Global Society Exam 1 Study Guide
Measures of development:
Based on Gross National Product(GNP)/Gross Domestic Product (GDP)/Gross National Income - economic measures of development GNI GDP + net income earned overseas, minus income of foreign workers
Globalization Robertson's
The compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole . . . . concrete global interdependence and consciousness of the global whole in the twentieth century
According to the film Affluenza which group makes up the fastest growing segment of the consumer market?
Children
Who are the sandpainters of capitalism?
Contemporary sandpainters include marketing specialists, advertisers, government agents, corporate public relations specialists, entertainers, and journalists, who create a vision of the world designed to maximize production and consumption of goods.
Which country was the leading economic power then?
The financial inventions of the Dutch Republic ushered in a new kind of economy--one in which making money with money became a significant feature of economic life, and in which economic growth became a necessity The Dutch were responsible for the first financial bubble and collapse
Globalization Friedman's
The inexorable integration of markets, nation-states, and technologies to a degree never witnessed before--in a way that is enabling individuals, corporations, and nation-states to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before . . . . the spread of free-market capitalism to virtually every country in the world
Development
Economic growth in a nation-state/country
How have employers kept labor costs low?
Getting workers to produce more in the same period of time -Recruitment of immigrants from developing/periphery countries. 2016: 27 million (16.9%) of labor force were foreign born -Prison labor -Slave (bonded) labor -Relocation of jobs overseas (outsourcing/assembly plants)
Which country was the leading economic power by 1800?
Great Britain - leading industrialist
Distory
Highly idealized history of capitalism without negative aspects
Finance
The movement of money from point 'A' where it is, to point 'B' where it is needed. Making money with money. Slide 11
Kinderculture
The promotion of an ethos of pleasure...enticing adults as well as children to consume. -Wizard of Oz, Disney
Culture
The repertoire of learned ideas, values, knowledge, aesthetic preferences, rules and customs shared by a particular collectivity of social actors
Sociology
The scientific study of human social life, groups, and societies with emphasis on modern, industrialized systems.
Gross National Product
The total value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a particular year, plus income earned by its citizens (including income of those located abroad), minus income of non-residents located in that country. -Basically, GNP measures the value of goods and services that the country's citizens produced regardless of their location. -GNP is one measure of the economic condition of a country, under the assumption that a higher GNP leads to a higher quality of living, all other things being equal.
a. Increasing interactions and flows (what has been their impact?)
Transformed our experience of cultural meanings and contact.
Secondary Industries
Uncertain/changing demand, intense competition, lower profit margin, more dependence on unskilled labor. -Least desirable work because they pay the lowest wages (fast-food industry; agriculture; electronics, clothing/garment/textile industries. More likely to expand to poorer countries and employ the most vulnerable members of the population (women, children, people of subjugated groups.)
What is a corporate charter? What does it do?
United/Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) First multinational corporation and first to sell stock 1609 - Amsterdam Exchange Bank; linked stock market and supply of credit Factories in VOC-controlled areas - growth in the economy I think it's this?
Transformation of Institutions (Universities/Government)
Universities: -Pratt Institute/NY School for Fine Arts - preparation for sales, design industries, large department stores -Accounting, marketing, sales programs Government: -did more to create the consumer than any other institution. -Hoover's Commerce Department in 1921 -Consumption census -Encouraged home ownership
Sandpainting
-(Navajo) Used it for healing. Tells history of culture. Serves as the therapeutic activity.
What do sandpainters do?
-(Navajo) individuals who are given the responsibility for representing the universe to others and who have the power to define elements that are essential for others in locating and defining their identities. -Remind people about their culture and meaning of life
Neo-liberal economic principles
-...privatization of public functions and the "freeing" of markets for labor, money, goods, and services. -Cutting of government intervention in the economy Free flow of goods across borders Privatize industry -Revives beliefs that "free trade" and laissez-faire capitalism will solve economic and social problems
Advertising and Marketing
-1890s - Changed meaning and presentation of goods, beginning with emergence of the department store -Advertising - goal: aggressively shape consumer desires/"give" commodities the power to transform the consumer into a more desirable person. -1880, $30 million invested in advertising -2016, almost $500 million in global advertising expenditures
What are the characteristics of today's working force? Lec. 3 Slide 11
-20th/21st centuries - new working class experiences "freedoms" not experienced in old rural communities. shopping, dating, other stuff on lec 3 slide 18 -Factory discipline: Like the 19th century factories that were modeled like prisons or workhouses, modern assembly plants are tightly controlled. In Malaysian assembly plants, e.g. workers are sometimes watched through glass partitions
How did Disney World help transform the child into consumer?
