Worldbank (n.d.) states, “Everything that grows also changes its structure. Just as a growing tree constantly changes the shape, size, and configuration of its branches, a growing economy changes the proportions and interrelations among its basic sectors- agriculture. Industry, and services and between other sectors-rural and urban, public and private, domestic- and export-orientated (para. 1) Hodson & Sullivan present that (2008) “A post-industrial society is based on services. Hence, it is a game between persons. What counts is not raw muscle power, or energy, but information” (Bell, 1976, p. 127). The essay will explain the work in modern America, including the positive and negative aspects of the service and knowledged-based economy and Americas place in the global economy. Discuss the interconnectedness of immigration, globalization, democracy, and corporate power, and how the changes in the workplace, and increasing service orientation of the economy has affected my life.
Service Economy
The new service economy has positive and negative aspects. The United States labor was once based on agriculture, then manufacturing and has now turned into an economy based on services (Hodson & Sullivan, 2008). Over the years, Americans have gained more capital and with that capital services such as education, health and entertainment have increased. (Worldbank, n.d.) Because service jobs are not based on the use of machines like manufacturing, jobs are continuing to grow in the
Nearly each advancement we made contributed to the continuous rising of our economy. The extreme increase among jobs contributed to America’s wealth and money, there was a significant drop in homelessness, and families were allowed to live comfortably. “The image in document three shows that factories will begin showing up in small towns and villages” (Document 3). Now that there are more facilities to work, there are more jobs available for the common man. Previously there was only farming, but companies began moving into villages, meaning there are more jobs. “The image in document four tells people that there are more positions to fill. With the brand new assembly line, companies need five people to complete the task, as opposed to one” (Document 4). The automobile conceived a whole new job route with the assembly line. People now only needed to know how to piece together one thing and that opened up five or more times more jobs as there were in the past. “Railroad travel was fast. Going to San Francisco from New York City took only six days” (Document 5). To move this fast a train would need a team to operate it. The new engines required many workers; this showed that there would be work opportunities on the rail road too.
One of the biggest changes in this new American society was the move from agricultural based jobs, to factory based jobs. People’s lives changed drastically because of it. Families no longer worked as a single unit, but rather each family member went out to work and bring money to the family. However,
Contemporary globalization is an exceptionally multifaceted phenomenon and can be defined as "an intensification of cross-national cultural, economic, political, social and technological interactions that lead to the establishment of transnational structures and the global integration of cultural, economic, environmental, political and social processes on global, supranational, national, regional and local levels" (Huynen, Martens & Hilderink, 2005). The very nature of the American society has experienced insightful and compound changes due to globalization that has brought with it both new opportunities and risks. Similarly, the impacts of globalization
Due to the flatteners, countries such as: China, India, Russia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Central Asia now actively participate in a flattened world. This is shaping global economics and politics. Furthermore, this has presented a challenge to America to build not only a strong state, but strong individuals as well. With that being said there are three gaps creating a crisis for Americans. The first gap is the “ambition gap”. According to the author, “Americans have gotten too lazy” compared to their Indian and Chinese counterparts. The second is a serious numbers gap building, meaning we are not producing enough engineers and scientists. In the past America would import Indian and Chinese engineers and scientist; however, because the world is flat they are competing from home. The final gap is an education gap. Often times CEO outsource in an effort to save on company cost by paying lower salaries and to get better-skilled and more productive workers.
Today’s economy is an issue concerning immigrants and their desire to live the American dreams. The article was written in the 1900s, a time when America became industrialized and immigrants were at a soared which shows how capitalism had created pressure which undermined the traditions of family lives, cultural ties and immigrants’ moral valves that they have brought with them to the United States.
The world we live in today is going through enormous changes in economics, technology, culture, politics, etc. The effects of the changes are not so clear, since it is hard to predict how each sector would affect the other and how society will be affected. However, analyzing past and present occurrences provides some information for experts to interpret society’s reaction in the future to different transformations. Globalization can be seen as a process in which societies around the world come together and expand through the combination of different forces. This paper will explore the effects of globalization on US companies, US society and economy, and the implications for other countries in the post-industrial world.
