The following study is concerned with the problems posed by contemporary unemployment--especially the U.S. but also globally to some extent. The most immediate problem is the dominance of neoclassical models, which routinely neglect the deeper issues raised by contemporary mass unemployment. To go beyond these inadequacies, the study also assesses the performance of sociological interpretations. One key finding is that sociological analyses also largely fail to provide a compelling theory of unemployment and, moreover, that most perspectives implicitly adopt problematic assumptions from neoclassical economics. This highlights the dual nature of the problems posed by unemployment: on one hand, it is an urgent social issue; and, on the other hand, it exemplifies significant weakness within most sociological paradigms. In order to address the challenges posed by unemployment, the narrative centers on the resolution of three key anomalies of unemployment: 1) persistent unemployment; 2) so-called "jobless recoveries;" and 3) the rise of worker precariousness. The anomalies are taken as evidence of paradigmatic contradictions within neoclassical economics and, to some extent, sociology. The main theoretical contribution of the study is a careful reconstruction of Marx's classical theory of the reserve army of labor (part of "The General Law of Accumulation"), which has inspired all critical sociological perspectives on labor markets to date. The investigation highlights distinctive characteristics of "political-economic sociology," a term that refers to economic sociologists who draw heavily on notions of class and power reminiscent of classical political economy and classical sociology, forming an important bridge with heterodox economic approaches. The theory of the reserve army is in need of "renewal," however, because even political-economic sociologist have failed to carry the analysis forward and build upon the firm foundation provided by Marx. The study's conclusion is that the reserve army framework has enormous potential to strengthen existing work within political-economic sociology.

This thesis begins by revisiting and building on themes of labour market segmentation, with particular reference given to Marx's seminal account of segmentation in Capital, Vol.1 (Chapter 25). Marx distinguishes between an active army - the stable full-time employed - and the relative surplus population - the precariously employed reserve army and the residual surplus - and suggests further fragmentation of these main groups into sub-strata. Marx's perspective of segmentation is grounded in fragments of a general theory of employment that, as a long-term tendency, identifies continual advances in constant capital that abolish work and proliferate the reserve army. This thesis builds on these themes by formulating a concept, the 'transference dynamic', which underpins a general theory of employment segmentation. A short history of segmentation under capitalism traces recent phases of development in both developed and lesser-developed nations. Stress is placed on the role of political configurations that regulate capitalism in ways that can either counter the general tendency, such is the case under the Fordist model of capitalism, or strengthen its logic. The theory of employment segmentation and the lessons drawn from the historical account are spliced together with an analysis of the contemporary phase of capitalism, labelled here as the neoliberal model of development. It is demonstrated that the coercive international regulatory dynamic of the neoliberal model reasserts and extends the competitive principle of the capitalist mode of production. Through this extension, nations are transformed into competition-states vying for scarce and globally mobile capital to operate on their shores - the primary source of national prosperity and employment - by implementing capital-friendly neoliberalized policy. This analysis of neoliberal global capitalism reveals an expanding surplus population within a context of deepening international segmentation. This employment crisis is expressed as a hierarchy of nations that is determined in part by their uneven development. Those at the bottom of the hierarchy, comprising a majority portion of the world's population, contain a massive reserve army and residual surplus population unincorporated into wage-based capitalism, without any obvious support of means of life and with little hope for the future. Finally, mainstream solutions are criticized for failing to address either long-run or contemporary drivers of the employment crisis. In response, this thesis pitches a project of multi-faceted radical reform that counter-regulates capitalism by adopting a combination of local, national, regional and global forms of democratic socialist governance.

