenching wealth even more and making the public pay. The last main policy is marketisation, this is the notion of freeing ‘free’ enterprise from any restrictions enforced by the government no matter the consequences to society for the benefit of the market. (Penna & O’Brien, 2012). Marketisation can include more accessibility to international trade and investing but also reducing wages by eliminating unions and employee rights. This policy is said to increase economic growth and will ‘trickle down’. (Cavaliere & Scabrosetti, 2008). These policies are all underpinned by individual responsibility and the idea of pressuring the poorest people in a society to find solutions to their

By definition, Capitalism is an economic system controlled chiefly by individuals and private companies instead of by the government. In this system, individuals and companies own and direct most of the resources used to produce goods and services, including land and other natural resources labor, and “capital”. “Capital” includes factories and equipment and sometimes the money used in businesses (Friedman, 5).

Capitalism is an economic system in which industry, trade and factor and means of production are controlled by private investors or owners with an aim of making profit in a market economy. It affects the rate of capital accumulation, labor wage and the control of competitive market. This usually affects the economy of different societies since the government has no control over the economy. The forces of capitalism greatly affect the societies in that the poor continues to be poorer while the reach society continues to accumulate wealthy and become richer. It widens the income disparity gap. It influences both the economic aspect and social aspect of the societies largely. This mainly is influenced by the forces that

Capitalism is an economical method that has become a cultural method which is regarded as an innovation and investment in order increase wealth. It is used for many economical systems but this will focus on production which industrial capitalism has changed. Industrial capitalism was first established in Britain during the nineteenth century (CrashCourse, 2012). Britain was able to

First of all, capitalism is the production of commodity for purposes of sales. It is an economic system where the means of production, distribution and exchange of wealth is made by individuals or corporations. The origin of capitalism starts when the producer wants to increase the sums of values they possessed and buys the laborer’s power for cheap and therefore increase the profits the producer makes (Tucker, p 432). Capitalism also involves with hierarchy of labor, production, wage labor, and surplus value, technology, and religion. Karl Marx and Max Weber state their critiques on this modern capitalism in the United States.

The establishment of a free market economy with the creation of joint-stock companies in the modern-day Netherlands during the 1500-1600s spelt the beginning of capitalism, an economic system which has, since this period, brought untold prosperity to billions throughout the world. Its proliferation throughout Europe is one of the primary reasons why in the centuries thereafter it became the sole hegemon on the world stage, with its greatest embracer, Great Britain, holding sway over a fourth of the globe by the mid-nineteenth century. Since these European centuries, liberal economic thought has spread throughout the world, with vibrant, flourishing economies sprouting in places from Singapore to Japan to even China, with its tentative economic liberalization being the direct result in hundreds of millions being lifted out of poverty.

This has meant more market-driven and capital-driven economies throughout the world, under the banner of neoliberalism . According to economic imperialism however, neoliberalism is “driven by the logic of profit for the private accumulation of capital based on the exploitation of labor throughout the world ”. It has in effect resulted in a world-wide system of production and labor exploitation, causing extreme inequality throughout the world as well as dependency relations between the different parts of the