Title: Karl Marx and friends

Authors: Tony Tinker

Addresses: Baruch College at the City University of New York, Department of Accountancy, One Bernard Baruch Way, Box B12:225, New York, NY 10010, USA

Abstract: A number of imponderables have always bedevilled Marxist analysis concerning the disruptive impact of computer technology on work and employment. The early phase of this technological development was accompanied by a migration of unskilled, data-entry jobs abroad from the US and Europe. There is a massive transfer of high-skilled work, and well-paid occupations, from Europe and the USA to (relatively) low-cost production first from the US Rustbelt of the US Sunbelt. Multinationals that have no national loyalty of affiliation always gravitate to the cheapest sources of labour: China, India, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. This is an ongoing race to the bottom. China, once the Eldorado of cheap labour is now experiencing a similar socialisation of its market and political processes that once engulfed the 'workshop of the world' (the UK). Now, in China, labour is striking for decent working conditions and pollution protection. GDP is now in free-fall. China is now returning to its religious beginnings of Confucian theology. What is happening in China is merely a prelude for changes that are inevitable for its competitive upstarts: India, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Keywords: accounting; capitalism; contradictions; culture; Marx; Hegel; critical theories; Marxist analysis; disruptive impact; computer technology; computing impact; work; employment; skills transfer; production transfer; unskilled jobs; China; USA; United States; India; Taiwan; Vietnam; Indonesia; Malaysia; Confucian theology; working conditions; pollution protection.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCA.2014.068416

International Journal of Critical Accounting, 2014 Vol.6 No.5/6, pp.501 - 508

Published online: 15 Apr 2015 *

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