Modernity brought along with it the Fordist mode of production which focused on increasing productivity, especially by improving labour efficiency. This, combined with a global neo-liberal agenda of postmodern capitalism, has evolved into a form of neo-colonialism. In post-Fordist production, the focus is on flexibility of production, and the assembly-line production is shifted to developing countries. Developing states which sought monetary co-operation from developed countries allowed this “flexible accumulation” by transnational corporations within their territory, often with subsidies and without much regulation. (Ong 1991) These states initially hoped an increase in labour opportunities for the increasing group of unemployed men, but capitalist industries preferred Third world female and minority workers instead, simply as a result of a cost-benefit analysis. (Ong 1991) This summary focuses on the role of state and non-governmental organisations in promoting the capitalist objective, and various forms of opposition exhibited by worker women.
Post-developmentalist strategy of developing countries is heavily influenced by IMF’s “disciplinary neo-liberalism”. (Ong 2002) With inherent distrust and increasing nationalist feelings in postcolonial states, governments are forced to justify these globalisation measures. Governments aid in creating specific discourses to differentiate the working population from the middle-class, and to advertise their labour in the global market. Accepting and endorsing the view of transnational companies that women are “docile workers” and unskilled, states proclaim their availability. (Ong 1991) A notable example is the Malaysian government brochure called attention to the “nimble fingers” of its fe...
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...subtle acts that can be mistaken for laziness to obvious acts such as “spirit possession”. They also create new conceptions of self, by differentiating themselves from the middle class. (Hewamanne 2008) While registering difference is a political act in itself, it often goes unnoticed due to the existing discourse created by the public, state, and NGOs that strip these worker women of any Agency. Furthermore, postmodern capitalism depends heavily on consumer culture. These women are encouraged to indulge in it directly and indirectly. We can see that states have encouraged the market agenda by creating and maintaining specific discourses about their labour forces. These discourses protect the interests of these transnational corporations and certain sections of the society, namely the middle-class while they seem to protect the rights of the new female labour force.
Imagine being employee number 101 out of 1001. Now imagine working on an assembly line in a hot room filled with 1000 other women frantically assembling products for first world countries to use for ten seconds before discarding for a newer version. This job pays enough for you to get by but living in a third world country with low pay isn’t easy. What many people don’t understand is that the cost of production in a third world country is more inexpensive than it is in America. Hiring women to work in horrid conditions decreases employee loss because they are not rambunctious like men. “Life on the Global Assembly Line” by Barbara Ehrenreich and Annette Fuentes clearly illustrates the hardships women go through for U.S. corporation production. Corporate powers have resorted to building production plants in third world countries to save money. U.S. corporate powers take advantage of third world
Aulette, Judy and Mills, Trudy. "Something Old, Something New: Auxiliary Work in the 1983-1986 Copper Strike." Feminist Studies 14.2 (1988): 251-268.
Some women come to the US and take any job that is available even if it means doing long hours and not getting paid a lot of money. Corporations travel over to third-world countries and hire women to do small jobs in large factories for little to no pay. They only hire a certain type of woman. In “Introduction: Disposable Women and Other Myths of Global Capitalism” the author touches on the subject of the treatment of the third-world woman and what companies expect from her: “This woman turns into a form of industrial waste, at which point she is discarded and replaced.” (Wright, 6) Once this woman has become old and no longer able to perform the task that she was hired for originally, the company throws her out and simply replaces her with another woman. The third world woman has a sad destiny of coming to the US and dealing with the unfair treatment of companies that do not even appreciate their work.
After all, a late grant has modified that detailing by uncovering a great record of female activism. The assignment is to depict and celebrate as well as to contextualize and along these lines to get it. Also, the structure of the work power and the business, the worldwide strengths that encroached on nearby occasions these particularities of time and place adapted ladies ' decisions and molded their personalities. Similarly, vital was a private world customarily pushed to the edges of work history. Female relationships and genders, between generations and class collisions, held the fuse of new shopper wishes into an element territorial culture stimulated ladies ' support. Ladies thusly were authentic subjects, making the circumstances from which the strik...
In an article entitled “Resisting and reshaping destructive development: social movements and globalizing networks”, P. Routledge describes neoliberal development, “Contemporary economic development is guided by the economic principles of neoliberalism and popularly termed ‘globalization’. The fundamental principal of this doctrine is ‘economic liberty’ for the powerful, that is that an economy must be free from the social and political ‘impediments,’ ‘fetters’, and ‘restrictions’ placed upon it by states trying to regulate in the name of the public interest. These ‘impediments’ - which include national economic regulations, social programs, and class compromises (i.e. national bargaining agreements between employers and trade unions, assuming these are allowed) - are considered barriers to the free flow of trade and capital, and the freedom of transnational corporations to exploit labor and the environment in their best interests. Hence, the doctrine argues that national economies should be deregulated (e.g. through the privatization of state enterprises) in order to promote the allocation of resources by “the market” which, in practice, means by the most powerful.” (Routledge)
Weeks, K. (2011). The Problem with work: Feminism, marxism, antiwork politics and postwork imaginaries. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
The desire of the Founding Fathers to make America a successful republic played a significant part in changing the many roles that women found themselves in after the Revolution. The role of women as wives became more important as republican ideals established an emphasis on marriage. Society saw marriage as a miniature representation of a republic. Therefore, republican ideals like independence and the freedom from arbitrary power allowed women as wives more value and power within their families. The roles of women as mothers also became more important in the republic, as patriarchy loosened and the nation depended on mothers to educate American children in the republican way. And finally, the role of women in politics was theoretically reduced due to the increasing demands of their domestic roles, but they managed to develop methods to convey their opinions. All three of these roles had setbacks for women in the republic, but there were also significant positive effects. Women became more valued in their domestic roles as wives and partners to their husbands, and their roles as mothers and educators of their children. Also, though politics and state affairs were very exclusive to men, women of the republic managed to find ways to have their voices heard.
