CULT 320: Trading Away Our Rights, Histories of Unfreedom
CULT 320 Take-home Midterm Spring 2016 Essays have to be uploaded to Blackboard by Tuesday March 8 by 11:59 pm. Please submit as Word document, insert page numbers and have your name at the top of every page with the file name in the following format: “320 S 16 Midterm Lastname.” General Instructions Write a 5-7 page double spaced essay on one of the questions below. Whichever you choose, synthesize and analyze the readings and provide a general framework backed up by specific points.
Your essay should be well organized and well argued. Annotate carefully and abundantly—not just quotes, but also when making points not considered general knowledge or when paraphrasing. I expect you to proofread and edit. Except for reference materials (which, if you use them, will have to be specified) use only the materials assigned for class and one of the additional articles available in the “Midterm Articles” folder in the Assignments and Course Content sections of Blackboard. Questions Both questions ask you to use specific readings—either on labor and globalization or on McDonaldization—and both require you to consider the applicability of the theoretical frameworks proposed in the Marx/Engels and Harvey readings.
1) Using Kate Raworth Trading Away Our Rights and “Geographies and Histories of Unfreedom: Indentured Labourers and Contract Workers in Mauritius” by Uma Kothari describe the different labor practices that are used in global production, examine the ways the two pieces cover similar and/or different issues, and consider the extent to which the theories proposed by Marx/Engels and Harvey can be applied to these readings. 2) George Ritzer is the scholar most closely associated with the concept of McDonaldization. For class you have read George Ritzer and Elizabeth L. Malone, “Globalization Theory: Lessons from the Exportation of McDonaldization and the New Means of Consumption.” Using that article and “Dialectics of Something and Nothing: Critical Reflections on Ritzer’s Globalization Analysis” by Douglas Kellner (available in the “Midterm Articles” folder) review the main points of both articles, identify Kellner’s criticisms of the McDonaldization theory and consider the extent to which the theories proposed by Marx/Engels and Harvey can be applied to these readings.
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Essay: Question 2
This paper responds to the essay question number one. Using the article of Kate Raworth and another article by Uma Kothari, this paper describes the diverse labour practices which are employed in global production. Moreover, this paper exhaustively examines how the two works cover different and/or similar issues. Lastly, the degree to which the theories conceptualized by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx could be applied to these readings is considered.
Labour practices used in the global production
According to the article by Kate Raworth, Trading Away Our Rights, the labour practices that are being employed in the global production include the following: Long overtime at short notice – to work overtime is voluntary according to the law. For many female workers however, overtime is actually a condition of employment and is often imposed at short notice. In some factories in Shenzen China for example, employees who cannot do overtime are required to apply to their supervisor for exemption (Raworth, 2004). Workers are overworked and underpaid – to increase output without increasing costs, a lot of employers falsify records of hours worked, set excessive production targets, or use piece-rates. For female workers, it implies long hours of overtime which is significantly underpaid (Raworth, 2004). Permanently temporary – female workers have a higher chance than their male counterparts to be employed on homework, casual, seasonal or short-term contracts that are renewed every day, every 3 months, or after 12 months. Such employees end up working for a long-term period but without the support and protection which comes with long-term employment. In South Africa and Chile for example, female workers get the impermanent jobs within the fruit sector. These women are hired year after year on rolling contracts for eleven months (Raworth, 2004).
Trade unions face significant restrictions – workers are discouraged from joining trade unions. Little support for families – paid maternity leave helps to support women as mothers and as workers. It also helps to ensure the health of the present and future labour force. Nonetheless, female workers who are employed on short-term contracts and become pregnant lose their job as their contract is never renewed (Raworth, 2004). Short-term hiring for long-term jobs – employing labourers on contracts that are short-term could be lawful, for instance for jobs which are genuinely impermanent or seasonal in nature. Even so, a lot of employers are abusing the law and employing workers in this manner repetitively for many years. They do this in order to avoid employment benefits and to cut costs (Raworth, 2004).
In the article Geographies and Histories of Unfreedom by Kothari (2013), the labour practices used in the global production include the importation of labour and the use of migrant workers. In Mauritius for example during the 1990s, most foreign labourers in the country’s clothing and garment factories came from China, since most manufacturing companies here had established networks in China and were in fact Hong Kong owned (Kothari, 2013). About 90% of these mostly women labourers earned their living in clothing and spinning factories. The majority of these workers had 3-year contracts with subsidized or free accommodation and paid $100 on a monthly basis, in addition to food allowance of $40, but a lot of them earned more money by working overtime (Kothari, 2013). The main reason why employers import workers was the labour shortage in Mauritius. Nonetheless, the employers also saw the local labour as not ready to accept to work overtime and the substandard work conditions in the Export Processing Zones. In addition, employers were aggravated and bothered by the local labour’s low productivity and high absenteeism levels. As such, employers have a particular preference for imported labourers since their higher levels of productivity and greater labour flexibility are able to sustain competitiveness on the global marketplace (Kothari, 2013).
How the two pieces cover different and/or similar issues
The two articles cover more or less the same issues. Both articles highlight the issue of employers exploiting and oppressing their workers for instance by underpaying them, forcing them to work overtime, working under poor conditions and disrespecting the rights of workers. In her article, Trading Away Our Rights, Raworth (2004) covers of issue of the exploitation of workers and labourers, particularly women, in developing nations, and at times even in developed nations. She highlights the harsh reality that female workers face which underscores one of the key failures of the present model of globalization. The author points out that as a result of globalization, which has actually drawn millions of women throughout the developing nations into paid employment, women are working for low wages at high speed in poor working conditions. At the moment, clothing stores and supermarkets such as Wal-Mart source their products from factories and farms all over the globe and at the end of their supply chains, most workers – cutting flowers, sewing garments, picking fruits and packing them – are women (Raworth, 2004).
Usually employed on short-term contracts or even without any contract at all, female workers are forced to work for long hours to earn sufficient amount of money just to get by. The majority of women workers do not have maternity leave or sick leave, very few of them have savings for the future, and few are actually enrolled in unemployment or health schemes. Rather than supporting lasting developing Raworth (2004) states that trade brought about by globalization reinforces vulnerability as well as insecurity for millions of female employees. In global supply chains, exploiting the circumstances of people who are vulnerable, be it on purpose or not, is at the core of many employment strategies.
The author states that the effects of such precarious employment go very much beyond the place of work. The majority of women are still expected to care for elderly and sick relatives and raise their children whenever they get employment and start getting paid (Raworth, 2004). These women are burdened two times, and with insufficient support from their employers or government to manage it, the stress could really break up their families, destroy their own health, and undermi...