In this thesis, I argue that the globalization of production has weakened the power and efficacy of labor unions in the United States. I describe the globalization of production as a set of transformations in both the institutional structure of the economy and in the organization of production, and discuss how these transformations have impacted workers and unions in the American economy. The theoretical framework I employ is the social structure of accumulation approach, which emphasizes the importance of the institutional structures of capitalist economies and how their interaction with forms of production organization and systems of labor control helps to determine levels of aggregate economic growth, the profit rates of individual firms, and the distribution of power, resources, and wealth among economic agents. I argue that the globalization of production involves the transition from the social structure of accumulation of segmentation to the globalized production social structure of accumulation, and the displacement of Fordist mass production by lean production as the dominant paradigm of production organization.Lean production and the globalized production social structure of accumulation involve a transformation in the relationship between firms, workers, and the state. The changing circumstances and economic conditions which these transformations have produced, and the failure of labor unions to understand, appreciate, and effectively respond to them, have been responsible for the rapid and sustained decline in the membership, power, and efficacy of organized labor in the United States. Through case studies on the automobile and clothing industries, I show how the way in which these transformations have materialized in the specific contexts of two industries with different competitive conditions, organizational structures, and levels of capital-intensity have produced very disparate and dissimilar outcomes for the workers in these indust ries.

Darbo tema. Akademinio jaunimo socialinių ryšių įtaka socializacijai (LEU atvejis). Darbo aktualumas Ar dažnai susimąstome, kaip save suvokiame mus supančioje aplinkoje, kaip suvokiame kitus ir kaip kiti mato mus? Kaip pritampame mus supančioje visuomenėje, ar skiriamės savo individualumu ir nebijome būti kitokie, turėti savąjį „aš“, ar pataikaujame nerašytiems visuomenės dėsniams, norėdami pritapti, neišsiskirti, gal taip matome didesnę naudą? Manome, kiekvienas turėtų savo nuomonę tokiais klausimais, jei juos išgirstų, tik patys sau ne taip dažnai tokius užduodame. Kas yra bendravimas, socialumas, buvimas visuomenės dalimi, ko iš mūsų pareikalauja priklausymas jai? Ar rūpinamės savimi, ar nepamirštame kitų? Kodėl kiti mums reikalingi ir neįsivaizduojame savo aplinkos, tikslų, siekių be aplinkinių, be jų daromos įtakos mūsų gyvenimui. Poreikis bendrauti, užmegzti ryšius, palaikyti juos toks pat prigimtinis, kaip ir biologiniai ar fiziologiniai poreikiai. Neturėdami su kuo bendrauti, į ką orientuotis, ar net konkuruoti, nesulaukdami palaikymo ar kritikos, mes galime suvokti, kiek daug dalykų praranda vertę, prasmę, tikslus. Šie laikai ypač daug reikalauja iš žmogaus žinių, tobulėjimo, atradimo savęs tarp kitų, savęs suvokimo, sugebėjimo save pateikti, realizuoti savo poreikius, ieškoti galimybių bei būti reikalingais kitiems. Todėl bendravimas ir ryšių palaikymas vyksta įvairiausiais būdais – nuo tiesioginio, artimo iki bendravimo virtualioje erdvėje, siekiant užmegzti... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The relevance of the topic. How often do we think about the surrounding and our place there? How do we see others and how they see us? How do we fit in the surrounding society? Do we differ from others? Are we not afraid to be different and keep our own attitude towards lots of things? Do we accept “unwritten” society’s laws as we do not want to differ from others or we see more benefits while doing that? We are sure that everyone would have his own answers to these questions just if he had an ability to listen to them. We do not often give such questions to ourselves as well. What is communication, sociability, being a part of the society, what demands does it have? Do we take care about ourselves, don’t we forget others? Why are other people necessary for us? Why cannot we imagine our surrounding, aims, targets without other people, without their influence to our lives? The need to communicate, get into relations, be involved into them are as inborn as biological and physiological needs. If we do not have anyone to communicate with, orient to or even compete with, if none supports or critizes us, many things are likely to loose their importance, value, meaning and purpose. Nowadays people must have a lot of knowledge and have to think about its improvement all the time. Human beings must try to find themselves between others, try to understand themselves and be able to present themselves, make their needs come true, to look for opportunities and be important to others. As... [to full text]

That a lack of economic resources negatively affects the social relations of children is often assumed, sometimes described, but rarely tested using methods allowing generalization. When addressing this issue, previous research has largely been limited to self-reported data on social relations. This thesis uses peer reported measures of social relations in combination with survey and register data to examine the effect of economic resources on the probability of social isolation and on the number of school class friendships of Swedish adolescents. While not entirely unambiguous, the results indicate that a lack of economic resources negatively affects the social relations of children, at least in regards to the school class social relations of adolescents. The results point to the importance for adolescent’s social relations of having the economic and material possibilities to participate in the social life and in the activities undertaken by peers.

