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Naomi Klein’s No Logo states that corporations have been championing globalization using the reasons that globalization allows U.S. consumers to benefit from cheaper products produced abroad, while developing nations benefit from the economic growth stimulated by foreign investments. The generally accepted belief is that governmental policies should be established in favor of the corporations to facilitate the trickling down of corporate profits to the end consumers and workers abroad. Klein, however, contends that globalization rarely benefit the workers in the developing countries.
Corporations seek out countries with cheap labor forces to lower their production costs. Consequently, they will engage in practices, such as banning labor unions and selecting a passive labor force, which frequently consists of young women, to ensure their policies on low wages are met with little or no resistance. Ultimately, in order to attract investments of multinational corporations, governments in third world nations must compete against each other to exploit their own labor force to supply the cheapest products. Furthermore, instead of sharing the profits with the workers, corporations spend most of the money saved from the labors on advertising and celebrity spokespeople.
There is no unanimous voice on the subject of globalization from the business community. It is undeniable that unjust labor practices do exist abroad. One notable anti-globalization proponent is economist E.F. Schumacher, who spoke vehemently against the nascent practice of globalization and belief in mass production in his book Small is Beautiful in 1973.
Schumacher claims that mass production through specialization of labor actually do more harm to the poverty-stricken countries. He argues that the specialization of labor was developed to benefit nations with small populations, whose growth was restricted by the shortage of labor, and is therefore incompatible with developing countries that generally have large populations. Specialization of labor in nations with large populations serve only to enslave the majority of the populus to the monotonous production of goods that is devoid of any spiritual purposes and restricts the workers’ creative potentials.
Furthermore, Schumacher also argues that the goal of the government and community is to ensure that every person within the community has the means to lead a meaningful existence. Globalization, on the other hand, fails to benefit communities. Many developing nations that host multinational corporations have a large percentage of the population with little or no means of survival.
Imagine being employee number 101 out of 1001. Now imagine working on an assembly line in a hot room filled with 1000 other women frantically assembling products for first world countries to use for ten seconds before discarding for a newer version. This job pays enough for you to get by but living in a third world country with low pay isn’t easy. What many people don’t understand is that the cost of production in a third world country is more inexpensive than it is in America. Hiring women to work in horrid conditions decreases employee loss because they are not rambunctious like men. “Life on the Global Assembly Line” by Barbara Ehrenreich and Annette Fuentes clearly illustrates the hardships women go through for U.S. corporation production. Corporate powers have resorted to building production plants in third world countries to save money. U.S. corporate powers take advantage of third world
Large corporations such as Nike, Gap, and Reebok and many others from the United States have moved their factories to undeveloped nations; barely pay their employees enough to live on. Countries such as China, Indonesia, and Haiti have readily abundant cheap labor. There should be labor laws or an obligation of respecting workers to provide decent working conditions, fair wages, and safety standards.
In this book, globalization is defined as “an internationalization of contractual hiring, exploiting even cheaper migrant labor” (page 231). Globalization is a cultural phenomenon process in which a business or an organization begins to operate their production on an international scale. In his book, we see how globalization affected corn farmers in Mexico. Globalization open the door to the system a free market trade. In Illegal People, U.S corn farmers sold their corn to Mexico, causing Mexican corn farmers to severely lose profit since American farmers were selling their corn way cheaper. An example of how globalization is seen on Sleep Dealer is how an American company privatized water in Memo’s rancho. By privatizing the water, the company sold quantities of water at unreasonable prices, leading Memo’s dad to struggle to maintain his corm field. The American company who privatized the water could this through the usage of technology. Technology is one of the factors that led to the rise of
Source one is an excerpt from the book called “Transnational Corporations: Knitting the world together”. This book was published in 2004 and the author is Keith Suter, a futurist. He believes that transnational corporations are now the main global economic force as they eroded the national market. He deems that due to transnational companies the world is now involved in one global market. He views transnational companies as a definite source of economic globalization. Transnational companies did not only bring jobs to less developed country but it also stimulated the economy of that country giving them motivation. Transnational companies had given less developed country a better quality of life and well-being. There are some critics about transnational companies but transnational company had given us a way to make our world more globally connected as what Keith Suter would agree upon.
For every plan to be implemented well it is important to determine the costs of implementation such as those of employing the Renewable Energy technologies. Naomi urges people to rely on the renewable energy as per the German’s help. Klein states, “The gal becomes not to build a few gigantic green solutions, but to infinitely multiply smaller ones and to use policies- as Germanys feed in tariff for renewable energy for instance- that encourage multiplication rather than consolidation” (384). Researchers claim that the analysis of Naomi Klein’s plan seems to be too expensive to the point of making a stop to some of the activities which are in progress at the moment. The estimates of Klein’s plans seem to cost a rough amount of 100 trillion dollars.
Because of the industrialization of the countries, the replacement of manual labor with the use of machinery and the division of labor, the work of the proletarian has become homogeneous. It does not contain the individuality or charm of the laborer as handmade goods do. The worker instead becomes part of the machine and is reduced to performing menial, repetitive tasks. Thus, the workman's pay rate reflects his work, and is reduced to the minimum amount needed to barely sustain them. Therefore, as the skill needed to perform the job is reduced, so does the amount of the wages.
