Wage-Labour Sociology essays

Wage-Labour Sociology essays This weeks readings were Marx, Wage-Labour and Capital, Davis and Moore, Some Principles of Stratification, and Domhoff, Who Rules America: Power and Politics in the Year 2000. In the first reading, Marx talks about the relationships between workers, employers, and consumers. He mentions the fact that a big majority of the working-class believe that there job does not allow for a decent living. In response to this, Marx states that wages will rise and fall according to the supply and demand. This is important in maintaining a working American economy. We are reminded that while the demands of the employees are not at all unreasonable, the capitalist must take a lot of other things into account when setting wages. The employer must allow enough funds for the training of its employees, maintaining the facility and equipment used to produce, production costs, and also retraining of new employees replacing the old. With all of this into account, the wages are set to accommodate the workers as a whole. Also, Marx points out that the less the period of training that the employees undergo, the smaller the cost of production of the worker, and the lower the price of his wages. Capitalists must offer a prize or compensate workers in order to fill in the spots of the higher trained positions. It would not make sense to pay a telemarketer, who requires little or no training more than a physician who must undergo many years of training and education. Something must draw people to these jobs. The wages and benefits must outweigh the temporary suffering that these trainees undergo. And furthermore, it would not help the company to pay the employees more than the cost of production of the worker. This leads to the second reading, Principles of Stratification. The main topic present in Principles of Stratification was as follows: No society is without class or s...