The topic of presented survey work is social relations of children living in orphanage and disharmonious families with their family members. The purpose of this work is to disclose the the characteristics of social realations of children, living in orphanage and disharmonious families, and how they value the members of their families. The data collecting method for this survey was making the drawings made by the children. There were 70 children of age 7 to 11 were participated in the suvey. Both groups were collected in Rietavas and Plunge towns.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det finns samband mellan arbetstrivsel och personlighet samt arbetstrivsel och kvaliteten på sociala relationer i arbetet. För att mäta arbetstrivseln och sociala relationer på arbetet formulerades sex frågor som var avsedda att mäta i vilken grad deltagarna trivdes på arbetet och hur de trivdes i sin arbetsgrupp. För att mäta personlighet användes Ten-Item Personality Inventory som är ett personlighetstest utvecklat utifrån femfaktormodellen som innefattar fem olika personlighetsdrag. Det insamlade datamaterialet bestod av 57 besvarade enkäter från undersköterskor på tre kommunala arbetsplatser. Resultatet visade på ett signifikant positivt samband mellan arbetstrivsel och sociala relationer på arbetet. Inga signifikanta samband mellan personlighetsdrag och arbetstrivsel kunde konstateras vilket skiljer sig från tidigare forskning, men utifrån Hemphills riktlinjer erhölls intressanta samband. / The purpose of this study was to investigate whether job satisfaction correlates with personality and the quality of social relationships at work. To measure job satisfaction and social relationships at work, six questions were designed to measure the degree to which participants enjoyed their work and how they enjoyed their work group. To measure the personality the Ten-Item Personality Inventory was used which is a personality test developed from the Five Factor Model. The collected data consisted of 57 completed surveys from nurse assistants in three municipal workplaces. The results showed a clear positive relationship between job satisfaction and social relations at work. No significant associations between personality and job satisfaction was found which differs from previous research, but based on Hemphill's guidelines interesting relationships were found.

What is the structure of society? Many thinkers have pondered the regularities. Way of life theory (WOLT) shows the relationship of every rational, social issue to every other rational, social issue. ¶ From two dichotomised, theoretical dimensions called grid and group, Mary Douglas deduced four ways of life usually called individualism, hierarchy, egalitarianism, and fatalism. WOLT shows the same four ideal types may be deduced from any significant pair of social issues, including competition, cooperation, coercion, freedom, justice, self-identity, nature, human nature, and more. Since four types may be divided pair-wise in three ways, there are three, not two, dimensions or axes. ¶ WOLT also deduces Douglas’s fifth type (the hermit) and resolves the long-standing logical anomalies of grid-group theory. ¶ In all, seven social theorists have independently deduced four types from various dimension pairs. Mistakes aside, they find the same four theoretical types. Evidently, the four types are natural kinds. Between them these theorists use three axes. ¶ Numerous intuitive theorists from across social science have developed types without dimensions, and dimensions without types. Though incomplete, they show no significant disagreement. ¶ It appears that every issue that must be taken into account to live socially fits the three axes. There is no flexibility: each issue fits the axes one way. Geometrically, three dichot¬omised dimensions yield eight types, however four of them are not viable and do not arise. Given just four valid points, the number of dimensions is necessarily limited to three. The axes generate thousands of predictions. ¶ Since deduction yields the same four types whatever issues are placed on the dimensions, the four types are, like objects of natural science, independent of any theorist. In turn, these four types control which issues fit and how they fit, delimiting the scope and refining the meaning of the issues—which places the issues, too, beyond any theorist’s determination. ¶ As in natural science, the sphere of application is set by the deductive theory, not by a theorist’s pronouncement: what fits, fits. The domain appears to cover matters which people must take a position on to live socially. Emotional and internal personal issues will not fit. ¶ WOLT sharpens meaning, formalises structure and extends connections in areas as diverse as equality, liberalism, game theory, corporate culture, national culture, political right and left, religion, and working-class health. ¶ Like a natural science theory, WOLT is relational, not only taxonomic. As in natural science, no person, organisation, or social situation will conform exactly to its ideal types. It is falsifiable by deducing, or finding empirically, rival social types or a social phenomenon that will not fit. Empirical testing of the theory as a whole is awkward owing to its structure and to parochial effects. Three data sets failed to refute it. ¶ WOLT reveals how every social issue relates to every other social issue, providing a tool for analysing worldview, social structure, and social behaviour.

