Robbins Chapter 2 Summary

Although the world climate around exploitation has altered in the last few years, mostly moving away from the exploited industrial countries such as China, it is still important to look at what was happening in China so that it can be understood in connection with today. The documentary by Robert Redmon, Mardi Gras: Made in China focuses on the exploited Chinese factory workers crafting various beads for the Americans to throw at each other for sexual gratification. The documentary does a good job jumping back and forth between the factory workers and the celebrators of Mardis Gras, creating an interesting parallel, implicating the absolute uselessness in the beads for such a large cost. Marx's theories of exploitation through Capitalism can be tied too well to the Chinese-Mardi Gras beads exploitation, as the Chinese workers were put through an extreme form of Capitalist exploitation that even Marx may never have expected.

The main theme of Chapter 16 is Culture and Society (CUL) and Work, Exchange, and Technology (WXT) because of slavery’s absolute takeover of the United States, and the social, Political and economic consequences that come from it. In the south, the issue of slavery is very prevalent because it has taken over all aspects of peoples’ lives, and created am aristocratic social structure that’s dominated by the rich plantation owners. In the South, the rich had all the power, and the

In the book “Standing solider, kneeling slaves” by Kirk Savage, Savage goes on to discussing periods before the civil war and after civil. He discusses the issue of inequality, race, and class through the use of the monument and sculptures that were being built during this time. On the other hand Bellamy’s book “Looking Backwards” proposes the idea of a Utopian society where everyone is equal and works for one sole employer; the nation. I will be discussing how Bellamy’s principles on labor would help solve the problems Savage proposes of slavery, racism, and gender inequality.

In Jan Wong’s entrancing expose Red China Blues, she details her plight to take part in a system of “harmony and perfection” (12) that was Maoist China. Wong discloses her trials and tribulations over a course of three decades that sees her searching for her roots and her transformation of ideologies that span over two distinctive forms of Communist governments. This tale is so enticing in due part to the events the author encountered that radically changed her very existence and more importantly, her personal quest for self-discovery.

This memoir of Ma Bo’s sent shock waves throughout China when it was published and was even first banned by the Communist Government. This passionate story paints a clear picture for what the Great Chinese Cultural Revolution was really like. Many Chinese living today can attest to similar if not identical ordeals as expressed in Ma Bo’s story. The toils of being a young Red Guard in inner China were experienced by many if not millions. The horrors and atrocities were wide spread throughout the country, not just in Inner Mongolia. The experiences illustrated in Blood Red Sunset uniquely belong to Ma Bo’s entire generation of mislead Chinese. As expressed in the books dedication the Cultural Revolution

Book Review: 2 Nobodies Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy By John Bowe. In Reading the book” Nobodies,” the author is giving us an inside look at Modern Day of Slave Labor that still is existence today and how it has become issues in the modern day and Age. “Bowe” main agreement in the book is real life stories of current modern day slave labor and the symbolism of how is still is a real life global issue today. “Bowe” shows us Modern Day Slave Labor is still in full swing in American. The first section of the book we hear of the story of Mexican trafficking victims in Florida and how it use for field labor. The next subsection Bowe, shares with readers, is the story of “Tom”. The second part of the book that share with modern day slavery is “Tulsa” and share with us of “Arts” are the only one of species that still has slavery. The third section Bowe shares with is readers is the “Saipan”.

I chose to do my critical review based on the movies The Coca-Cola Case and Mardi Gras: Made in China. The Coca-Cola Case is a documentary film about Coke and labor rights in the bottling plants. Similarly, Mardi Gras: Made in China is a documentary about the process on how bead necklaces worn during celebrations like Mardi Gras, arrive to us. In both of these films we view some of the most brutal working conditions a human can possibly endure. This paper will review Carmen Garcia’s film (The Coca-Cola Case) and David Redmon’s film (Mardi Gras: Made in China) as well as the main arguments in both movies.

