Supply-Chain Capitalism and the Culture of Helplessness (original) (raw)
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The aim of this essay is to reconnect Marx's analysis of commodity fetishism and the use that he makes of this anthropological category with a general critique of global capitalist relationships. Based on Marx's anthropological insights into the concept of fetishism, it explores the political relationship between labour, subjectivity and commodities in supply chains capitalism. For this purpose, it empirically examines the materials of ethnographic research on the production of Italian companies that produce in an Eastern European country (Romania) and then sell mainly to countries in Western Europe. In this way, the spatial separation between the places where the investments are made (production) and those where profits are generated (market) becomes very clearcut, just like the alienating division between people and the products of their work. In the light of the Marxian analysis of the commodity form, this detachment will be analysed in a fragment of the productive, organisational and social mosaic of contemporary capitalism.
Introduction: The politics of global supply chains
From corporate boardrooms to the butcher’s paper and whiteboards of activist workshops, the phrase ‘supply chain politics’ has become increasingly commonplace. It is now routine practice for major global companies to hire specialist staff responsible for ‘supply chain compliance’, which involves managing human rights, labour standards and other aspects of social governance in farms and factories supplying a company’s manufacturing or retail operations. Meanwhile, grassroots activists working with marginalized workers use diagrams of corporate ‘supply chains’ when planning how to most effectively mobilize against transnational structures of corporate power. And consultants within the rapidly expanding industry of ‘responsible supply chain management’ organize events to consult factory workers on their employers’ operations, with titles such as ‘The Supply Chain Talks Back’ (CSRAsia 2005). The objectives and experiences of such actors are far removed from each other, yet all recognize the importance of supply chain politics for understanding and transforming patterns of contemporary globalization.
Commodity Culture and the Commodity Chain: A Site of Struggle for Self and Society
It is absolutely undeniable that consumerism is something that has been embedded within the culture of our society. It is deeply linked to our identity and how we live our lives. Consumerism is a critical, multidisciplinary issue that has generally been associated with the rise of globalization, capitalism and modernity, beginning around the time of the Industrial Revolution. However, it has not always been an “issue” in the eminent way that it is today. Although Puritans, Marxists, and many others have been criticising capitalism and consumerism since the late 18th century, it was only in the late 20th Century that consumerism—as an inherent dimension of contemporary Western culture—drew increasing critical energy from academic circles in the social sciences. A brief look on the library shelves reveals the increasing number of books on consumerism having been published at the turn of the century, with titles such as Excess, Why I Buy, Consumer Society, and the like, intending to reveal the mysteries and criticisms of consumerism and what exactly it means for our society. In the past few decades, and even more so in the past decade, consumerism has become a focus of analysis in human geography as well. Geographers have assumed a duty to analyze the spatiality of consumerism at various points in the commodity chain and how its has been affected by globalization. In this paper, I examine the works of four prominent geographers of vastly differing perspectives and contributions: Becky Mansfield, Peter Jackson, Nick Clarke, John Goss. Each of these geographers have made considerable contributions to the study of the interrelationships between commodity and society, from production to consumption to globalization to the analysis of the geographic discipline on consumerism. In reviewing the recent works of these geographers, I aim to argue that the commodity chain is the spatial occupation of the proliferation of consumer culture and it is a site of struggle in which the meanings and values of commodities themselves are expressed, negotiated, contested and/or sustained. The means through which this is achieved is through the manifestation of commodities in the identity of self and culture of society and the way in which commodities organize our identity of self and the culture of society.
2015
This dissertation provides a case study of the labor process and employment conditions within warehouses and distribution centers in Southern California—a crucial stop in the global supply chain for a myriad of transnationally sourced goods. It employs qualitative research methods including in-depth interviews with warehouse workers, managers, and contractors, in addition to using participant observation to examine workers’ understanding of the workplace, resistance, and class relations embedded in global commodity chains. Combining theoretical insights from research on the labor process and global capitalism, it argues that the appropriate foci for the analysis of globalization and class are the shop floors integrated into these chains. While research on the transnational capitalist class has been robust, transnational working class formations have been relatively understudied. Thus, to analyze these issues the dissertation focuses on the following questions: How do transnational c...
The Role of Supply Chains in the Global Business of Forced Labour
Journal of Supply Chain Management, 2021
Supply chains are fundamental to whether decent work flourishes or not. Not only do supply chain dynamics shape employment practices and working conditions, but they also influence business models and capabilities which structure opportunities for decent work. As scholars and policymakers race to strengthen labor standards in supply chains and confront barriers to their effective implementation, management scholars can both benefit from and advance an understanding of the role of supply chains in giving rise to indecent work, especially the business practices commonly described as forced labor and modern slavery. To help realize this potential, this article draws from my research on the business of forced labor to emphasize three points. First, there are clear and discernible patterns with respect to the root causes of forced labor in supply chains. Second, forced labor in supply chains cannot be understood in isolation of broader dynamics of work and employment, since low-waged workers tend to move in and out of conditions of forced labor in relatively short periods of time. Third, on-the-ground studies of the effectiveness of buyer-centric governance programs reveal serious gaps between corporate social responsibility standards and business practices when it comes to indicators most relevant to forced labor. I conclude with a discussion of future directions in this research agenda and highlight the potential for business scholars to make a contribution.