Genetically modified insect-resistant (Bt) cotton is widely cultivated in Pakistan, although the Pakistani Government has yet to approve its commercial cultivation. This thesis is the first in-depth, systematic and critical examination of its commercialisation through the informal sector, and explains the conundrum of around 6.4 million acres of ‘illegal’ cultivation of a GM crop. / Most popular Bt varieties under cultivation in Pakistan contain Monsanto’s genetic modification event (called MON 531), widely believed to be under patent protection in Pakistan. Not wanting to infringe Monsanto’s intellectual property rights (IPR), the Pakistani Government has refused biosafety approval to these varieties. Consequently, the Pakistani breeders of these high-yielding Bt varieties commercialised them in the informal sector. This research decriminalises seed provision in the informal sector and shows that rather than being discrete categories, the formal/informal sectors are locations across which breeders and varieties travel. / For its part, Monsanto is not willing to enter the Pakistani seed market, considering it too disorderly in which to operate. It seeks to operate in the ‘high-differential’ end of the market, therefore requiring active engagement of the Government to keep the farmer from dropping out. Alternatively, Monsanto proposes that the Government licenses MON 531 on payment of an annual technology fee for use by Pakistani farmers and breeders. This technology fee is compared with Monsanto’s cost of development of Bt products, and Pakistan’s budgetary allocation for agriculture. On both counts, the technology fee demanded by Monsanto is excessive. / An examination of Pakistan’s patent law and the patents granted to Monsanto reveals that neither MON 531 nor biotechnological products/processes required for its insertion in local cotton varieties are patented in Pakistan. Thus Pakistan presents a unique case where the Government has consistently honoured patents that it never issued. It is argued that Monsanto’s non-existent IPR has been honoured due to the particular social relations between Monsanto and Pakistani farmers and breeders. Since MON 531 is a commodity objectifying the labour of a particular social group, a patent thereupon becomes a means to operationalise the social relations between this social group and those who consume this commodity. / An alternate route for commercialisation is through the hybrid seed. Monsanto is willing to enter the Pakistani seed market if its technology can be carried in hybrid seeds. But the use of hybrid seed is economically unfeasible in cotton production, and there are significant problems with hybrid seed production in large quantities for the Pakistani market. Yet Monsanto and other companies prefer the hybrid route to technology commercialisation because of an important latent function that hybrids perform – they stop the farmer from saving seed. / It is argued that IPR and the use of hybrid seed are key social and technical strategies for accumulation by dispossession. They represent the commodification of seed, which is a pre-requisite for the process of accumulation. At the same time, these appear to be the only available strategies within existing social relations for improving cotton germplasm and for providing quality Bt seed to the Pakistani farmer.