-A "home of childhood" has been created that promotes innocence and trust and that allows people to leave the "real world" behind. -Stephen Fjellman (Vinyl Leaves) warns that behind the pleasantries (happy people, clean streets, perfect communities) lies an environment that is tightly controlled. Disney World has its own government, it sets rules, and it controls the message.
Free trade zones
-Areas in which large corporations are permitted to deliver goods for assembly, without paying tariffs. -Governments do not charge corporations tariffs -Corporations, in turn, hire local labor -Home countries allow corporations to transfer assembled goods back to the US, paying only a tariff on the labor cost of each product -Everyone (manufacturers, workers in developing countries, consumers who pay less, investors) seems to benefit. -THE AMERICAN WORKERS DO NOT BENEFIT
How are free trade zones organized (i.e. arrangement among core countries, corporations, periphery countries]? Describe workers' conditions/experiences.
-Areas in which large corporations are permitted to deliver goods for assembly, without paying tariffs. -Governments do not charge corporations tariffs -Corporations, in turn, hire local labor Home countries allow corporations to transfer assembled goods back to the US, paying only a tariff on the labor cost of each product -Everyone (manufacturers, workers in developing countries, consumers who pay less, investors) seems to benefit. -Poor working conditions -Low pay -Inability to organize in unions -Loose environmental regulations that resulting in environmental degradation around free trade zones.
What is the black box as applied to capitalism? What happens in the black box? Lec 3 Slide 6
-Capitalism - a money-making game: i.e. investors and manufacturers put money in at one end of the process and get more money out of the other end. -Capitalist production is like the engineer's hypothetical 'black box' which produces something. Engineers do not concern themselves with the internal working of the black box. They just assume that if something is put into it, they will get something out of it. -For capitalist producers and investors, capitalist enterprises (corporations, banks, bonds, stocks) are like black boxes: You put money in one end and get more money out of the other. They concern themselves, however, not with the way the money is generated but with the amount of the return. -Still, it is in the black box that commodities are produced and consumed. It is also there that we find patterns of social, political, economic, ecological and ideological life that either promote or inhibit the conversion of money into more money. -Capitalist enterprises (corporations, banks, bonds, stocks) are like black boxes: money is put in at one end and more money comes out of the other. -No concern about how the money is generated -Contains social, political, economic, ideological patterns that promote/inhibit the conversion of money into more money.
Which country was the leading economic power in 1400 and in what types of economic activities was it engaged? Slide 9
-China and India - richest countries. -China -most developed: vibrant economy; stable political system -Silk--most desired Chinese commodity -Barriers to trade: -No commitment from political rulers -Merchants denigrated -Geography (long trade routes; few roads; small ships; theft/loss of goods)
Wallerstein's divisions of the world into unequal economic zones (Core/Semi-periphery/Periphery)
-Core: Developed countries, with strongest states, markets and capitalist firms. -Periphery: Less developed countries; with weak state institutions; dependent upon and/or exploited by core countries -Semi-periphery: Industrializing countries, positioned between core and periphery countries; bear features of both core and periphery -Global North - region of 'advanced/developed countries -Global South - region of 'less-developed' countries Slide 7
Why do workers take these kinds of jobs?
-Dislocation of people from land by foreign importation of cheap products that put local farmers and artisans out of business -E.G. Malaysia-- land taken over by the British, and converted for the production of cash crops -Landless sought labor on large plantations/migrated to cities in search of jobs. -Land dispossession continues today, leaving the landless with nothing but their labor to sell.
How was the child transformed from laborer to consumer in the 20th century?
-Every attention shown the child binds the mother to the store. -Children need toys for exercise, and their own playrooms. -Hoover's White House Conference on Child Health and Protections (1929) Report -Children needed space, furniture, eating equipment their size. Also playrooms, outdoor toys, separate rooms -Christmas
Skeptics 2
-Globalization is NOT an inexorable, irreversible process. It's future depends on: -Rivalry among the great powers -Satisfaction of major countries with the status-quo -People's satisfaction with the rewards of capitalism -Global economic crises/trauma of major war -Globalization IS reversible -Sovereign states remain dominant
Hyperglobalization
-Globalization is essentially economic. -BUT contemporary economic links are unprecedented -States no longer control their economic fates. -Today trade is among and within transnational corporations and their subsidiaries -A single integrated global market -Advocates (economic liberals): free market, deregulation and private enterprise are virtues. Market dominance of states lead to global prosperity -Dissenters: globalization viewed as an imperial project supported by Western capitalists. View economic globalization as promoting greater inequality.
