Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- Part I The theory of social structures of accumulation
- Part II History, institutions, and macroeconomic analysis
- Part III Class, race, and gender
- Part IV The international dimension
- 12 Accumulation and crisis in a small and open economy: the postwar social structure of accumulation in Puerto Rico
- 13 Apartheid and capitalism: social structure of accumulation or contradiction?
- 14 The social structure of accumulation approach and the regulation approach: a US–Japan comparison of the reserve army effect
- 15 The global economy: new edifice or crumbling foundations?
- Afterword: New international institutions and renewed world economic expansion
- Comprehensive bibliography on the SSA approach
- Index
14 - The social structure of accumulation approach and the regulation approach: a US–Japan comparison of the reserve army effect
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- Part I The theory of social structures of accumulation
- Part II History, institutions, and macroeconomic analysis
- Part III Class, race, and gender
- Part IV The international dimension
- 12 Accumulation and crisis in a small and open economy: the postwar social structure of accumulation in Puerto Rico
- 13 Apartheid and capitalism: social structure of accumulation or contradiction?
- 14 The social structure of accumulation approach and the regulation approach: a US–Japan comparison of the reserve army effect
- 15 The global economy: new edifice or crumbling foundations?
- Afterword: New international institutions and renewed world economic expansion
- Comprehensive bibliography on the SSA approach
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Two recent alternative perspectives on the role of unemployment are the social structure of accumulation (SSA) approach in the United States and the regulation approach in France. Both approaches view unemployment not merely as a proxy for the excess labor supply, but as a reflection of the social and institutional conditions supporting the labor market. The argument that unemployment (the reserve army of labor) has a dual role can be traced back to Marx (1976 [1867]). Unemployment, he asserted, “compels those who are employed to furnish more labor” (p.793) and “puts a curb on their pretensions” to higher wages (p. 792). Kalecki (1943) went a step further: persistent full employment creates “political tension” over wage increases and improvements in working conditions. This leads to a growth of the political power of the working class and an eclipse in the social position of the employing class. Hence, from the employers' viewpoint, the pressure of the unemployed is indispensable as “an integral part of the ‘normal’ capitalist system” (Kalecki, 1943, p. 326). Recent years have seen the diffusion of this classical insight and its application to empirical studies on wages and productivity (Boddy and Crotty, 1975; Kahn, 1980; Oster, 1980; Green and Weisskopf, 1990).
This chapter examines the reserve army effect from a perspective that integrates propositions from the SSA and regulation approaches.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Social Structures of AccumulationThe Political Economy of Growth and Crisis, pp. 274 - 291Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994