Everyday Sociology Talk: Global Inequality and Stuff

Karen Sternheimer and Sally Raskoff discuss where our everyday stuff comes from and what it teaches us about globalization and inequality.

Comments

[Micah]

I know this isn't exactly the point but in China many people who directly riot against the government obviously get captured. Sometimes if they aren't killed they are forced to make products for the Chinese government. So obviously it isn't just that they aren't paid as much it also means that it could be that they aren't paid period.

[Nicholas]

To add to the level of complexity, it is not only a matter of where our consumer goods are made but also a matter of who controls their production. Many of the factories opened in China are owned or owned by proxy by the same capitalists who used to own a similar operation in the United States. Then, domestic capitalists use the threat of "foreign outsourcing" which stirs up economic fear, and xenophobic nationalism, to drive down the cost of production (wages, working conditions) in this country.