1. HKU SPACE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL PROBLEM IN HONG KONG
2012-13
Student Name: Hui Chit Pan
Student ID number: 10555340
Course Code: 88-287-02-17
Tutorial Lecturer: Susanne Chan
I think the job is exploitative in fast-food restaurant. For answering this question, I
will take into consideration the implementation of minimum wage to illustrate my
argument.
When talking about whether some things are exploitative or not, we always refer to
the theory of Marxism. it points out that 1(“ social structure and conflict – society as a
system in which one group of people dominants and exploits the other.” )So,
exploitation exists in a place, meaning that these places have incompatibility of social
structure.
According my mentioned above, these places generally use capitalism as their
system, whereby the exploitation would usually be found in the places where
implement the capitalism for running.2 (“ Capitalism is an economic system based
on the private ownership of the means of production, with the goal of making a profit
in economic aspect. ” ) Capitalism emphasizes the capitalists have the autonomy to
achieve their profit. So, in order to maximize their profit, they have to make the
highest exploitation over workers. However, for Marxism aspects, when it comes to

2. economic aspect, 3(“it is an economic system characterised by social ownership of the
means of production and co-operative management of the economy ” )Hence, there is
an essential concept behind, which is the emphasis of equilibrium of resources
allocation to proletarians. We can see Marxism and capitalism are incompatible with
each other in terms of economic yield and thus forming a problem of exploitation in
our society, it can also be called “class struggle”–proletarians and capitalists
Now, take the implementation of minimum wage as an example for further illustration
why the workers of fast-food restaurant are being considered to be exploited.
For an enterprise, the purpose of doing business is to maximize their profit, especially
under the globalized world, some corporations will shift their factory to the
developing countries such as China, India, Malaysia, etc, by using the international
division of labor for the interest of reducing the cost of production, it aims at
maintaining its competitiveness to be able to earn the highest profit. That is to say,
「low cost high profit」is the most critical principle of operating the business.
The implementation of minimum wage, obviously, the employers must pay more
salaries to their employees than before under the law of minimum wage, their cost of
production hence raise with the increasing of expenditure, it induces they are losing
its original competitiveness then the profit would gradually decreases, resulting in
more difficult operation of business, suffer a loss.
In order to avoid this situation, the employers of fast-food restaurant should seek the
methods to solve this problem, as a matter of fact, a lot of approach can be used as

3. solution towards the problem, but why they will chose making exploitation over their
workers/employees, the reason for this is that workers are easiest to be exploited.
Referring to the level of education of those workers who engage in the fast-food
restaurant and the requirement of being these restaurant employees, why this group of
people can usually be discovered in such restaurants, the cause is that the hiring
request and that is compatible with those people’s level of education.
The job required for non-specific technique, people who possess the educational
qualification of secondary school even more low level can become a member of them
in accordance with the general requirement of hiring of fast-food restaurant. it is also
explaining the reason why most of people who engage in these types of job are not
well-educated.
Because of their low level of education, they lack the ability of bargaining, it would
be a difficulty for them to bargain with their bosses, therefore, unfortunately, they
become the group of people who are easiest to be exploited by their employers.
The employers will exploit their workers via using different kinds of way.
For instance, the major use of enterprise, it can be elaborated by the following concept:
that is a concept proposed by Marx. It is approximately related to the new value
generated by workers that is in overflowing of their own labor-cost and which is
hence accessible to be suited by the capitalist, as Marx said, it permits then for benefit
and in so doing is the foundational capital accumulation.