Genetically modified insect-resistant (Bt) cotton is widely cultivated in Pakistan, although the Pakistani Government has yet to approve its commercial cultivation. This thesis is the first in-depth, systematic and critical examination of its commercialisation through the informal sector, and explains the conundrum of around 6.4 million acres of ‘illegal’ cultivation of a GM crop. / Most popular Bt varieties under cultivation in Pakistan contain Monsanto’s genetic modification event (called MON 531), widely believed to be under patent protection in Pakistan. Not wanting to infringe Monsanto’s intellectual property rights (IPR), the Pakistani Government has refused biosafety approval to these varieties. Consequently, the Pakistani breeders of these high-yielding Bt varieties commercialised them in the informal sector. This research decriminalises seed provision in the informal sector and shows that rather than being discrete categories, the formal/informal sectors are locations across which breeders and varieties travel. / For its part, Monsanto is not willing to enter the Pakistani seed market, considering it too disorderly in which to operate. It seeks to operate in the ‘high-differential’ end of the market, therefore requiring active engagement of the Government to keep the farmer from dropping out. Alternatively, Monsanto proposes that the Government licenses MON 531 on payment of an annual technology fee for use by Pakistani farmers and breeders. This technology fee is compared with Monsanto’s cost of development of Bt products, and Pakistan’s budgetary allocation for agriculture. On both counts, the technology fee demanded by Monsanto is excessive. / An examination of Pakistan’s patent law and the patents granted to Monsanto reveals that neither MON 531 nor biotechnological products/processes required for its insertion in local cotton varieties are patented in Pakistan. Thus Pakistan presents a unique case where the Government has consistently honoured patents that it never issued. It is argued that Monsanto’s non-existent IPR has been honoured due to the particular social relations between Monsanto and Pakistani farmers and breeders. Since MON 531 is a commodity objectifying the labour of a particular social group, a patent thereupon becomes a means to operationalise the social relations between this social group and those who consume this commodity. / An alternate route for commercialisation is through the hybrid seed. Monsanto is willing to enter the Pakistani seed market if its technology can be carried in hybrid seeds. But the use of hybrid seed is economically unfeasible in cotton production, and there are significant problems with hybrid seed production in large quantities for the Pakistani market. Yet Monsanto and other companies prefer the hybrid route to technology commercialisation because of an important latent function that hybrids perform – they stop the farmer from saving seed. / It is argued that IPR and the use of hybrid seed are key social and technical strategies for accumulation by dispossession. They represent the commodification of seed, which is a pre-requisite for the process of accumulation. At the same time, these appear to be the only available strategies within existing social relations for improving cotton germplasm and for providing quality Bt seed to the Pakistani farmer.

Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis is concerned with the realm of the interpersonal: broadly, those linguistic phenomena involved in the negotiation of social relations and the expression of personal attitudes and feelings. The initial contention is that this realm has been consistently marginalised not only within linguistic theory, but more broadly within western culture, for cultural and ideological reasons whose implications extend into the bases of classical linguistic theory. Chapter 1 spells out the grounds for this contention and is followed by two further chapters, constituting Part I: Language and Social Relations. Chapter 2 identifies and critiques the range of ways in which the interpersonal has been conventionally interpreted: as style, as formality, as politeness, as power and solidarity, as the expressive, etc. This chapter concludes with an argument for the need for a stratified model of language in order to deal adequately with these phenomena. Chapter 3 proposes such a model, based on the systemic-functional approach to language as social semiotic. The register category tenor within this model is extended to provide a model of social relations as a semiotic system. The basis for the identification of the three tenor dimensions, power, distance and affect, is the identification of three modes of deployment or realisation of the interpersonal resources of English in everyday discourse: reciprocity, proliferation and amplification. Parts II and III turn their attention to one significant issue in the negotiation of social relations: address. The focus is explicitly on Australian English, but there is considerable evidence that most if not all of the forms discussed in Part II occur in other varieties of English, especially British and American, and that some at least of the practices discussed in Part III involve the same patterns of social relations with respect to the tenor dimensions of power, distance and affect. Because most varieties of contemporary English do not have a set of options for second-person pronominal address, as is the case in many of the world's languages, English speakers use names and other nominal forms which need to be described. Part II is descriptive in orientation, providing an account of the grammar of VOCATION in English, including a detailed description of the nominal forms used. Chapter 4 investigates the identification and functions of vocatives, and includes empirical investigations of vocative position in clauses and vocative incidence in relation to speech function or speech act choices. Chapter 5 presents an account of the grammar of English name forms, organised as a paradigmatic system. This chapter incorporates an account of the processes used to produce the various name-forms used in address, including truncation, reduplication and suffixation. Chapter 6 consists of an account of non-name forms of address, organised in terms of the systemic-functional account of nominal group structure. This chapter deals with single-word non-name forms of address and the range of nominal group structures used particularly to communicate attitude, both positive and negative. Part III is ethnographic in orientation. It describes some aspects of the use of the forms described in Part II in contemporary address practice in Australia and interprets such practice using the model of social relations as semiotic system presented in Part I. The major focuses of attention is on address practice in relation to the negotiation of gender relations, with some comment on generational relations of adults with children, on class relations and on ethnic relations in nation with a diverse population officially committed to a policy of a multiculturalism. Part III functions simultaneously as a coda for this thesis, and a prologue for the kind of ethnographic study that the project was originally intended to be, but which could not be conducted in the absence of an adequate linguistically-based model of social relations and an adequate description of the resources available for address in English.

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