Poland has long been a country of net emigration, though the country has received backlash in recent years for its xenophobic treatment towards asylum seekers from non-European countries, versus its treatment of Ukrainian asylum seekers. To explore this phenomenon, this research first asks, does Poland have a preferential migration policy? I first look at the restrictiveness and evolution of Poland's migration policy from 2003-2019. I find that the state's migration policies which specifically target EU member and Eastern European states are on average slightly less restrictive than the restrictiveness of the entire population of policies. In the following chapter I ask, how is this policy implemented, and how is it reflected in Poland's migrant workforce? To explore how these policies are implemented, I look at work permit data from 2010-2020, analyzing the differences in the number of work permits granted to each country of origin over time. I find that migrants from Eastern European and Central Asian states receive a disproportionately high number of work permits compared to other regions, and that within the region, Ukrainians receive the highest number of permits each year. Finally, to better understand this inequality, my fourth chapter asks, why Ukraine specifically? In this analysis, I hypothesize that proximity and cultural similarities, Poland's security interests, and both states' economic interests drive this special migration relationship. I find mixed support for this hypothesis, but ultimately find that these factors do play important roles in maintaining the relationship between Poland and Ukraine. / Master of Arts / Poland has traditionally been a country where more migrants leave than arrive, but in the past few years, it has faced criticism for its differing attitudes toward asylum seekers based on their country of origin, particularly in its welcoming stance toward Ukrainians as opposed to migrants from non-European countries. In exploring this phenomenon, my research examines whether Poland has a preferential migration policy. I analyze policy to understand this phenomenon of accused hypocrisy in order to understand if these inequalities are built into Poland's legislation, or if there are other factors at play. I first look at the evolution of Polish migration policies from 2003 to 2019 and find that the policies targeting EU and Eastern European countries are generally less strict than those aimed at other regions. However, the differences that I find in strictness are not drastic enough for me to argue that Poland has a discriminatory migration policy. To see how these policies are put into practice, especially in the workforce, I then analyze work permit data from 2010 to 2020. This data shows that Eastern European and Central Asian migrants, particularly Ukrainians, receive significantly more work permits than those from other regions. This trend raises the question: Why is Ukraine a special case? I hypothesize that geographical closeness, cultural similarities, Poland's security concerns, and mutual economic benefits are key factors that influence this unique migration relationship. Although the support I find for this hypothesis varies, I find that ultimately these factors highlight how important aspects of the states' relationship, like geography, culture, security, and economic interests, shape the unique bond between Poland and Ukraine. This study sheds light on the complexities and nuances of national migration policies and their real-world implications, especially in Central European EU member states.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:48:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Felicio Oshiro.pdf: 1225068 bytes, checksum: 3c29701b7fb1a3546d50181285ab92c7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-19 / This study aims to analyze the visions of unemployment in contemporary society. Firstly, it approaches the look of Neoclassical, Keynesian and Marxist about the causes of unemployment and its role in capitalism. Next, based on the thought of Robert Castel, Jérôme Gautié and Christian Topalov, it analyzes the construction of the unemployed category, emphasizing the place of work without the pre-industrial and industrial society. The third part discusses the concept of unemployment in labor statistics by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socio-Economic Studies (DIEESE) and Foundation System State Data Analysis (SEADE). These views influence social protection, economic policy, responsibility by unemployment, the way to use the technological advances, also in safety and working conditions of employees. This dissertation inquires about the construction of the unemployment rates, the comparability and the risk of reducing a complex phenomenon to a measure. In addiction this study presents the Castel s concern about the precariousness of employment in a society that was based on the wage relation. Finally, this text suggested that the visions are not neutral and represent the interests of social forces, demanding reflection even when the indices indicate "low unemployment" / Este estudo tem por objetivo analisar o desemprego no olhar da sociedade contemporânea. Inicialmente, aborda-se a visão dos pensamentos neoclássico, keynesiano e marxista sobre as causas do desemprego e seu papel no capitalismo. A seguir, baseado no pensamento de Robert Castel, Jérôme Gautié e Christian Topalov, analisa-se a construção da categoria desempregado, enfatizando-se o lugar do sem trabalho na sociedade pré-industrial e industrial. Na terceira parte, discute-se o conceito de desemprego nas estatísticas do trabalho, pela Organização Internacional do Trabalho (OIT), pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), pelo Departamento Intersindical de Estatística e Estudos Socioeconômicos (DIEESE) e pela Fundação Sistema Estadual de Análise de Dados (SEADE). Todas as visões citadas influenciam as proteções sociais, a política econômica, a responsabilização pelo desemprego, a maneira de utilizar os avanços tecnológicos, além da segurança e das condições de trabalho dos empregados. A dissertação indaga sobre a construção dos índices de desemprego, sua comparabilidade e o risco de reduzir um fenômeno complexo a uma medida. Apresenta a preocupação de Castel sobre a precarização dos empregos em uma sociedade que foi alicerçada sobre a relação salarial. Por fim, sugere que as visões não são neutras e representam interesses de forças sociais, merecendo reflexões mesmo quando os índices apontam desemprego baixo