Nancy Fraser (2013) writes the dilemma in the second wave feminism in the middle of contemporary capitalism. In her book, she mentioned a scenario of second wave feminism in three acts; first, represents the moment when the feminist joined radical movement to transform society through uncovering gender injustice and capitalism 's androcentrism. Second, she outlines with regret, is a change from redistribution to recognition and difference and a shift to political identity that risk to support neoliberalism through effort to build a free market society. Lastly, a recovery of the movement. Fraser contends for a reinvigorated feminism to join other emancipatory forces, so they are ready to address the global monetary crisis and develop democratic control (Fraser, 2013:
With means of production becoming more efficient due to the introduction of modernization and technology, workers jobs begin being replaced by machines. No longer is the laborer’s skill of any value to the capitalist, especially, when the worker can be replaced by a more affordable machine, or when they can be replaced by the exploitation of another countries’ cheaper laborers or resources. With capitalism main objective being profit at whatever means possible; we see that one nation isn’t enough to contain this destructive force, so it stretching across the globe. When the differences of age, sex, race, nationality, gender and any other distinctive social validity, the sobering consequence develops the very demise of the capitalists and creates an untamable globalized chaos caused by the force of productions and the greed of the
Gender and Race are both used by Imperialist empires to justify their actions. Both of them go hand-in- hand in justifying the ability of an imperialist nations to interfere with and take over other cultures. In Kipling’s White Man’s Burden, Forster’s Passage to India, Silko’s Ceremony, Limerick’s Legacy of Conquest, and Kent’s Gender and power in Britain , 1640-1990, Gender is used as a justification to defend a gender in another country, and to “teach” them how to “live”. Additionally, Race is used as justification managing another country; the reason to keep races and minorities separated, and as justification for actions during ethical incidents. Race and Gender are used as justifications for intervention and takeover of other nations by
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Marxism was revived and Marxists were no longer held responsible for the sins of the new Soviet empire, which allowed the focus of debate to shift to analyzing the failures of global capitalism rather than the shortcomings of socialism. Global capitalization had developed a system of production that involved sweatshops, outsourcing of employment and usage of temporary employment. Financial crises at the time had led to countries bailing out and nationalizing backs, which were not free market principles. With wars being fought over oil and resources and severe economic inequalities, Marxism became the “common sense of our epoch” (Halliday, 1994).
In the 1890s, American women emerged as a major force for social reform. Millions joined civic organizations and extended their roles from domestic duties to concerns about their communities and environments. These years, between 1890 and 1920, were a time of many social changes that later became known as the Progressive Era. In this time era, millions of Americans organized associations to come up with solutions to the many problems that society was facing, and many of these problems were staring American women right in the face.
Women in history were subjected to an oppressed role, which men were in control. Many of these women created groups to talk about these problems such as the Seneca Falls. Women fought for equality, but some were happy with the status quo, and some simply became the change.
Weiss, L. (1997),’Globalization and the Myth of the Powerless State’, in New Left Review, September-October, 225 (1), pp. 3-27 [Online].
In his book, Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Fredric Jameson drawing from the work of another Marxist theoretician Ernest Mandel, divides capitalism into three distinct periods post “the ‘original’ industrial revolution of the later 18th century” [emphasis in original](Jameson 35). Closely linked to the improvement in the means of production, i.e. technological development, the three stages of evolution of capitalism according to Jameson and Mandel are: ‘Market or competitive capitalism’ driven by the steam motors introduced in 1848; ‘Monopoly capitalism’ backed by the huge corporations using electric and combustion motors at the turn of 19th century; and the nuclear and electronic-powered machinery of ‘late capitalism’ that comes to fore in the wake of World War II (Jameson 35-36). Adding nuance to this last phase of late capitalism, David Harvey suggests that late capitalism and its guiding economic logic- Fordism culminates post World War II, but is able to push through for another a decade or so till it falls into crisis during the recession of 1973 (Harvey 124). This crisis of Fordism leads to the development of a more robust strain of capitalism, sometimes called postindustrial or post-Fordist. Harvey refers to this new brand of capitalism as ‘flexible accumulation’ which is characterized by a new, more global and m...