American Dreams, Global Realities & the Story of Work

Market forces and the control of land, food, natural resources and human bodies created the disruptions that helped to establish labor systems such as indentured servitude, slavery, peonage, and eventually, wage labor. As most of the world has transitioned from agrarian to industrial to knowledge-networking economies, there are concerns about the potential impact on human identities, labor competition and law and order. The mass production that followed industrialization required mass consumption, mass education, mass marketing and mass incarceration. The information economy is reshaping this paradigm as globalization, outsourcing and technology create unemployment, displacement and an international underclass. This Matrix Map will provide opportunities for you to explore the changing nature of work and the potential shocks to civic relations at home and abroad when work runs out. Also, it reveals the benefits, struggles, distractions and internal problems of unions and their decreasing influence in the wake of powerful trade agreements.