Globalization is taking its toll on the American work force. “In the 1980’s, globalization hurt blue-collar America,” (Steven Greenhouse, 2008) this was due to the vast amount of imported steel, autos, machinery, and electronics. It is now the twenty-first century. Globalization is not only affecting blue-collar workers, but has extended its reach to white-collar workers. Jobs are being lost in America as corporations move production, and/or outsource jobs to low-wage producing countries. It is estimated over 7.9 million jobs have been lost this year, and some of these jobs will never return. This is corporation’s philosophy on how to cut cost, which in-turn translates into a larger profit margin. Because of these extensive job losses, the
The modern day American society hosts a broad spectrum of industries with various occupations and professions to engage today’s workforce. America, much like most first world countries is a service economy based on the exchange of knowledge and expertise rather than materials and products. People have a long history of work and work evolution that has ultimately brought America to a service economy producing both strengths and weaknesses within the society and its economy. As America has moved to a service economy, much of the manufacturing and production jobs have moved oversees to third world countries creating a reliance on other economies. This globalization of the workforce as well as unionization, and the
The world is not a large and strange place anymore. The world is a place that is interconnected and intertwined. The world has become from a place that each country and their peoples are separate and isolated to a place that each country and their peoples are part of a global network. Thanks to globalization this is occurring. Globalization is the ‘international integration” or ‘de-bordering’ – “a number of highly disparate observations whose regular common denominator is the determination of a profound transformation of the traditional nation-state” (Von Bogdandy 2). Globalization is connecting different people from different cultures and backgrounds together. More and more corporations are entering new foreign markets to sell their
In this chapter, Thomas Friedman looks at how cultures and societies will have to deal with and adapt to the changes that globalization brings to the way of doing business. It affects whole companies and individuals. He gives the perception of the world is flattening by comparing the Industrial Revolution to the IT Revolution that is happening right now. The flattening process was identified by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels in the Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. Marx’s writings about capitalism state “the inexorable march of technology and capital to remove all barriers, boundaries, frictions, and restraints to global commerce (Friedman 234).”
Globalization is an extremely relevant concept in regards to the current shape of the world. Through globalization, ideas are shared across cultures leading to innovations in several departments. I would like to give an overall view and perspective of the impact of globalization on the United States from a macro look at how globalization is now shaping America. Likewise, I will discuss in more detail how globalization has impacted the United States as it relates to technology, trade, transportation, and environmental pollution. Lastly, I will explain the impact of globalization on the United States as to how it relates to these forces on domestic companies, workers, indigenous cultures, and other demographic groups within the country.
Overall activity in our nation’s manufacturing sector has declined and in recent years to the lowest level in more than two decades. Thus, the declines resulted in increased unemployment rates among the manufacturing industry in the U.S. One cause of the joblessness increase is because companies employ worker’s that are so productive that fewer employees are required to produce more goods. Ultimately, the U.S. economy is no longer manufacturing-based; rather, nearly 85 percent of U.S. jobs now come from the service sector.
In the upcoming years, many jobs in the service sector will be lost to workers overseas. Countries overseas can do the same job but in return they provide a lot less pay. The cost of living in other countries is far less than in America, in return American manufacturing workers stay competing with the millions of people that reside in Europe and Asia. Expanding service sector trade in the United States is not providing any net gains, but rather the so called transition. This transition may take a generation or more and US wages may
Research indicates that the direction of the world economy is likely to render the world a global village. This is where sovereignty is not an issue of concern and labor is likely to be replaced by technology. Many corporations will appear to be of the size of a cell and only global economies will matter. Therefore, it is necessary for organizations to train their workers to adapt to the unpredictable and ever-changing economies. The high pace in which organizations and economies are integrating also defines this economy. Analysts have predicted that the many world corporations will be integrated into a single competitive world economy by the year 2050 (Claeskens, 2012). Essentially, it is also believed that most of the political systems and structures that support many corporations will not have much influence and may be reduced to tribal components.
Today, almost all of us are aware that our lives are being shaped by an interconnected world economy of cross-border flows of trade, finance and technology. In our hearts, we know that there is no going back.”