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Talk Is Cheap: The Value of Language in the World Economy‐Illustrations from the United States and Quebec
Author(s) -
Gouveia Lourdes,
Rousseau Mark O.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1995.tb00411.x
Subject(s) - deskilling , exchange value , restructuring , value (mathematics) , devaluation , politics , political economy , economic restructuring , sociology , capital (architecture) , economics , diversity (politics) , surplus value , economy , economic system , political science , market economy , capitalism , commodity , law , work (physics) , mechanical engineering , history , archaeology , machine learning , computer science , engineering , exchange rate , macroeconomics
Global economic restructuring modifies the traditional material value of language skills and stands to increasingly fragment labor along class and ethnic lines. Language deskilling, brought about by the international mobility of capital and technological change, has diminished the value of traditionally skilled labor. Yet labor, though weakened economically and politically, is not powerless. Two contrasting instances, examined through a common political‐economic perspective, are considered: the U.S. meatpacking industry as exemplified in a Lexington, Nebraska, plant and the labor movement in the national economy of Quebec. These two cases illustrate the unity and diversity found in the contingent and uncertain process of global economic change. The Lexington example illustrates the process by which the language abilities of both immigrant and indigenous labor have been successfully deskilled. The Quebec instance illustrates the capacity of labor to utilize a common language and culture as a mobilization resource to diminish the devaluation of language and secure material gains. Possible future directions of change are considered in each instance.