Dr. Seuss and Philosophy - Jacob M. Held [126]
But the undervaluation of labor can also be explained and condemned as illegitimate within a capitalist framework.16 Largely, the internal moral legitimacy of capitalism rests on the absence of chronic monopolistic conditions. If one can point to structures of power within the political and economic system that serve as monopolistic or near-monopolistic forces over labor, one can make the charge that labor is undervalued from within capitalism itself. Given the influence wielded by multinational corporations and the various giants that dominate a given industry (e.g., Wal-Mart, among retailers), it is not difficult to make the claim that such forces are at play and skew the price of labor from the natural price Adam Smith would expect to emerge in a truly competitive market.
Avoiding the larger ideological pictures, however, one could opt to develop a Seussian theory of exploitation. The good Doctor provides some insight into how employees might be undervalued in his classic If I Ran the Circus. Morris McGurk is a young entrepreneur with big ideas for the lot behind Sneelock’s Store. McGurk imagines his friend, Sneelock, will help out with “doing little odd jobs” like selling balloons and lemonade. As McGurk imagines even grander and grander ideas to implement, he imagines poor old Sneelock doing harder and harder jobs. Sneelock must carry a big cauldron of hot pebbles, have arrows shot at apples on his head, roller skate down a shoot littered with cacti, tame a ferocious Spotted Atrocious and wrestle a Grizzly-Ghastly, lie under cars racing over ramps, get spouted back and forth between two whales, and dive 4,692 feet into a fishbowl. To be sure, if he pulls it off, McGurk would have quite an amazing circus. Who wouldn’t pay to see it?!
What is interesting is McGurk’s nonchalant attitude toward the overworking and endangering of poor Sneelock in light of his visionary quest to bring about a greatly improved service to his potential consumers. Over and over, McGurk assumes Sneelock’s willingness, because “he likes to help out,” and he’ll even be “delighted” and “love it.” Indeed, “He’ll be a Hero.” McGurk is under the impression that his workers share his vision and are willing to do all the work and run all the risks to make his vision a reality:
My workers love work. They say, “Work us! Please work us!
We’ll work and we’ll work up so many surprises
You’d never see half if you had forty eyses!” (Circus)
Of course McGurk depends on those workers, since he doesn’t know how to train deer to jump simultaneously through each other’s antlers. But he’s sure Sneelock can train them. And how will Sneelock safely dive into that fishbowl? McGurk says:
He’ll manage just fine.
Don’t ask how he’ll manage.
That’s his job. Not mine. (Circus)
McGurk rejects responsibility for the feasibility and reasonability of his expectations. It is precisely this kind of washing of one’s hands that allows a systematic “legitimation” of exploitation. And given the fact that most nonunion jobs in the United States are covered by the employment-at-will doctrine, an employer can simply cite the employee’s ability to quit if she’s dissatisfied as a justification for ridiculous demands and taxing conditions. The idea that workers are “free” to leave or stay is often used for a defense in the cases of sweatshops overseas.
In a well-anthologized 1997 article, Ian Maitland argues that humanitarian concerns over working conditions in sweatshops are misplaced and acting on them by interfering with the market might do more harm than good.17 The basic point is that “sweated” workers in foreign countries often are paid far better than their home standards, so these factory jobs are