Blog 5 (Week 7) Callum Olearczyk FB

Since the conclusion of the Second World War the World economy has experienced significant changes. Consumer demand was surprisingly high; this fuelled an exceptionally high growth. Returning service personnel stimulated a housing boom. Increased births known as the “baby boom” led to more consumers joining the economy.

During the conflict, many new technologies had emerged for the war effort, with the conflict ceased these new technologies opened up new “pathways” for industries and business. Factories that were outputting military spec vehicles were converted back to regular car, plane and ship factories. Fordism had created a new atmosphere in production lines. Workers were treated better, the idea of sameness and reliability was apparent amongst products. A less favourable outcome was that there was a distinct separation between workers and upper class citizens; Fordism had led to a state where kids were prepared for working life through class selection regardless of their skills.

      

When discussing the winners and losers in the new world economy it becomes a broad topic. The harsh effects of the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) were experienced by many individuals from middle and working class socioeconomic backgrounds. Many business executives in the financial sector remained clear of the effects. After effects included unemployment, low financial stimulation and harsh austerity measures for regular citizens. World economy Winners and Losers Big business is usually spared adversity resulting from shortcomings in their practices and the practices of global business. Working class individuals are the most exposed to the effects of adversity in today’s economy. Many workers can find themselves unemployed or made redundant as a cost cutting measure by the business elite who can be considered the winners in today’s economy. Another loser can be non-human life forms; Buchanan makes reference to how whales have been blamed for the reduction of fish by the Japanese. It turns out that the Japanese have been overfishing but conveniently whale eats fish, hence the Japanese are permitted to hunt whales for their meat, this is dubbed as “scientific research” (Buchanan, 2002). 

References:

Buchanan, M. (2002). Tangled web, in Nexus: Small worlds and the groundbreaking science of networks (pp. 138-155). New York, NY: W.W. Norton