Legitimation problems on the productivity front

One of the chronic problems of modern capitalism is to bolster the legitimacy of the system and ensure that everyone feels that they belong and receive from the system a fair and equitable proportion of the enormous wealth that it creates. When that doesn't happen, as is often the case, and problems like marginalization and poverty grow larger the system loses some of its legitimacy in the eyes of some of its citizens. The era of globalization while creating fabulous new wealth and exciting innovations on the technological and communications front(the internet being one of them)has also eroded the job security and working circumstances of millions of blue and white collar workers.
Some would even suggest that the middle class is in danger of disappearing if current trends continue unabated. One of the intractable problems and major challenges is the question of how do we as a society improve our productivity, that is produce more useful and ecologically sound output without increasing labour time. Unfortunately because the productivity challenge is far too often distorted by employers and wealth holders and viewed as an opportunity to increase the intensity and duration of labour without comparable reward and substitute machinary for people all too often the real constructive goals of increasing productivity are lost.

A recent public opinion survey of people's attitudes showed that a majority of those Canadians surveyed resented employers' emphasis on increasing productivity and saw it as nothing more than increasing working time and lowering wages and job security. People also disliked the phrase "human capital" regarding it as impersonalizing their contribution to a company or workplace.

This suggests to me that legitimation problems are going to be more commonplace on this front unless employers and managers get the proper message about the virtues of collective participation in the process and fruits of increased productivity. The whole point of an economy and the productivity that goes with it is that serve the needs and aspirations of people and the environment and spreads wealth and prosperity as widely as possible. Only then will the productivity challenge be resolvable in a way that does not undermine the legitimacy of capitalism.

There are other more theoretically esoteric aspects of the productivity issue that involve the brilliant work of the Cambridge economist Piero Sraffa, and his work The Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities which leads one to the study of the capital controversy between the Ricardian post Keynesians and the Neo-classicals that are also well worth exploring.

But that will have to wait for another blog. My New Years Sunday brunch beckons. Happy New Year !