Cette thèse évalue dans quelle mesure l’intégration de la Chine dansl’économie capitaliste mondiale a été associée à la détérioration du pouvoir de négociation dutravail vis-à-vis du capital dans les pays développés, exprimée par la stagnation des salairesréels et la détérioration des conditions de travail. Nous proposons une interprétation fondéesur la mondialisation de l’armée de réserve industrielle chinoise, comme effet de l’allianceentre l’État chinois et le capital des pays développés sous sa forme productive. D’une part,nous analysons la formation de l’armée industrielle de réserve chinoise qui a sous-tendu leprocessus de prolétarisation dans le pays comme conséquences de l’action de l’État-parti,réalisée à travers l’accumulation primitive. D’autre part, nous expliquons comment le fait quele capital des pays développés ait un accès à cette armée industrielle de réserve a augmenté laprofitabilité à travers de : la réduction des coûts unitaires du travail, et en rendant l’arméeindustrielle de réserve chinoise globale, décalant le rapport de force domestique au détrimentdu travail. Nous considérons l’interaction entre l’effet «termes de l’échange» etl’affaiblissement du pouvoir de négociation des travailleurs sur les salaires réels dans les paysdéveloppés. La mondialisation de l’armée industrielle de réserve chinoise a fourni la massecritique pour briser la connexion historique entre la production industrielle et les marchés debiens de consommation dans les pays développés, qui fournissaient la base matérielle surlaquelle se cristallisait les compromis institutionnels entre croissance de la productivité et dessalaires réels. / The present thesis assesses how China’s integration in the globalcapitalist economy has been associated with the deterioration of labor position vis-à-viscapital in advanced economies expressed in stagnant real wages and worsening workingconditions. We propose an interpretation grounded on the globalization of China’s vastindustrial reserve army as a byproduct of the alliance between the Chinese state and advancedcountries’ capitals in their productive form. On the one hand, we discuss the formation ofChina’s industrial reserve army which has underpinned the process of proletarianization in thecountry as creatures of the party-state achieved through means of primitive accumulation. Onthe other hand, we discuss how advanced countries’ capitals access to this vast reserveindustrial reserve army in preferred terms, actively enabled by the Chinese party-state, hasincreased profitability through two crucial outcomes, by immediate and drastically reducingunit labor costs and by making China’s industrial reserve army global, tilting the balance ofpower back home towards capital. We then consider the interplay of the opposite effects ofthese two outcomes – the ‘terms of trade effect’ and the weakening of laborers’ bargainingpower – over real wages and working conditions in advanced countries. We claim that theglobalization of China’s vast industrial reserve army has provided critical mass to break thehistorical connection between industrial production and consumer markets in advancedcountries that provided the material basis in which workers were able to conquer theconstruction of institutional links between productivity and real wage growth. / O objetivo da presente tese é estudar como a integração da China na economia capitalista global seassociada à deterioração da posição do trabalho em relação ao capital em economias desenvolvidas,expressa pela estagnação do salário real e piora das condições de trabalho. Ao negar a narrativaeconômica dominante que relaciona esses dois fatores por meio do modelo Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson e ao teorema da equalização dos preços dos fatores de produção, nós propomosuma interpretação fundamentada de que o vasto exército de reserva da China globalizadarepresenta um subproduto da aliança entre o Estado Chinês e o capital produtivo daseconomias desenvolvidas. Construímos essa interpretação através de dois momentosanalíticos que contemplam tanto as dimensões para dentro e como para fora da globalizaçãodo exército industrial de reserva, especialmente, como ele foi formado pelo estado Chinês ecomo foi o seu acesso pelo capital produtivo dos países desenvolvidos, no contexto daglobalização neoliberal, promovida pela rearticulação da divisão internacional do trabalho,que minou as condições materiais que historicamente colocaram o trabalho, nos paísescentrais, numa posição melhor em relação ao capital em oposição ao trabalho na periferia. Poroutro lado, discutimos a formação do exército de reserva industrial da China, que tem apoiadoo processo de proletarização no país como criaturas do partido-estado alcançado por meio deacumulação primitiva. Afirmamos que os salários baixos e estagnados dos trabalhadores nãoqualificados chineses, que prevaleceram na década de 1990 até meados dos anos 2000, nocerne da transformação da China na fábrica do mundo, resultou não só do desmantelamentodas comunas e danweis, mas também na alienação dos camponeses e no aumento doexcedente de produção dos camponeses pelo estado, promovendo a estagnação da renda realna agricultura e impelindo os camponeses a seguir o rumo à proletarização, formando umgrande exército industrial de reserva. Mais adiante, discutimos como o capital dos paísesavançados acessou esse vasto exército industrial de reserva em termos preferenciais,ativamente habilitado pelo partido-estado chinês, aumentando a rentabilidade através de doisresultados cruciais, pela redução imediata e drástica dos custos unitários do trabalho e fazendoexército industrial de reserva da China uma arma global, inclinando a balança de poder devolta para casa do capital. Em seguida, abordamos a interação dos efeitos opostos desses doisresultados - os 'efeitos dos termos de troca "e do enfraquecimento do poder de negociação dostrabalhadores - sobre os salários reais e as condições de trabalho nos países desenvolvidos.Afirmamos que a globalização do vasto exército de reserva industrial da China tem oferecidouma massa crítica para quebrar a ligação histórica entre a produção industrial e os mercadosconsumidores nos países avançados, condição que forneceu a base material para que ostrabalhadores fossem capazes de conquistar vínculos institucionais entre a produtividade e ocrescimento real dos salários. Em contrapartida, à medida em que essa globalização, baseadana transformação dos camponeses chineses em espinha dorsal do exército industrial dereserva da economia global, houve um aumento dos conflitos de classe no interior da China eum rápido crescimento dos salários, além de mudanças institucionais a partir de meados dosanos 2000. Na medida em que essas conquistas minaram as bases que levaram o capital apromover a globalização do exército de reserva industrial da China, nós estudamos se aintegração da China na economia capitalista global, através do seu papel central nas cadeiasde eletrônica e TI, está mudando em direção à mão de obra mais intensiva e qualificada, o quepoderia colocar pressões baixistas sobre os salários dos trabalhadores qualificados nos paísesavançados, por meio do estudo de caso da indústria de semicondutores.

