1 GLOBALIZATION, THE CLASS RELATION AND DEMOCRACY

Close to the heart of the debate about globalization is the concern that it has altered the balance of class forces in the advanced industrial societies. In turn this alteration has been to the detriment of those thought to be advantaged by democracy: i.e., that vast majority that obtains its living not from returns on property in their various forms but from wages. Globalization, it is asserted, has made it harder for the vast majority of the population to impose their will regarding redistribution through the democratic process. Capital has gained in power relative to labor. The most obvious way in which this is supposed to have happened is through the ability that capital has acquired to shift its money around. This, it is argued, has allowed it to elude, or resist in situ through the threat of relocation, the demands of workers for enhanced wages, improved benefits and the like. Rather workers in different countries have been placed in a position of competing against each other for the investment favors This online paper can be cited or briefly quoted in accordance with the usual academic conventions. It can be downloaded for your personal use. It must not be published elsewhere without my explicit permission. If you cite it please use the following form: Kevin R. Cox, “Globalization, the Class Relation and Democracy, ” Department o