reparations & exploitation

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Fri Mar 9 10:24:51 PST 2001


At 05:45 PM 3/9/01 +0000, Yoshie wrote:
>>oh my god! yes, it's true that women in same occupations, with same
>>experience, education, work commitment etc often get paid less than
>>men. but the reason why women are paid less is explained MORE by
>>occupational segregation and further segregation within
>>occupations. (women tend to be food service managers, h.r. managers, etc)
>>
>>that is NOT exploitation. if you got rid of capitalism, then it's quite
>>possible that the same reasons why women end up in jobs that pay less will
>>end up in the same kinds of jobs which are typically accorded less status,
>>prestige, etc.
>>
>>why is that being ignored?

It is a false assumption that jobs are defined independently of the property relations, mode of production, etc. If you get rid capitalism and capitalist division of labor, capitalist jobs descriptions will disappear as well.

Stated differently, under capitalism, an owner of the means of production pays certain class of people less, because s/he has an incentive to do so (increase profits) and can get away with it (thanks to probusiness laws). What is more s/he will not hire certain class of people who s/he perceives as high risk (e.g. women) - again because risk can potentially decrease her/his profit margin. Take away ownership of the means of production and hence profit motive - the firm will have no incentive to pay less its workers or hire "high risk" people - because that risk will be socialized (i.e. universal health care, child care, access to education and social services etc.).

Of course some people will still have bad feelings toward other people - but economic exploitation has nothing to do with feelings about other people. If anything, it is the other way around - feelings and prejudices develop as rationalizations of economic exploitation and its outcome. In other words, women have lower status because they have been economically exploited, not the other way around.

wojtek



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