Transformationalists
-Globalization is unprecedented and multidimensional -Has economic, political, technological, cultural, security, migration, human rights, and environmental dimensions. -State boundaries are porous, no longer impeding movement of persons, things, ideas. -Deterritorialization -New communication/information technologies make national borders irrelevant. -Multiple identities are more significant 1-Transformationalists are in favor of "global governance" through: a-International governmental organizations b-Non-governmental organizations -Global interconnectedness is among people not states
How did traditional sociology view/study societies?
-Included study of "other" [foreign] societies BUT viewed societies as separate entities -Focus -a society's: -Internal structures -Distinctive historical and cultural traditions
Human Development Index
-Mixed -Life expectancy, Education ( combined primary, secondary, tertiary education), per capita GNI - standard of living -Combines well-being with economic measure of GNI
Physical Quality of Life Index
-Non-Economic -Infant mortality, Adult literacy rate, Life expectancy at birth -Measures "quality of life" or well-being of a country
Was trade important to the world economy in 1400?
-Overall: 1400 - world is hardly affected by trade -Wealth controlled by royal rulers but redistributed (gifts, feasts, charity) -Ready access to food
What explains the rise in assembly plants? Lec 3 slide 11
-Paying workers as little as possible -Relocation of jobs overseas (outsourcing/assembly plants)
Soft power
-Phenomenon by which people around the world want to emulate consumer capitalism -E.G. Influence of Hollywood, AP, Reuters, NBC, American athletes - Michael Jordan
Reconfiguration of Time and Space (Special days/Homeownership
-Special days/celebrations transformed into reasons for increased consumption -St. Valentine from martyr, to patron saint of lovers, to commodity -Homeownership: from city centers to sprawling suburbs -Need for more roads, cars, accessible malls -Redefined categories of people -Lifestyle branding' - "blue blood estates," "shoguns and pickups," "Hispanic mix residents."
How did children's literature help transform the child into a consumer?
-The redefining of childhood also occurred through Baum's Emerald City - particularly the publication of The Wizard of Oz, which signaled a shift in the tone and nature of children' stories from the grim, gruesome plots written by the Grimm brothers, e.g., to the modernized "fairy tale" which emphasized wonderment, joy, and confidence. -The Wizard of Oz represented a new spiritual-ethical climate that modeled itself on a version of the child's world in which dreams of self-fulfillment through consumption were legitimized and any negative consequences of consumption were banished. In other words, it represented the sandpaintings of capitalism.
Means by which discipline is ensured. Lec 3 Slide 18
-Traditional institutions (religion, family) E.g. Islamic family obligations -Relationships with communities -Donations to community organizations -Take commuter workers home by bus -Factory discipline Monitors Clothing
Transformation of Spiritual and Intellectual Values
-Values: from thrift, moderation to spending, ostentatious display: 1880 - 1930 -Focus on physical and psychological health -Advertised the alleged effects of the product and its promise of a richer, fuller life -Mind-cure religions - New Thought, Unity, Christian Science (19th century) -Paradise free from pain and suffering located in goods -Pop culture - Billikens doll - the god of things as they ought to be
Describe segmentation in today's workforce.
-Young women (16-24) in the labor market -Viewed as reliable, focused, skilled, fast workers -Women are also viewed as less likely to unionize. -"Females are better able to concentrate on routine work."
