The leading industries of the world have been dominated by one major factor in past and present: exploitation. In America, the enslavement of people of color and immigrants as trade expanded has taken many forms, from the blatant to the obscure. In relation to world trade, the core countries have often taken advantage of the natural resources and labor forces of the periphery. China, along with many other areas of the world run by industrialization have been affected by the world’s never ending rise of supply and demand.
With one of the largest populations in the world, China has become one of the main exporters of objects from household items to high technology appliances. As explained in the Globalization Reader by James Fallows in the chapter “China Makes, the World Takes”, the size of Shenzhen ( a major center for production) has been described to be as large as New York and is no doubt as full of factories and a labor force that is predominantly made of young women from rural areas. As explained by James Fallows, the people who work endlessly in horrendously unacceptable conditions are also the people seeking refuge from the poverty that being a rural farmer creates. However, this often does not happen because if the workers were able to become rich from their work, eventually the number of workers would wane until without the need for such, entire industries and corporations would crumble. This can be summed up by the horrifying phrase spoken by an industrial designer from America, “ people are the most adaptable machines”. Factory workers in China and other similar areas are stripped of their rights by outside forces in order to make a living. This has created a cycle of oppression in the name of capitalism.
The following chapter in the Globalization Reader entitled “Commodity Chains and Marketing Strategies: Nike and the Global Athletic Footwear Industry” written by Miguel Korzeniewicz is just as horrifying. In this chapter, not only is exploitation through industry explored but the explicit power that the media holds over consumers is shown simply through the history of the importance of athletic shoes. The Nike corporation initially began its production in Japan but continued to travel through other smaller countries in an attempt to find the cheapest labor for profit. According to Marx, this is the main goal of capitalists and has been the model since oppression began to create industry. Not only was the outside world affected by the production of Nikes, consumers in America were also manipulated in several ways.
The first and easiest form of manipulation was through popular media. In addition to stressing the need to have a healthier lifestyle in the 1980s leading to a fitness boom, advertisements also featured prominent athletes and other popular public figures. By using people such as Michael Jordan, Nike and other rising shoe companies began to draw a link between what people wore and the level of success they could attain. This can be seen as a harmful effect for one population in particular in which the shoe makes the man/woman.
The second and more obscure form of manipulation occurrs through the psyche. By stressing the importance of owning the latest brand of shoe and also using such an iconic black figure as Michael Jordan, companies were targeting people (mainly men) of color and also low socio-economic status. Sports were and are viewed as a way to elevate and erase generations of poverty. The all-American dream for many inner city adolescents is to obtain a scholarship to play a sport in college and then go on to play in a professional league. The fact that Nike has profited from sales “directly related to drug and gang money” shows that they will continue to equate self-worth and the appearance of a high socioeconomic status to whoever invests in the latest model of a shoe.
Fallows, James. “China Makes, The World Takes”. Globalization Reader. John Wiley and Sons. 2015. Pages 169–174.
Korzeniewicz, Miguel. “ Commodity Chains and Marketing Strategies: Nike and the Global Athletic Footwear Industry. Globalization Reader. John Wiley and Sons. 2015. Pages 175–189.
