Tags: corporations, organizations/occupations/work, theory, weber, alienation, authority, bureaucracy, rationalization, white-collar, subtitles/CC, 06 to 10 mins Year: 1999 Length: 6:20 Access: Extended clip no online access; (short 2:11 clip available at MovieClips) Summary: While the entire Office Space film is a great satire on bureaucracy and office work, this excerpt (on DVD begin at 0:30; end at 6:50; shorter clip available above) is particularly good for demonstrating Weber's concept of bureaucracy. It is also super funny. This clip specifically conveys key dimensions of bureaucracy: functions and roles organized by rules; positions organized in a hierarchy; administrative acts, decisions, and rules communicated through written documents; division of positions based on competencies; those in authority have greater pay and social status compared with those they manage; and positions within the bureaucracy are not dependent on an individual. Weber viewed bureaucracy as essential to industrial capitalism, but noted that the rationality of bureaucratic workplaces often turn us into "specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart." Like Lumberg in the clip above, the rationalized organization of the contemporary workplace (and life more generally), can rule over us like an "iron cage." As one watches the clip, you may want to consider how the workplace depicted in this clip does or does not match up to Weber's ideal-typical bureaucracy, and what are its consequences on workers and everyone throughout society? Submitted By: Paul Dean
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Tags: capitalism, commodification, consumption/consumerism, corporations, globalization, marketing/brands, political economy, social mvmts/social change/resistance, culture industry, 21 to 60 mins Year: 2003 Length: 40:00 Access: YouTube Summary: This video is an interview and commentary with scholar/activist Naomi Klein based on her book No Logo. Using hundreds of media examples, No logo shows how the commercial takeover of public space, destruction of consumer choice, and replacement of real jobs with temporary work (the dynamics of corporate globalization) impact everyone, everywhere. It also draws attention to the resistance arising globally to challenge the hegemony of brands. The video begins by focusing on consumerism, and moves to globalization later in the film. Submitted By: Paul Dean Tags: capitalism, commodification, consumption/consumerism, corporations, marketing/brands, theory, critical theory, culture industry, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 mins Year: 1999 Length: 3:04 Access: No online access Summary: These 2 separate scenes from Fight Club draw on a familiar dialogue about consumers and are a great illustration of the culture industry (begin/end 4:45-5:40; 29:06-31:15). The scenes include the narrator's (Edward Norton) discussion of Ikea, and his conversation with Tylder Durden (Brad Pitt) about consumption and social control. In one scene, Norton discusses all the Ikea furniture around his apartment. He begins: “like many others, I have become a slave to the Ikea nesting instinct” as the screen pans around his apartment and overlays the space with images and text like it was straight out of an Ikea catalog. In a later scene, Norton laments the loss of all of his stuff, saying “when you buy furniture, you tell yourself ‘that’s it, that’s the last sofa I’m gonna need. Whatever else happens, I’ve got that sofa problem handled. I had it all … I was close to being complete.” Brad Pitt’s character concludes the scene stating “The things you own end up owning you,” which often facilitates very lively and interesting class discussion. Submitted By: Paul Dean Tags: capitalism, class, corporations, globalization, government/the state, marx/marxism, political economy, capitalist, internal contradiction, labor, 11 to 20 mins Year: 2010 Length: 11:10 Access: GOOD Blog Summary: The GOOD Blog describes the video as "another of those fantastic RSAnimate videos from London's Royal Society for the Arts, the Marxist sociologist David Harvey explains how the 'internal contradictions of capital accumulation,' not human nature or faulty institutions, are the actual root cause of the recent financial collapse (along with a host of other economic crises)." The clip would work well in a class grappling with Marxism and the continuing relevance and application of Marxist theory. In my view, the clip is particularly useful when attempting to broaden the discussion to the way capitalism works on a global scale. The clip can be used in conjunction with Harvey's new book, The Enigma of Capital: and the Crisis of Capitalism, and a fifteen minute audio interview he recently gave to Wisconsin Public Radio about the causes of the financial crises. Harvey's argument dovetails nicely with Mark Blyth's argument about class politics and the true meaning of "austerity," which is also posted on The Sociological Cinema. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Tags: capitalism, corporations, globalization, inequality, political economy, social mvmts/social change/resistance, subtitles/CC, 21 to 60 mins Year: 2002 Length: 59:00 Access: No Online Access Summary: This is a documentary by the University of Hawaii that introduces globalization through interviews with a variety of people with diverse backgrounds and points of views on what globalization is about. Questions about globalization are addressed, such as: 'What is it?'; 'When did it begin?'; 'Who is in Charge?'; 'Who is Resisting?'; 'What are they Protesting?'; 'Who wins and who loses?'; 'What's Good about Globalization?'; 'What are the challenges facing globalization?'; and 'Can We Change Globalization?' Added By: Paul Dean Tags: corporations, economic sociology, globalization, government/the state, social mvmts/social change/resistance, political economy, capitalism, democracy, power elite, privatization, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2004 Length: 5:00 Access: YouTube Summary: This excerpt from the documentary The Corporation explores the relationship between corporations and government. It shows CEOs and business leaders stating that corporations have attained unusual power in contemporary society, documents high level cooperation between corporations and intelligence agencies ("how the industry and government are consulting with each other and working with each other"), and shows this cooperation at an international free trade meeting where protesters are gassed outside. The clip convincingly illustrates Mills' power elite, where 2 out of the 3 top institutions (corporations and federal governments) are believed to share the same assumptions about society, come from similar origins, and work together to achieve their common interests. They are inside a protected area making the decisions affecting society, while mass society remains physically and politically separate with little control over the decisions made that affect their lives. The clip also works well with William Domhoff's Who Rules America?. The YouTube clip is 8:58, but I used only the first 5:00. The full film is available online here. Submitted By: Paul Dean |
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