Futures contracts
-agreements that a commodity could be bought at a specific price at some time in the future -grew throughout the 17th century and were being written on a variety of trade items (e.g. peppers, coffee, cacao, whale bone). However, many of the contracts of the 17th century represented speculation on prices; that is, purchasers had no intention of taking possession of goods, and sellers did not actually possess the goods. People essentially were betting that the prices of the goods would either rise or fall; if they won their bet, they profited. If not, they lost. -Dutch tulip mania 1636/1637
Skeptics - e.g. globalization is essentially about economic interdependence; globalization is not new; globalization is reversible; the nation-state remains dominant
-is neither unprecedented nor revolutionary. It is not new. -is limited to economic interdependence -Economic destinies of key actors (countries, corporations, financial institutions etc.) are linked. -The prosperity of every society depends on what other societies do. -would not survive if today's major powers became disillusioned with its consequences
Robbins' primer on capitalism (diagram and explanation) Lec 3 Slide 4 & 5
1-Commodities (C). Two types: i) capital goods (land, raw material, tools, factories) and ii) [C'] consumer goods (tvs, DVDs, houses, automobiles) that will be sold to others. 2-Money. (M) A standardized means of exchange. Serves to reduce all goods and commodities to a standard value. Facilitates the exchange of commodities. 3-Labor power (lp) Labor power is the work that is needed to transform one type of commodity into another (e.g. steel into automobiles) 4-Means of production (mp) Machines, land, tools with which other commodities are produced. 5-Production (P) Combination of lp and mp to produce commodities Nike invests money (M) to buy commodities ( C) e.g. leather, rubber, machines to make textiles, and factories (mp) which combine with labor (lp) and the people who design, produce and assemble the commodity -sneakers— [C'] that they sell for money [M'] M➡️C➡️P➡️C' ➡️M
New nomenclature after fall of communism for division of the world
1-Developed countries (more or less former First World) 2-Developing countries (mainly former colonies, some industrializing) 3-Least developed countries (poorest)
Three geo-political regions into which the world was divided after WWII
1-First World: Capitalist Western (West plus Japan) 2-Second World: Soviet bloc - alternative to First World Capitalism 3-Third World: primarily former European colonies 4-Fourth World (1980): marginalized nations
Six components of the globalization
1-Increasing volume of cultural interactions 2-Changing concepts of space and time 3-Commonality of problems facing the all the world's inhabitants 4-Growing interconnections and interdependencies 5-Network of increasingly powerful transnational actors and organizations 6-The synchronization of all the dimensions involved in globalization
Four ways that the luxuries were transformed into necessities
1-Marketing and advertising 2-Transformation of functions of institutions 3-Transformation of intellectual and spiritual values. 4-Reconfiguration of space and time.
Short version of 19 working class
1-Mobility (geographically) -Temporary or permanent migration for employment -Displaced by large landholders, blight, imported goods -Italians, Chinese, Germans, English, Russian Jews, Poles etc. 2-Segmentation -By race, ethnicity, gender, religion -Unionized labor aristocracy vs. low wage insecure workers 3-Discipline -Factory set-up which resembled prisons -New conceptions of time. "Time is money." -Supervision, bells, fines, preaching, etc. 4-Resistance -Workers were militant; 1848 revolutions across Europe against serfdom, poverty -Reflected patterns of conflict between the rich and the poor
Four characteristics of the 19th century working class
1-Mobility- Laborers were geographically mobile, moving temporarily or permanently to sources of employment. E.G. Italian farm workers, displaced in the late 19th century by large landholders, blight destroying vineyards, importation of imported goods. Hence mass migration of Italians to Australia, Canada, the U.S. to work for low wages in factories, railroads, mines, stockyards, oil fields, etc. Another example, Chinese indentured laborers sent to Peru 1849-1874 and the U.S. 1852 to 1875 to work on fruit farms, railroad construction, and to pan for gold. Other migrant laborers who traveled to the U.S. in the early or late 19th century: Germans, English, Russian Jews, Poles, Hungarians etc. 2-Segmentation- The working class was divided by race, religion, age, and gender. -Two broad classes of laborers: (a) labor aristocracy - better able to defend its needs/desires through union organization and political influence (b) workers who had to accept lower wages and less secure jobs. -Class divisions were reinforced by ethnic and racial distinctions that relegated certain groups (e.g. blacks, Irish) to certain jobs. -Ethnic/racial distinctions often led to hostility between groups. E.G. English working class vs. Irish working class in England; Irish vs. blacks in the U.S. (ironically, as the Irish had been strong supporters of abolition while in Britain, had also experienced discrimination at the hands of the English, but became pro-slavery and anti black after migration to the U.S. for work.) -Why? i) competition for resources/jobs ii. slavery and low status increasingly linked with blacks; freedom and higher status with whites. If Irish were to side with blacks they risked being linked with this low status group. Thus, they avoided association with blacks mainly by ensuring that they were blocked from access to the same jobs 3-Discipline- The new working class had to be disciplined. Discipline was ensured partly through the set up of the factory which resembled prisons: brick buildings four or five storeys high, and employed several hundred workers. The factory setting required workers to accept a new conception of time. Time, Robbins and Dowty point out, is mediated/determined by how we measure it. So e.g. in some cultures time is task-oriented (e.g. in Chile, the time needed to cook an egg was the time it took to say an Ave Maria aloud). Before modern notions of time emerged, work patterns were characterized by alternating periods of intense labor and idleness (today - still the case among some self-employed professionals like artists, writers, and college students.) By the 1800s, time came to be seen as an entity that should not be wasted as reflected in Benjamin Franklin's statement "Time is money." In the factory, discipline was ensured through the regulation of workers' time using supervision, fines, bells and clocks, money incentives, preaching and schooling. 4-Resistance- The new laborer was militant. Several revolutions erupted across Europe in 1848 incited, in part, by Marx and Engels' Manifesto of the Communist Party. Rebels were revolting against serfdom, poverty - reflecting emerging patterns of conflict between the rich and the poor
Perspectives on globalization (main ideas)
1-Skeptics 2-Hyperglobalizers 3-Transformationalists
Four elements of the culture of capitalism. What ties them together?
