1. Discuss
“Abolish Restaurants” with special regard to: Division of Labor and the
class system in Restaurants, the addition of value to a product, tips, unions,
and the use of machines. How is this analysis political economy and
Marxian? What are the alternatives to restaurants?
Abolish
Restaurants
Restaurants are the product of a capitalist system with a
hierarchy of labor. A person does not open a restaurant because they think it
would be enjoyable, they open it to make money. The food service industry fits
perfectly into Karl Marx’s economic theories from his book Capital. Food
service workers are constantly being pushed to work faster and harder, and are
frequently exploited.
Abolish
Restaurants contains a critical analysis of the restaurant industry’s
development and procedures. This political economy approach brought to light
the failures of restaurant unionization and the inequalities of the workers.
The boss’s main priority is to increase profits. Like Marx explained, any
worker who produces more than the necessary amount to pay for the expenses
creates surplus value. Surplus value is what Marx believes is the source of all
profit. This profit goes directly to benefiting the capitalist, who is in this
case the restaurant boss. The boss, who of course wants more profit, does
whatever he can to decrease the amount of necessary labor and increase the
amount of surplus labor of the workers. For the workers this means a variety of
bad effects that mostly involve lower wages and greater pressure to increase
production.
The most
basic way that restaurant workers are pressured to work harder and increase
production is the hierarchy system. The dishwasher wants to become a chef
and the bus boy wants to become a waiter. The hierarchical structure motivates
workers with hopes of promotion. Even the chefs and waiters usually can’t
afford to regularly eat at their own restaurant. Restaurants tend to cater to a
more economically prosperous class than they employ. The division of labor in
restaurants also increases production. However tedious it may seem to the
worker to repeat the same tasks over and over again, the business would fall
behind the industry’s level of production without it. Replacing tasks that humans
do with machines makes it so that the workers have even less variety of tasks
to do and it can cut down interaction between workers while doing so. These
machines give the business a competitive edge until the majority of their
competitors have them, then they are just necessary components of staying
competitive enough to stay in business. The front of the house (i.e. waiters)
and the back of the house (i.e. chefs) often are in dispute about how much
business they should try to have. The front of the house receive tips, which is
a huge incentive to increase production. The prospect of being tipped causes
the workers to be extra friendly, move extra quickly, and try to fill every
table that they can. The workers in the back of the house are paid flat wages,
and thus they usually prefer a smaller flow of customers. All these
motivational factors lead to workers being pushed harder and having miserable
work experiences. Although it is necessary for workers to produce a certain
amount to maintain the business, every extra ounce of labor makes the worker
more miserable while the capitalist has a thicker bulge of money in his pocket.
The restaurant industry is a profitable path for a
capitalist who takes his money making seriously. Most bosses know that
they should treat their workers better, but rationalize their brutality with
the competitive nature of the business. The unionization of the food service
industry has proved to be trickier than other industries and has repeatedly
failed. Without help of unions or other controls, food industry workers have
few prospects for improving their work conditions. The only ways that the work
of the food service industry could improve is through changing the nation’s
economic system, more people making the choice to prepare his or her own food,
or the creation of food cooperatives. The implementation of socialism into our
nation would lead to more equality among the classes and less worker
exploitation. Preparing your own meals avoids the exploitation of the food
service industry and also allows you to know the quality of the food that you
are consuming. Food cooperatives are owned and run by the food suppliers and
employees. The cooperative business structure allows the owners and employees
to be paid better and not be as exploited.
Abolish Restaurants brings to light
the inequalities of the food service industry and is an excellent example of
the product of capitalism. Bosses push their employees to create as much
surplus labor as possible, and the employees hardly benefit from their extra
drudgery. Restaurants are highly exploitative for workers and very profitable
to the entrepreneurs who own them. Hopefully there will be a system change that
improves the industry in the near future.
