The Importance of Globalization in the Development of Unhealthy Working Conditions

Introduction
Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) has become the #1 cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. More than 1.1 billion people have coronary artery disease and another billion have hypertension, exceeding even poverty as the primary cause of ill-health and death. The recent increases in prevalence of CVD in developing countries provides evidence that CVD, as an epidemic, is of rather recent origin -- rooted in the structure of modern society -- and associated with industrialization and globalization. This conclusion is supported by the observation that the “traditional” risk factors for CVD such as hypertension, diets rich in fats, cigarette smoking, obesity and diabetes are all of recent historical development.

Methods
The processes of globalization – the increasing inter-dependency of world economies, production, trade, technology and culture – is having an enormous impact on work, work organization and the health of working people. There is now increasing competition among nations and between corporations, as resources grow more scarce. The need for corporate profitability drives globalization, technology and changes in workplace organization resulting in more competition, restructuring and downsizing, outsourcing, precarious work, job insecurity, as well as increased time pressure and intensification of work.

Results
These changes in work organization, in turn, give rise to psychosocial stressors such as job strain, effort-reward imbalance, emotional labor, threat-avoidant-vigilant work, organization injustice, long work hours, and shift work, inter-alia, which increase stress and can lead to chronic illnesses, including mental and physical health problems. Psychosocial stressors at work play important roles in promoting CVD risk factors, such as obesity and hypertension.

Discussion
Research findings explicating the inter-relationships between capitalist economic development, globalization, changes in work organization, psychosocial stressors and CVD risk factors will be presented, as wel as the implications for the health of working people and a strategy for promoting healthy work will be briefly presented.