4. The following analysis will provide the origin of demonstrating of surplus value.
What surplus value is? surplus value has two kinds of version, first, it does not mean
the buyer purchasing the merchandise based upon their value, and the seller proving
for sale them above their value. In both cases, each individual gains and losses cancel
each other out, because everyone in turn buyer and seller, cannot come from cheating,
cheating, can enrich a human sacrifice another, it cannot be increased by both the total
amount of ownership, and therefore cannot increase the sum of the values in
circulation. This issue must be resolved, and it must be resolved in a purely economic
way, does not include all the deception and the intervention of any force - the question
is: how may continue to be expensive, have even purchased assumptions, values of
equality is usually the exchange of equality than a concept of nationalism? "
Marx's solution is to distinguish between labor time and the ability to work. A worker
who is sufficient productivity can generate an output value is greater than it costs to
hire him. Despite seems to be based on his wages, working hours, wages in the
economic sense, which do not express the full value of what workers produce.
Effective labor worker sells, but his ability to work.
Imagine a worker who is hired for an hour, (10). Once in the employment of the
capitalists, capitalism can boot bag making machine is operating workers generated $
10 worth of work, every 15 minutes. Every hour, the capitalists get $ 40 worth of
work, pay only 10 yuan to the workers, to capture the rest of the gross income of 30
million. Once charged to the capitalist fixed and variable operating costs (say) $ 20
(leather, machinery depreciation, etc.), he left $ 10. Therefore, for a $ 30 capital
expenditure, the capitalist residual value of $ 10, his funds not only replaced the
operation, but also an increase of 10 yuan.

5. Workers cannot capture the benefits of doing so directly, because he has not the means
of production (such as guide decision-making machines) or to their products, and his
ability to exceed the wage bargaining is limited legal and wage labor demand or
supply.
Furthermore, this enterprise off a person or a group of things, these things are that
they do not have adequate compensation and use as a resource, with little or no
consideration of their well-being.
In the long run, it is also possible to find another problem, which is alienation. It is
rejected by the human creative potential. As Marx said, the difference between
humans and other species, human beings have the ability creative ability, but other
species do not come to shape their own world. Only humans can create a concept,
they hope to create and fruition of it. The work is likely to become the expression of
human intelligence and ability to innovate, it is not alienation, or are only interested in
survival or social organizations in such a way, it becomes demeaning. Now, in real life,
industrial capitalism, workers and machines are meaningless task, but a larger part of
the process. They were forced to sell their ability to work (their ability to work), a
marketable commodity as an employer. Human creativity, which becomes a
commodity, buying and sell in the labor market cycle. Hold and sell the products of
this labor by the capitalists, workers labored difficult, and they were exploited by the
capitalist.
The workers are used as a commodity, the environment of fast-food restaurant is like
a Sweatshop (or sweat factory) ,which is not a positively connoted term for any

6. working environment considered to be unacceptably hard or hazardous without job
security, workers often work long hours for very low pay, boring job, and repetitive
work, even though under the law of minimum wage.
Therefore, we must take the following action to extinguish alienation: abolition of the
division of production into meaningless task, and the termination of economic
exploitation.
What’s more, although there are some trade union to protect those w right of workers,
those workers who are not the member of the trade union, they are being protected by
nothing, they are excluded so even when they are exploited, they cannot find union
for help. Ultimately, the level of exploitation of workers become serious and serious
and make the problem of exploitation perpetuate in the future.
In conclusion, I believe that the job is exploitative in fast-food restaurant, the workers
are being exploited by employers. For my point of view, the low level of education is
the most fatal injury making workers to be exploited in different yields, the
implementation of minimum wage is a catalyst which widen the exploitation much
more.
References:
1. From Lecture 8 Marxist Perspective
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CapitalismFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,
browsed in 15/4/2013, Fulcher, James. Capitalism. 1st ed. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism From Wikipedia, the free

7. encyclopedia ,browsed in 15/4/2013, Marx, Engels, Selected works in one
volume, Lawrence and Wishart (1968) 978-
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploitation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ,
browsed in 16/4/2013, Ruth J. Sample, Exploitation: What it is and why it is
wrong (The badness of exploitation: a reformative account). Lanham, Maryland:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
2003.+http://www.ier.org.uk/blog/5-ways-public-sector-workers-are-being-explo
ited A think tank for the labour movement: