Week 4: Economics

“Global Commodity Networks and the Leather Footwear Industry”

By Miguel Korzeniewicz

Commodity chains are a limited aspect of global economic interdependence, for it merely emphasizes interconnectedness in the production of goods.  Rather, the idea of Global Commodity Networks (GCM’s) offers a more holistic view of economic occurrences.  In addition to the normal routes of production, cultural aspects account for trade fluctuations and efficiency, while fickle consumer taste act as a gatekeeper for the fleshing and styling of the actual product.  This article performs a case study to validate these effects, using the interconnections between the shoe industries in the United States, Brazil, and Argentina as models.

In this simplified example, the United States serves as the ultimate acceptor, with Brazil and Argentina holding most of production.  Demand for imported footwear in the United States, which is indicated by the “value of footwear imports between 1967 and 1980 increasing tenfold...tripling to 9 billion in 1990 (317)”.  This prompted an increase in shoe production in Brazil, with Argentina as the base, with their high-quality leather goods.  Therefore, in this way, all three countries depend on each other for profit and a good outcome - an agreement that any one country cannot do alone.  Brazil appears to be the one pushed and pulled by both sides - one, by the demander, and two, its supplier of raw goods.  Much of the drama that is within production focuses on relations between Brazil and Argentina, while marketing the product and the product itself involves the US and other, larger ties with the rest of the world.

Globalization has brought its fair share of benefits - and consequences.  In the shoe industry, supply, demand, and the middlemen in between are all intertwined into one large mass, which offers plenty of production and innovation.  Such dependency through not just hard economic ties, but influences that are of cultural and ethnic relevance has noteworthy consequences.  For example, the Germanic background of many shoe manufacturers in Brazil produces “competitive collectivism” among themselves, paving the path to further output to the shoe-hungry United States.  Transnational identities - such as the Brazilians with firm German backgrounds - create a further sense of identity and obligation, influencing production to a large degree.  In this way, economic ties are strengthened by the sense of community that German-Brazilian shoe manufacturers had created for themselves.

Fashions and trends now go through a series of checks and balances before they are mass-marketed to the public’s tastes, which are increasingly more international - another indication of globalization.  Production, therefore, now has an additional step - evaluating the ever-fluctuating preferences of individuals at many corners of the world.  In this case, “intermediaries” go to “global cities” - New York, Paris, Hong Kong etc. to scrutinize the sizzling status of certain style, bringing back their findings for shoe manufacturers.  This observation hold significance, for it indicates homogeny among public tastes throughout the world, and how even preference is now dictated by factors that have been spread, thanks to the information age and ease of travel brought on by globalization.

(The quality and nature of advertisements for shoes are changing with technology. In Norway, there is a new way of looking at shoes in a magazine called “Augmented Reality.”)
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKwLBWCKs94)

“Asians on the Rim: Transnational Capital and Local Community in the Making of Contemporary Asian America”

By: Arif Dirlik

Arif Dirlik discusses the understanding and meaning of an “Asian America”. First, he describes two news reports in AsianWeek published in January of 1996 by Matt Fong, California State Treasurer and Henry Der, from the California Department of Education. Matt Fong argues for a growth in global trade connecting California to the Pacific, while Henry Der argues for a commitment to the communities in California.

Dirlik illustrates the two contrasting ideas as: “looking to the Pacific” (2), connecting roots back to Asia, and “looking to communities rooted in California and their historical legacies” (2), connecting to the history and community of life in the United States.
Similarly, there is the tension between area studies and Asian American studies. Area studies is more of an orientalist study, focusing more abroad and globalizing with the world, whereas Asian American studies focuses on the culture, problems, politics, and community in the U.S.

So is Asian America based on two separate ideals: global or local?
Dirlik explains that it is increasingly diasporic. People move back and forth in multiple locations.

(Henry Der, Photo Credit: AsianWeek 2012)

Legal Servitude and Free Illegality: Migrant “Guest” Workers in Taiwan

Engaging in migrant work is an attractive way to help the economic state of families and associates.  However, there are two sides to this work - one of legal servitude, and another of an ironically undocumented freedom.  As Pei-Chia Lan’s article stresses, abiding by the rules can ironically breed corruption, while illegal work, though not without its own risks, enact freedom and a better chance at economic prosperity.  Labor of this kind can be a misconception - the reality is a dismal enslavement, tied up in metaphorical chains rather than fair, clean work.  This piece examines the consequences of too much labor and not enough demand for such in the relationship between the nation-states Taiwan and the Philippines - and the helplessness experienced by the guest worker, with the result of said worker breaking out by breaking the rules - by running away.

“Guest worker” is a term that is broadly encompassing.  One must place a distinction on the type of labor - blue-collar workers are subject to harsh rules and contracts, while white-collar professionals such as teachers and businesspeople are generally granted an unlimited range of stay, depending on a case-by-case basis (Lan, 258).  This article focuses on the plight of the blue collar domestic worker, mainly referring to women who take care of their employers’ household chores.  Coming from generally disadvantaged economic backgrounds, these foreign laborers hold the indignity of having to pull exorbitant amounts of money out of their own pockets in order to be placed in a job - something that Taiwanese brokerage companies have been in the practice of doing.  This investment of their own capital creates a sense of obligation in the worker, giving them little choice but to endure the abuse from employers.

The host and home countries also work together in order to continue the flow of guest workers The Philippine government, for example, displays the idea of a “nation-hero” - one who is in another country, working hard for their family back at home, while still being fiercely loyal to their country (Lan, 256).  This strategy is enacted in an effort to inspire a sense of national pride from those who had left the Philippines in favor of other parts of the world - thus inspiring transnational ties.  The country who receives these workers then reap in the benefits of a younger, more efficient cheap labor by restricting overseas contracts to one to three years, thus effectively kicking out aging workers (Lan, 256).  Sending countries, in this way, strike a contract with host nation-states to make a profit out of the ebb and flow of human workers - using the concept of labor as a commodity.  In this way, the individual voice can be lost, and corruption can easily pursue.

One of the main reasons for the movement of people to other places is the search for profit.  Better economic opportunity is in the guest worker’s mind - however, blue-collar workers in other countries are treated abysmally, with exploitation occurring even before they begin to work.  The spread of people across the world is not always welcome or a leap to progress, as the case of the guest worker clearly articulates.

In Hong Kong, there is a court ruling allowing application for permanent residency status for foreign workers after 7 years of legally working in the city - however, opposition abounds.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhfQZTfOEQk)

QUESTIONS:

1. In “Global Commodity Networks and the Leather Footwear Industry: Emerging Forms of Economic Organization in a Postmodern World” by Miguel Korzeniewicz, how has fashion shoe trends affected globalization?
2. The US development in the shoe market is outlined from the 1920s, 1946-1960, and mid 1970s. What happened during each year?
3. In “Asians on the Rim: Transnational Capital and Local Community in the Making of Contemporary Asian America”, Arif Dirlik describes two contradicting ideals of Asian Americans: globally and locally. Discuss these ideals. Do you think it’s a contradiction?
4. In “Legal Servitude and Free Illegality: Migrant “Guest” Workers in Taiwan” by Pei-Chia Lan, many people overseas come to the United States to work and send money back home. This movement of bodies can lead to exploitation because they are considered “cheap labor”. What parallels of the past are similar to this?
5. What is the difference between white collar and blue collar jobs?

(BY: SHANTAL MOUA & JING MAI)