Sweatshops, when left to operate without government intervention, are the most efficient way out of poverty especially in developing countries. This argument may feel far fetched, but when examined in the context of those working at sweatshops and the locations sweatshops are most often constructed in, the reason why this is true is apparent. The benefits of sweatshops can be found by examining how they increase living conditions, examining the locations where sweatshops are constructed, and looking at how government regulations on factories don’t help anyone.
Large corporations seeking the extra dollar to pocket are willing to spend whatever it takes to reduce the cost of production and increase profit margins. Doing whatever it takes in some instances can help men moving operations overseas to developing countries who are glad to be working. These developing countries unemployment rates are extremely high, so any job that pays is great to have. Americans lose jobs to foreign workers because the American economy is one of the largest in the world and its citizens enjoy great standards of living, when juxtaposed with a city of the same size in Taiwan. Labor costs play a huge and crucial role in corporations, which in turn pay the profits to the corporate giants who run, manage, and own the businesses.
Kofi Annan, a UN diplomat, once said,“...that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity.” He is undoubtedly correct in this assessment. Indeed, globalization is no longer something to be skeptical of, it is very real and is changing our world exponentially. The affects of globalization, however, continue to be a heated topic for debate. Proponents praise the overall economic lift provided by free trade, the diffusion of cultures, and the spread of democracy and capitalism. Critics cry foul at the loss of national identity, the accelerated and uncontrolled use of natural resources, and the redistribution of wealth into the hands of a few very powerful people and corporations. Globalization is a polarizing topic and it has affected people in different and varying ways. I looked back over my life, looking for personal experiences that represent the affect of globalization upon my life. It is difficult to pinpoint exact experiences, but it is clear the broader affects globalization has had on my life such as in the spread of cultural practices such as yoga or foreign entertainment, or the rapid demise of the Midwestern manufacturing industry.
“Inequality, conflict, and regulatory corruption are all part and parcel of capitalism, history has borne this out numerous times unless someone steps in to break them up, monopolies are the natural result of unbridled capitalism.” Author John Perkins, also known as the ‘economic hitman’ describes his role as a highly paid professional who helped the U.S. cheat poor countries around the world out of trillions of dollars by providing them more money in which they could not pay back and later, taking over their economies in exchange of natural resources such as oil. In the epilogue of his book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” he expresses his thoughts on taking ownership and changing the system by avoiding products that were manufactured by overworked laborers by developing boycotts to end labor standards and the promotion of it. Even though their is obvious economic growth in the U.S., Grassroots boycott can affect the policies of multinational corporations by avoiding products that are made by mistreated workers and help reduce self-destruction of the overall global empire because people who live in poverty do not benefit from a “voluntary trade,” the ecosystem is dying out, and greed is built in the system of the third world.
Globalization, both as an ideology and process, has become the dominant political, economical and cultural force in the 21st century (Steger, 2002, 6). As a social and economic concept, globalization has its roots in neoliberalism which advocates: the primacy of economic growth, free trade to stimulate growth, a free market, individual choice, reduction of government regulation, and global social development based on a western model (Steger, 2002, 9). Although globalization is not a new concept, technological advancements in the last few decades have, for the first time in human history, allowed for real global production, transport and communication. Nowadays, transnational corporations can “produce anything anywhere on the planet and sell anything anywhere on the planet” (Keeling, 2002). While the benefits of human social and economic interactions are hard to ignore, globalization and its agencies also contribute to: the depolarization of society, the undermining of democracy, and the denationalization of the globe. This paper will assess the various political and economic factors of globalization from a socialist perspective.
Globalization’s history is extremely diversified and began during the beginning of civilization. Now we live in a world that is constantly evolving, demanding people to use resources in locations that are very difficult to obtain certain resources. This could make it completely impossible to operate in these specific parts of the world. However, globalization allows people across the world to acquire much needed resources. Globalization creates the opportunity for businesses to take advantage and exploit the ability to take part of their business to a different country. Nevertheless, globalization is part of today’s society and will be involved in virtually all situations.
Globalization, the acceleration and strengthening of worldwide interactions among people, companies and governments, has taken a huge toll on the world, both culturally and economically. It’s generating a fast-paced, increasingly tied world and also praising individualism. It has been a massive subject of matter amongst scientists, politicians, government bureaucrats and the normal, average human population. Globalization promoted the independence of nations and people, relying on organizations such as the World Bank and also regional organizations such as the BRICs that encourage “a world free of poverty” (World Bank). Despite the fact that critics can argue that globalization is an overall positive trend, globalization has had a rather negative cultural and economic effect such as the gigantic wealth gaps and the widespread of American culture, “Americanization”; globalization had good intentions but bad results.
On the other hand, opponents question if the benefits of globalization compensate the created downsides. In their opinion, globalization has manifested unemployment, poverty and marginalization. Additionally, it has been one of the key drivers ...
Brinkman, June E., and Richard L. Brinkman. "Corporate Power and the Globalization Process." International journal of social economics 29.9/10 (2002): 730-52. Print.