Social movements: Olson

Social Movements are organized in 2 political groups. These groups are either Pluralist or Corporatist. According to the article, a Pluralist group are “large groups acting independently of each other trying to peruse personal interest”. A perfect example of a pluralist society is the United States. Pluralist groups have self independence and lean towards decisions that will ultimately benefit their selves. Salaries and wages are determined between the business owner and the work agents. Pluralist work according to their own educational background and receive little to no job training. Most workers of a pluralist set leave the company to find another job. Overall, there is much more flexibility in pluralist corporations since rules and regulations are established within the business.

On the other hand, Corporatist groups are “smaller groups like government, business and labor which come together to create a corporation”. Germany is an example of a Corporatist group. Corporatist groups work towards a common goal that will benefit that particular business as a whole. They are financially dependent on the State and not on the individual therefore, salaries and wages are established by the government and labor agencies. Corp jobs focus extensively on job training to ensure that their workers are able to fully execute their job duties. Corporatist jobs must follow rules and regulations word by word since they are monitored by the State and other agencies to ensure equality across corporations.

I chose this part of the passage because it was very interesting and it helped me identify the difference between Pluralist and Corporatist firms. While reading this article,  it was clear that pluralist supporters like the United States follows a capitalist economic system. It was also evident that other countries who support corporatist movements, like Germany follow a communist economic system.