Turkish labor market has been experiencing low employment performance over the last two decades. This pessimistic picture has become more striking after the crisis in 2001. While output growth has presented a rapid recovery, unemployment could not record such an improvement and has remained around 10 % since then. This fact has introduced a new phenomenon to Turkey called &ldquo / jobless growth&rdquo / . As a solution to the bottlenecks in the labor market, the concept of &ldquo / flexibility&rdquo / has been more frequently pronounced by policy makers and academicians at both national and international level. In the light of flexibility-based arguments, this thesis takes an impulse from the basic assertion of the neoclassical theory that it is the labor market rigidities that are mainly responsible for high unemployment/low employment performance. Accordingly, the aim of the thesis is to analyze labor market flexibility with a particular focus on the Turkish context. The discussions conducted throughout the thesis are based on the question / whether Turkish labor market actually includes such considerable rigidities constituting impediment for employment creation, as suggested by neoclassical arguments. The thesis starts with a review of main characteristics of the labor market in terms of demographic trends, labor force participation, employment and unemployment. Secondly, labor market flexibility is analyzed through two main indicators: labor cost flexibility and production function flexibility / and these two indicators are divided into six sub indicators. The flexibility indicators covered by the thesis are investigated individually, without an aim of aggregating them into a single indicator. The research involves quantitative findings based on available data and a qualitative survey with reference to related legislation.

自1980年代起新自由主義的崛起，主張自由市場、自由貿易、和不受限制的資本流動，認為這樣將能創造出最大的社會、政治、和經濟的利益，並以全球化來運用全世界的資源，但卻反而使失業成為全球性的普遍趨勢。在歷經了幾次的全球性金融危機，尤其是近年2008年由美國次貸危機引起的全球金融海嘯，更是令各國的失業率皆明顯上升。隨著新自由主義全球化的擴張，主流經濟學對於日漸嚴重的失業問題顯然已不足以提供充分的解釋，因而社會上開始對失業現象尋求另一種解釋。 本研究希望對於現今的失業現象，找出一個較為合理的解釋。首先分別闡述了主流經濟學和馬克思《資本論》中對於失業問題的解釋，再就馬克思在《資本論》中對相對過剩人口的定義，將台灣產業後備軍分為四種類型，並以時間序列對台灣勞動力市場中，產業後備軍的定量及流動量做分析，觀察其整體走勢及在景氣衰退期的變化。由第三章中的統計表以及趨勢圖，我們觀察出數種現象，有力的直接支持了《資本論》中所指出的，資本主義的內在規律對勞動階級影響的看法。 從本篇研究和Deepankar Basu（2013）在“The Reserve Army of Labor in the Postwar U. S. Economy”文中對美國失業現象作的分析，均得出一致性的結論，即馬克思對於失業的解釋是較為科學且周全的，認為《資本論》對於資本主義中的失業現象的觀點，是相較於主流經濟學學說，更具有科學性和合理性的論述。 / Neoliberalism, which claims that free markets and trade, globalization of world resources, and unrestricted capital flow will maximally benefit the interests of society, politics, and the economy, rose to prominence in the 1980s. However, the outcome was far from the perceived ideal, resulting in an increase in worldwide unemployment. After several global financial crises, in particular the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008, the unemployment rate dramatically increased in every country. With the expansion of neoliberal globalization, the worldwide unemployment problem has become increasingly unmanageable with mainstream economic policies, prompting economists everywhere to seek alternative solutions to this issue. The purpose of this study is to find a more accurate explanation of the current worldwide unemployment problem. First, we will frame the unemployment problem from the perspective of mainstream economics and contrast it with that of “Das Kapital”. Next, we will classify Taiwan’s reserve army of labor into four categories, according to the definition provided in “Das Kapital”. Thirdly, we will analyze the stocks and flows of Taiwan’s reserve army of labor via time series, and observe the trends and changes during economic recessions. Finally, after analysis of the statistical tables and run charts in chapter 3, we validate the perspective taken by “Das Kapital” - that the inherent law of capitalism has negatively influenced the working class. From the analysis of unemployment in America performed by Deepankar Basu（2013）along with this study, we can conclude “Das Kapital” explains the unemployment problem of capitalism in a more scientific and comprehensive manner when compared to the explanations provided by mainstream economic theory.