Overall we learned that there are two major types of development in the modern world one is development (little d) as the belief that capitalism moves society inevitably. Although, in reality, developing countries are often exploited for their resources and cannot function on the same level at the rest of the global market, James Ferguson calls this the Global Disconnect. It lays the groundwork for Stuart Hall's discourse of the West v. the Rest of two competing worlds, and the connotations that come with each. The West being an image of modernization and sophistication, the Rest as backwards and often in need of help. The other form of development is big D this as the Post WWII belief that Western nations must make a global effort to alleviate third world poverty. This is achieved through assimilating poorer economies into Western pillars of capitalism and free market trade through which “the West” functions, ideally placing “the Rest” on Western living levels.
After being aware of these representations, I wrote this paper on being a consumer in the global market. More particularly in buying clothes. Enjoy and feel free to leave some feedback.
Purchasing Power and Its Repercussions
On the surface a consumer functions purely off materialistic needs and wants; they make decisions which cater to their lifestyle and cultural environment. Beneath the surface these choices have a depth, affecting the global market of big business, which responds directly to patterns in demand. Often Americans, including myself, engage in blind consumption of products and see products as a likeness. Especially in clothing, items are not exactly what they represent; a 2 for $5 deal on t-shirts can be a result of forced practice or child labor that has been hidden by the investors in an effort to utilize the most amount of capital for the least amount of cost. Stores like Target and Wal Mart have attributed their success to being all-purpose bargain stores. In this way the beliefs of American society clash with buying habits that construct the pillars of globalization and exploitation of cheap labor. There have been numerous scandals in which a magnifying glass has revealed major companies’, such as Gap in 2007, actual labor conditions. A temporary out roar usually occurs by the American public, only to be forgotten within weeks. It is often easy to play the ignorant victim as a consumer, and I have done it many times by unconsciously buying cheap clothes and products which seem to have an untraceable production source. I have forgotten the power I hold as a consumer to demand fair trade and better working conditions by reflecting these ideals in my buying habits.
In this way my demand supports development, as a movement of global modernization through capitalism, and Development by injecting my money into intentional global effort to assimilate third world nations into an uneven international economy. By paying workers such low wages, there is no way they can function as consumers in a global market that places them at such a lower living standard to the Rest. Inadvertently I am buying into the discourses which I have learned to recognize in this course, such as the West vs. the Rest. I am condoning dated European imperialism patterns, in which colonialism allowed labor to be a free commodity traded in the international market, only superiority is no longer based on race but on capitalistic success.
Several case studies we have read about in this course pertain to the negative effects of globalization and institutions’ embedded notions of foreign cultures as backward. Development is notes in these situations as a political process which obscures state power. One documentary, T-shirt Travels, addresses the deception of some charities to take in donated clothing that is in turn sold as an export to third-world countries. This unknown profit of second hand clothing has, in the case of Zambia, put clothing factories within the nation out of business. Zambians who have been struck with unemployment have also turned to selling secondhand clothing as a source of income. Shantha Bloemen, the filmmaker, rhetorically questions, “If we continue to bend the economic lives of poorer nations to suit our purposes and only make things worse in the process, whom will be left to make good on the debt?” This is the exact argument that can be applied to blind consumer purchases. Big businesses thrive off of the fact that America loves to save money, without questioning what the collateral is for them to project this deal. It is never the big businesses which lose out on lowering prices, but the exploitative shortcuts they take in the labor and import process. In the case of T-Shirt Travels even charity organizations such as the Salvation Army, turn profit off of citizen’s donations.
The first step in changing the processes of one-way profits in globalization is to recognize the power I have as a consumer. Once I have identified that power I need to be more conscious in my purchasing choices. As a college student on a tight budget, it is hard not to give into products which get me more for my dollar, but I need to do a little research on the companies that receive the majority of my income. Also if I decide to donate anything, I need to make sure that the image provided by the organizations matches their actual policies. Patterns in corporations can only be shifted if the mass decides to make a drastic change, in the end it is the consumer who has the power to support free trade and fair labor conditions by refusing to buy products who cut corners. Like Bloeman pointed out, someone has to suffer the debts, and often the Rest is separated by the interests and selfish purposes of Western civilization.
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