1-The consumer 2-The laborer 3-The capitalist 4-The nation-state -Most people have--at one time or another--been one of the above -Money ties these roles together
b. Consequences (next slide)
1-Transportation of cultural expressions and meanings to other contexts (e.g. Dancehall Reggae/dancehall in Japan) 2-Access to greater quantities of external cultural meanings. 3-Knowledge of other cultures necessary to avoid exclusion from potential benefits. 4-All linked in a 'global village' by virtue of electronic mass media and transport. (e.g. Mega-events such as Olympics) 5-Conscious of/invited to partake in a pluralist, multicultural world (via cuisine, music, marriage customs, etc.)
Three means by which the full potential of finance was realized.
Investment -Capital-intensive technologies, canals, draining peat bogs -Financing public debt -Citizens bought state bonds -United/Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) -First multinational corporation and first to sell stock -1609 - Amsterdam Exchange Bank; linked stock market and supply of credit -Factories in VOC-controlled areas - growth in the economy
Gross Domestic Product
Measures output generated through production by labor and property which is physically located within the confines of a country. -It excludes such factors as income earned by U.S. citizens working overseas, but does include factors such as the rental value of owner-occupied housing.
What two factors help explain the emergence of a new form of capital formation during the Industrial Revolution?
Meeting increasing need for greater quantities Competition from Indian calico
Baptism of money and what it's used to illustrate (Personification of money)
Money can be used to make more money. -BUT, money is talked about as if it had a life of its own -"sagging dollar," "cash flows" -Masks the manner in which money begets more money: exploitation of labor, land, and people. Robbins and Dowty describe the practice of Colombian peasants of illicitly baptizing money (rather than babies) in the Catholic Church, believing that "blessed" pesos, would be magically transformed, given the name of the child that was to be baptized, and continually return and enrich its owner. The practice is described to illustrate our habit of thinking of money as both animate and having the power to bring more money back.
Laborer
Person who survives by selling his/her labor
Surplus value of labor
Profit kept after paying a worker to make a product. Maximized by: -Paying workers as little as possible -Getting workers to produce more in the same period of time
Corporate libertarianism
Rights and freedoms of corporations > the rights and freedoms of individuals 1-Sustained economic growth - measured by gross national product (GNP), is the path to human progress 2-Free markets, unrestrained by government, generally result in the most efficient and socially optimal allocation of resources 3-Economic globalization, achieved by removing barriers to the free flow of goods and money anywhere in the world, spurs competition, increases economic efficiency, creates jobs, lowers consumer prices, increases consumer choice, increases economic growth, and is generally beneficial to almost everyone. 4-Privatization, which moves functions and assets from governments to the private sector, improves efficiency. 5-The primary responsibility of government is to provide the infrastructure necessary to advance commerce and enforce the rule of law with respect to property rights and contracts.
Capitalism Robbins'
An economic and social regime in which capital, the source of income, does not generally belong to those who make it work through their labor
What caused the first financial collapse? Slide 13
The Dutch were also responsible for the first financial bubble and collapse - through futures contracts (agreements that a commodity could be bought at a specific price at some time in the future). A futures contract was a way to reduce financial risk; the buyer would be guaranteed the right to buy a commodity at a price they could predict, and the seller was guaranteed a price for his or her product that they estimated would be profitable, regardless of whether the market prices of these commodities rose or fell.
According to Robbins, what is the most significant factor in the evolution of the capitalist in the 1600s?
We arrive now at the 17th century and the birth of finance which was the next stage in the evolution of the capitalist. Robbins: it was also perhaps the most important stage.
Primary Industries
Well-defined markets, profits relatively certain, high capital investments, can pay good wages (automobile manufacturing, energy industries)
e.g. labor mobility (why and in what ways was the working-class mobile?)
idk, probably about rebellion, or maybe outsourcing, or maybe new freedoms, or maybe losing land? In lecture 3
