Walmart and Values: Painting the Town Red? (original) (raw)
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Painting the town red? Wal-Mart and values
2009
This essay explores the relationship between commerce and culture in the context of the recent debate over the social effect of Wal-Mart. In spite of much public debate, little is known about how Wal-Mart affects values. Using data collected from multiple sources, we show there is little evidence that Wal-Mart makes communities more conservative or more progressive.
DOI 10.1007/s11127-008-9342-6 Does Wal-Mart reduce social capital?
2015
Social capital has attracted increasing attention in recent years. We use county-level and individual survey data to study how Wal-Mart affects social capital. Estimates us-ing several proxies for social capital—such as club membership, religious activity, time with friends, and other measures—do not support the thesis that “Wal-Mart destroys communi-ties ” by reducing social capital. We measure exposure to Wal-Mart two ways: Wal-Marts per 10,000 residents and Wal-Marts per 10,000 residents aggregated over the years since 1979 to capture a more cumulative “Wal-Mart Effect. ” We find that the coefficients on Wal-Mart’s presence are statistically insignificant in most specifications.
Does Wal-Mart reduce social capital?
Public Choice, 2009
Social capital has attracted increasing attention in recent years. We use countylevel and individual survey data to study how Wal-Mart affects social capital. Estimates using several proxies for social capital-such as club membership, religious activity, time with friends, and other measures-do not support the thesis that "Wal-Mart destroys communities" by reducing social capital. We measure exposure to Wal-Mart two ways: Wal-Marts per 10,000 residents and Wal-Marts per 10,000 residents aggregated over the years since 1979 to capture a more cumulative "Wal-Mart Effect." We find that the coefficients on Wal-Mart's presence are statistically insignificant in most specifications.
Wal-Mart's Power Trajectory: A Contribution to the Political Economy of the Firm
Review of Capital as Power, 2014
This article offers a power theory of value analysis of Wal-Mart’s contested expansion in the retail business. More specifically, it draws on, and develops, some aspects of the capital as power framework so as to provide the first clear quantitative explication of the company’s power trajectory to date. After rapid growth in the first four decades of its existence, the power of Wal-Mart appears to be flat-lining relative to dominant capital as a whole. The major problems for Wal-Mart lie in the fact that its green-field growth is running into barriers, while its cost cutting measures seem to be approaching a floor. The article contends that these problems are in part born out of resistance that Wal-Mart is experiencing at multiple social scales. The case of Wal-Mart may tell us about the wider limits of corporate power within contemporary capitalism; and the research methods outlined here may be of use to scholars seeking to conduct political-economic research on the pecuniary trajectories of other major firms.
The Impacts of Wal-Mart: The Rise and Consequences of the World's Dominant Retailer
Annual Review of Sociology, 2009
Wal-Mart has been both praised and pilloried as a template for twenty-first century capitalism. Therein lies the challenge in analyzing the world's largest retailer. We examine the sociological impact of Wal-Mart in terms of four themes: its business model and organizational structure, the dual impact of Wal-Mart's labor relations in terms of its own stores and working conditions in its
The Impact of Wal-Mart Business Practices : A Regional Analysis K
2014
Wal-Mart symbolizes the strength of economic and commercial activity in any region. Wal-Mart has built a business empire on its low-cost model. Customers love Wal-Mart stores for its low prices. At the same time, WalMart is under a barrage of criticism for labor practices and indirect burdens on our social and welfare programs. Some of the business practices of Wal-Mart like the employees’ wage-benefits package, and the underemployment of women and minorities are the subject of ongoing debate at the national level. Our main objective is to review this issue within a regional context. We examined whether what is being alleged about the business practices of WalMart at the national level is mirrored at the regional level, like northwest Indiana. The findings presented are from a survey designed to analyze the impact of the business practices of Wal-Mart on customers and employees. Our results concur with earlier national studies that there are hidden costs for the community which shop...
2004
Wal-Mart® has created tremendous economic benefits for consumers by providing more choices at lower prices. The benefits are felt especially in communities that had only local retail monopolies prior to the arrival of the store. Yet no retailer evokes stronger negative emotions than this chain. Recent media attention has focused on questionable labor practices and low wages combined with lack of benefits paid by the corporation, while academic studies have examined effects of the stores on retail wages, employment levels and numbers of establishments. Missing from the literature is an analysis of whether the "Wal-Mart effect" is large enough to measurably influence community-wide family poverty rates over time. This is the first study to carefully and comprehensively examine whether a relationship exists between existing and new locations of Wal-Mart stores and county-wide family poverty rates.