Blog # 10 Making Stuff Cheap

My personal assumption of “Made in China” I found it to be. I have to be honest, I usually don’t pay attention to where stuff is made. The only time I would pay attention to that kind of information is when I’m in a class that requires me to know about it. Other than that, I knew that most of the toys when I was little had the “Made in China” text on it.  From an economic point of view, I know that every country has a different economic scale and an individual’s payment is different. However, if they are okay with receiving their amount in their workplace, I don’t see a problem. However, I do find it sad that there are people in countries like China that have to work away from home and live in an environment while working. Especially not knowing when they can go home and see their family. I wouldn’t be able to do that or I would go crazy. In my opinion, it would be different compared to being at college.

Globalization is companies expanding all over the world. According to Goldstein “capitalist globalization was primarily driven by the search for trade and markets” (50). From what I can tell, Globalization is driven by trade and markets because the companies make more money from it. It also impacts the manufacture because by going global, it means that they can make more profit and pay the workers less. This explains how sweatshops could come into play because in the United States workers are paid anyway from $ 5 to $15 dollars an hour. In other countries like China, the workers there only get paid 10 cents an hour, which is less money that is coming out of the companies pocket to make products.

Some major companies are expanding globally because of the resources that are located in different countries. With new technology being developed every day, companies are able to do more things because of it. According to Goldstein “The new technology opened up to the capitalist class the ability to reorganize and relocate production processes around the globe, using both new and old methods”( Goldstein 55). It is because of technology that we are able to move and sell items overseas.

From the readings and the videos we saw in class, the working conditions in foreign factories that produce items for the U.S. do not look good. They aren’t able to live in their homes with their families. From “Made in China” film, we saw that the workers there had to move away from their houses and move in to a house that their workplace provides for them. The employees work for about fourteen hours straight with little breaks. They are not allowed to talk to others while working. Also, they do not get much sleep. Women are not allowed to go hang out in males’ rooms and vice versa. They have to meet in a public place like at the basketball courts outside.

The reason why these workers are able to live under these conditions is because the really need the money to help support their families. There are people who are unable to attend school because they are trying to make money in order to support their families. If money became a huge issue for our families, it is my opinion that we would also work even in poor conditions in order to help support our families.