Components of the Economic Fabric of a Society - Dissertation Example

Download file to see previous pages What Jessop (2002) means by this is, that the interplay of economic factors across nations has become so powerful that all walks of human life are affected by it. The international and domestic laws regarding labor are also getting redrafted to incorporate the new conditions brought in by globalization. Since the founding of the International Labour Organisation in 1919, labor and labor laws can be understood as being globalized, though in a limited sense of the term (Craig and Lynk, 2006, p.17). Topics that have an integral connection with labor but were neglected until then came to the fore after the formation of ILO. This also necessitated a new legal framework to be built as well. Such topics include:

Fundamental rights (freedom of association, collective bargaining, equality in employment), conditions of work, child labor, protection of women workers, hours of work, labor inspection, vocational guidance and training, social security protection, and occupational health and safety (Craig and Lynk, 2006, p.19).

From the above discussion, it can be seen that labor, which is a social system by itself, also will not go unaffected by its environment. And labor being a crucial component of the economy, it will need to have a close encounter with globalization, which is mostly the globalization of the economy. According to International Labour Organisation, two major concerns in connection with labor and globalization have now arisen-how mobility imparted by globalization affects labor across national boundaries, and “whether existing labor institutions would be sufficient to safeguard ...[the]...fundamental rights” of the transnational migrant laborers (qt. In Stalker, 2000, p.11 of the foreword). The practical way to address these two concerns is by reforming labor laws and this process has been going on by taking the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which was “promulgated” in 1998 (Craig and Lynk, 2006, p.19).

Some interesting questions in this context can be, is labor making use of new communication technologies to consolidate itself internationally, is domestic and international labor laws really being reformed in a way that addresses the topics and concepts discussed above, and even before that happens, will the labor force be disintegrated, crushed and consumed by the rushing bandwagon of globalization (which primarily serves interests of the capital). Before answering such questions, a quick summary of labor and its relationships and international dynamics needs to be done.

What generally happens in a labor market is that:
Workers exchange their capacity to work for a wage and accept capital's right to (attempt to) control their labor power in the production process and to appropriate any profits (or absorb any losses) that results from its effort to produce goods or services for sale (Jessop, 2002, p.13). ...Download file to see next pages Read More