Brief History of the Valley
The Silicon Valley area became a major manufacturing power after World War II. The Cold War furthered this development, as industries involved in defense, aerospace, steel, oil, automobiles, and so on prospered (Hossfeld 405-406). The high-technology industry began in the laboratories of corporations such as Bell Laboratories, American Telephone and Telegraph, Fairchild Camera and Instrument, and General Electric during this Cold War era (Bacon, “Organizing”). Employment in California, especially Silicon Valley, grew rapidly between 1950 and 1980 due to technical innovation that characterized the postwar prosperity. Furthermore, federal spending expanded California’s economy, placing it in the front of a high-technology revolution (Hossfeld 405). Politicians such as the former President Clinton and Vice President Gore consider the Silicon Valley the model for the United States industrial growth in the new millennium. While this “model” has had remarkable products and performance, it also employs underpaid workers in unsafe environments (Siegel 91). Moreover, unlike most manufacturing industries in the United States, the high-tech workers are not organized into unions.
Microelectronics and Cell Phones
Santa Clara Valley, California, better known as Silicon Valley, is the birthplace and reigning capital of the largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry in the world, microelectronics (Hossfeld 405). Microelectronics is defined as a branch of electronics that deals with the miniaturization of electric circuits and components. This involves computers, processor, cell phones, and many other electronic devices. Cell phones are becoming a part of the microelec...
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Miller, Derek D Essay: Brave New World and the threat of technological growth Vol 3 2011.Print
The year is 1946, WWII is over and America was the only nation who’s manufacturing industry was left unscathed. Because of this, along with the worker protections of FDR’s New Deal led to a golden age for the American middle class. At this time nearly anyone can find a decent job, no matter your education, class or experience and live a decent life. This golden age will continue, till 1980 when the 1st Great Recession kicked in (McCleland 550). The combination of other nations rebuilt manufacturing industries, a pattern of poor economic policy, the dismantling of unions, corrupt corporations, new technology, the need for higher education and discrimination will all play a role that lead to
The modern correspondent to these historic giants is Steve Jobs. From beginning to end his life is a show of the true American determination that the dream makes every strive for. He started in nothing less than his garage programming computers. Years went by, he is jumping over each hurdle as it comes, but he does not capitulate. He keeps going and eventually, Steve Jobs becomes the CEO of one of the biggest computer
As the United States economy grows and technology advances, many areas such as San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and New York City embrace tech companies with open arms. However, it turns San Francisco, once an affordable place, into a luxurious and costly city for people who earn six digit pay checks. The Golden Gate City currently tops the chart for the most expensive homes in the nation. Even techies rent are increasing each month. The people moving into these cities are raising rental and property prices. The middle class is being squeezed out of their
Watson, T. (2008) The Meaning of Work. The Sociology of Work and Industry. London: Routledge.
Few people second guess Apple or their products, their image is well-maintained and the products are widely owned by people of all kinds. However, the process of making these much beloved iPhones and iPads is widely overshadowed by the company’s rate of constant innovation. In a series of articles by The New York Times, journalists attempt to unmask the controversial use of overseas manufacturers indicate a true crisis; a labor-power problem which abuses foreign workers as well as harming mid-wage jobs of consumers in the U.S. Many different lenses can be used to further analyze the structures, relationships and interactions that characterize this phenomena. Figures such as C. Wright Mills, Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels, Pierre Bourdieu, Immanuel Wallerstein and Leslie Sklair.
Yirka, Bob. "New Study Strengthens Olfactory Vibration-sensing Theory." New Study Strengthens Olfactory Vibration-sensing Theory. Phys.org, 29 Jan. 2013. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
The report of Robert Reich: “Why the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer,” is an eye opener and a warning for society regarding unemployment that it will be facing and is currently facing due to a lack of technology and education. It clearly articulates that the jobs of routine producers and in-person servers have vanished totally as modern techniques have replaced them. The author has stated that the only people whose jobs are on the rise are symbol analysts. As stated in the report, symbol analysts are the real problem solvers. Their skills are highly in demand worldwide because they are the ones who first analyze the problem and then solve it. The Hart Report, on the other hand, also states the same problem of unemployment and the global recession which has left employers focusing on employees not only with specialists’ skills but also a “broader range of skills and knowledge” (page 6-7). The Hart Report clearly reflects what the needs of contemporary employers are, but the question is whether it is the universities or the students themselves who fail to cope with the requirements of the contemporary world which is filled with technological advancement and critical thinking. The Texas Work Source has also played an important role in examining what is actually missing in today’s generation and the reasons behind such a great decline in employment. The central
Technology unemployment is unemployment due to our discovery of means of economizing the use of labor outrunning the pace at which we can find new uses for labor. (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2011)
Although San Francisco in the present is known as the tech industry and contains some of the largest tech companies all around the world, it has not always been this way. The tech vision insight is told best through a historical group of San Franciscan journalists and entrepreneurs called Stewart Brand and the Whole Earth network. In 1968, this network, according to Turner, was congregated by a group of people and publications who conjoined series of encounters between the San Franciscan bohemian culture, and the technology culture in Silicon Valley and published the document: The Whole Earth Catalog. In 1985, they held the WELL conference which was said to have been “one of the most influential computer conferencing system of the decade” (Turner, 2) The Whole Earth Catalog had the ‘ new communalists working together and turning away from politics but rather towards technology. During the 1970s, the “new communalists” world was peaceful and harmonical according to Turner “ If the American state deployed massive weapons systems in order to destroy faraway people, the New Communalists would deploy small-scale technologies- ranging from axes and hoes to amplifiers……. To bring people together and allow them to experience their common humanity.” (Turner, 3) This part of the counterculture that was involved with the technological world was influential in
There are numerous types of non-verbal communication, yet one of the most underestimated is the olfactics, or our sense of smell. It is generally assumed that the greater portion of the sensory world and communication is experienced through the auditory and visual senses. However, the underrated impact of our sense of smell is increasingly becoming acknowledged as a powerful communicator. The human nose has the capacity to differentiate between 1
Lancaster, H. "Managing Your Career: You May Call Them Slackers; They Say They're Just Realistic." Wall Street Journal, August 1, 1995, p. B1.
...ee scope to his own natural and acquired powers” (414). Consequently, even though machines do dominate over the wage labour by allowing him to be exploited, they also lead to the development of social wealth. Additionally, modern industry revolutionizes the family and social structures. Machines allow for all members of the family and of all ages to participate in the workforce. This change leads to an equalization in the sexes and to and independence of the youth from their parents. Machines open up the work market for “individuals of both sexes and all ages” which “under suitable conditions become source of human development” (415). The process of capitalism, therefore, will produce individuals who are able to adapt to different situations, who have a wide range of skill, and who will add to the growth of human experience through the revolution of social wealth.
A 2014 Oxford study found that the number of U.S. workers shifting into new industries has been strikingly small: In 2010, only 0.5 percent of the labor force was employed in industries that did not exist in 2000. The discussion about humans, machines and work tends to be a discussion about some undetermined point in the far future. But it is time to face reality. The future is now. (UPI Top
The relationship between technology and employment is at the same time complex and volatile (Mokyr 1990, p.52). To illustrate, the term “Luddite” was coined in the early 19th Century to describe mindless machine-breaking (Jones 1996, p.21). The Luddites were skilled cloth-weavers who believed that technology would destroy their livelihood and opportunities for work (Jones 1996, p.22). They were opposed not to the knitting and lace-making machines as such, but more to the “de-skilling” involved as these machines replaced workers which, inevitably led to the destruction of craft industries during this period (Jones 1996, p.24).