Beverly J. Silver

Forces of Labor by Beverly J. Silver

List of figures List of tables Preface and acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. Labor movements and capital mobility 3. Labor movements and product cycles 4. Labor movements and world politics 5. Contemporary dynamics in world-historical perspectives Appendices References Index.

Industrial convergence, globalization, and the persistence of the North-South divide

This article demonstrates empirically that widespread convergence in the degree of industrialization between former First and Third World countries over the past four decades hasnot been associated with convergence in the levels of income enjoyed on average by the residents of these two groups of countries. Our findings contradict the widely made claim that the significance of the North-South divide is diminishing. This contention is based on a false identification of “industrialization” with “development” and “industrialized” with “wealthy”. Elaborating from elements of Joseph Schumpeter’s theory of innovation, Raymond Vernon’s product cycle model, and Pierre Bourdieu’s concept ofillusio, the article offers an explanation for the persistence of the North-South income divide, despite rapid Third World industrialization and despite dramatic changes in the world political-ideological context for development (that is, the shift around 1980 from the “development” project to the “globalization” project or “Washington Consensus”). While emphasizing the long-term stability of the Northern-dominated hierarchy of wealth, the article concludes by pointing to several contemporary processes that may destabilize not only the “globalization project”, but also the global hierarchy of wealth that has characterized historical capitalism.

Polanyi's “Double Movement”: The Belle Époques of British and U.S. Hegemony Compared

The core of this article is a comparative analysis of the double movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century (the belle époque and collapse of British hegemony) with the double movement of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century (the belle époque and current crisis of U.S. hegemony). In both periods the movement toward allegedly self-regulating markets called forth a countermovement of protection. Nevertheless, important differences exist due, first, to differences in the nature of the hegemonic state and, second, to the greater role of subordinate forces in constraining the movement toward self-regulating markets in the late twentieth century.

Capitalism and world (dis)order

A sea change of major proportions is taking place in the historical social system forming the modern world, creating a widespread sense of uncertainty about the present and foreseeable future. In the words of Eric Hobsbawm, as ‘the citizens of the fin de siecle tapped their way through the global fog that surrounded them, into the third millennium, all they knew for certain was that an era of history had ended. They knew very little else’.

Class Struggle and Kondratieff Waves, 1870 to the Present

The resurgence of class conflict in Western Europe in the late 1960s, and the more-or-less simultaneous end of the long post-war boom prompted a revival of interest in both Kondratieff waves and in labour-capital conflict, and, not surprisingly, the emergence of some theories which postulate a causal link between these two processes. Ernest Mandel (1980), James E. Cronin (1980) and Ernesto Screpanti (1984) have elaborated theories which (more-or-less tightly) tie together a long wave in capital accumulation with a long wave in the class struggle. While these theories are intriguing, they have been subjected to little empirical verification. Furthermore, what has been attempted (for example, Screpanti, 1987; Goldstein, 1988) has been flawed by the use of insufficient or inappropriate empirical measures of ‘the class struggle’.

The legacy of empire : economic decline and class polarization in the United States

Theories of the world economy and world empire the postwar rise of the US economy onto the world scene the internationalization of US capital and the resurgence of global rivalry economic decline and increading class polarization in the United States declining living standards of US workers the response of the US state to the social and economic crisis labors response to economic decline and decay conclusion - which way out of the crisis?.

World hegemonies and global inequalities: The Rest Beyond the West

The chapter seeks to understand the significance of contemporary radical changes in world income distribution (most notably the recent rapid rise of China, India and a handful of other peripheral countries) by comparing the present with other periods of world-hegemonic transition. The empirical core of the chapter examines the interrelationship between the rise and decline of world hegemonies and changes in the global stratification of wealth (between-country inequality) from the sixteenth century to the present. The authors find that (like the contemporary period) past periods of world-hegemonic crisis and transition have been characterized by radical transformations in the global hierarchy of wealth, although there are fundamental differences in the nature/direction of change in each transition. Drawing on world-systems theories of global inequality and hegemonic cycles, the authors conduct a comparative-historical analysis of the dynamics underlying the long-term empirical patterning in the global distribution of wealth and power. They analyse the implications of their findings for the ongoing debate about whether we are in the midst of an impending ‘great convergence’ or on the verge of a major reversal of fortunes favoring the global North/West.

Labour, war and world politics: contemporary dynamics in world-historical perspective

During the last decade of the twentieth century, there was an almost complete consensus in the social science literature that labour movements worldwide were in a general and severe (some argued terminal) crisis. By the turn of the century, however, a growing number of observers were suggesting that labour movements were on the upsurge, most visible as a mounting popular backlash – from Seattle to Genoa – against the dislocations provoked by contemporary globalization. Yet, in the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001, with demonstrations and strikes being cancelled around the world, questions were raised about the future of movements that had appeared to be on a strong upward trajectory. Then, on 15 February 2003, with war looming in Iraq, some of the largest demonstrations in world history – with strong labour movement participation – were held in hundreds of cities throughout the world. Students of labour movements have focused much attention on worldeconomic processes in explaining both the global crisis of labour movements in the 1980s and 1990s, and their recent and partial resurgence. This continues to be an important line of inquiry. Yet, the ups and downs around the turn of the century also remind us of the central role played by war and world politics in the dynamics of global labour and social protest. This theme is the focus of this chapter, not only in terms of the impact that war and world politics have on labour movements, but also in terms of the ways in which workers and workers’ movements have shaped the dynamics of war and world politics. The central purpose of this chapter is to derive lessons for thinking about the contemporary link between labour and war from an analysis of past dynamics. The chapter proceeds in three steps. In the first section I draw on some of my empirical research on the worldhistorical dynamics of labour unrest (including a database on world labour unrest, cf. Silver 2003) to describe (what I call) the ‘vicious circle’ of war and labour

Industrial convergence and the persistence of the North-South income divide: A rejoinder to firebaugh (2004)

Studies in Comparative International Development, Spring 2005, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 83-88. Giovanni Arrighi is professor of sociology at The Johns Hopkins University. His latest books are The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of Our Times (1994) and (with Beverly J. Silver et al.) Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System (1999). Beverly J. Silver is professor of sociology at The Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Forces of Labor: Workers’ Movements and Globalization Since 1870 (2003) and co-author (with Giovanni Arrighi et al.) of Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System (1999). Benjamin D. Brewer is assistant professor of sociology at James Madison University. He has published articles on globalization, sport, and the global division of labor, and continues to expand upon his dissertation research, a commodity chain analysis of the global soccer economy. Industrial Convergence and the Persistence of the North-South Income Divide: A Rejoinder to Firebaugh (2004)