In “A Sweatshop Romance” by Cahan, certain situations relate to the middle class in the 20th century. The employees of the “Sweatshop” were not paid based on how many hours they worked but instead by the amount of coats they were able to manufacture. Mrs Lipman, a woman from a poor town in Western Russia tried to use her coat-making business to bring herself to an “equal social position” to that of her visitors’. Many of her employees felt insulted by her actions and refused to allow themselves to be treated as servants in front of

In society, many make a living by working for others to get the necessities they need. Workers face many struggles such as wage cuts, horrendous work conditions, an increase in hours, due to these conditions they are labeled ‘wage slaves.’ These individuals have no choice but to work in these conditions. The growth of industry in the United States made corruption easier and made employers richer while the poor stayed poor. The employers justify their actions by arguing that the employees have a choice to go and work for someone else. However, workers do not have the choice to work for others since most employers were using the same method to make a profit. Workers are treated unfairly, but they use many effective techniques such as strikes

In the film “China Blue”, a seventeen year old girl, Jasmine Li, works in a Chinese jeans factory. From this documentary we learn about the pay Jasmine was receiving for her hard work, half a Yuan an hour which is equal to about six US cents. We also learn about the condition of the factory and dorms, the rules that the workers have to abide to, and how important these factories are. From just these sweat shops we learn about the economic, social, and political problems that has arisen in China. It also shows us inequality and inequity of the society in China.

The book "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a story of life in an Alabama town in the 30's. The narrator, Jean Louise Finch, or Scout, is writing of a time when she was young, and the book is in part the record of a childhood, believed to be Harper Lee’s, the author of the book..

Throughout the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, there were several instances were white American manhood was threatened. In “Meat vs. Rice,” Rosanne Currarino argues how in the late nineteenth century American workers expressed anti-Chinese views because of anxieties related to the decline of property ownership and increase in manufacturing wage work. These views reflected the changing views of work and manhood, as the “heroic artisan” disappeared and wage work became the norm for most working men. Despite these new challenges, white wage workers reasserted their status by using racialized and gendered language of the anti-Chinese movement to create new understandings of producerism. In the end, male workers wanted to maintain their roles as breadwinners, and consumers. [30] There were also other cases where changes in work threatened the male breadwinner and his manhood. Paul Michael Taillon in “Casey Jones Better Watch Your Speed,” argues that nineteenth-century railroad workers embraced their

“Dagong” means “working for the boss” or “selling labor,” and illustrates the commodification of labor and the subordinate status of the worker, in contrast to socialist imaginations of work as liberating. “Mei” means little sister, often associated with young, unmarried women in contrast to “jie”, the older, mature sister . Thus, the term dagongmei symbolizes the subordination of female migrants, both as migrant workers under urban factory owners, and as women expected to work long hours, some sacrificing their education, in order to support their families. Pun articulates the very real struggles many dagongmei face, from the 1993 Shenzhen factory fire that killed over 80 migrant workers, all but two female, only then alerting China and the rest of the world of the human costs of China’s rapid development to one woman, Yan, who screams in her sleep after years of work despite being in deep physical and emotional pain. Such pain is unbearable, and to scream out is the only way to survive. Yet as Pun argues, their very survival is of itself a form of resistance. These migrant workers may not be organizing, staging mass strikes or protests against the state or factory owners, but they are resisting. By screaming out, Yan is forcing the world to hear her pain. By telling

As many other countries around the world China has its long history of a struggle for equality and prosperity against tyrants and dictatorships. The establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949 seemed to have put an end to that struggle for a better life. “The Chinese people have stood up!” declared Mao Tse-tung, the chairman of China’s Communist Party (CPP) – a leading political force in the country for the time. The people were defined as a coalition of four social classes: the workers, the peasants, the petite bourgeoisie and the national-capitalists. The four classes were to be led buy the CPP, as the leader of the working class.

According to Toys of Mystery, a report on the toy industry in China, the toy factory workers have never heard of or seen Mc-Donald¡¯s, Disney, Wal-Mart, etc. these famous company. It¡¯s important because this fact shows that workers knew nothing or little about the world but only working. They maybe never go shopping and leave factory. Normal people should know those big companies, but neither the toy factory workers. They are like birds in the cage. For workers, that¡¯s so miserable. They are human beings but having no rights to enjoy their life. According to David Bacon, the story of a maquiladora worker, the maquiladora worker neither have time to rest or have personal life. It¡¯s important because they will get extraordinary tired and lose the chance to socialize with friends and upgrade themselves, to have entertainment, If workers just keep on working all the time, their passion for the future, even their life will fade away. No personal life, workers are exactly like working machines.