Offshoring: individual short-term gain versus collective long-term loss?

Offshoring is a controversial issue surrounded by emotional debate. As companies rush headlong toward the financial benefits offshoring has to offer, the workers it displaces cry "foul" and argue for protectionist measures. Both sides hold highly polarized views on whether or not offshoring ultimately benefits the offshoring country. To bring some objectivity to this topic, this article discusses information about group behavior from the fields of philosophy and cognitive science. These branches of knowledge, typically not on the radar screen of many IT professionals, have some interesting things to say about group behavior and how that plays into offshoring. To begin, it's necessary to understand some basic tenets about capitalism that underpin much of the business world.