Where Am I Wearing Sparknotes

As for the reading “Where Am I Wearing?” that is by Kelsey Timmerman, the key messages of the author are clothes, culture, people, shopping, conscience and poverty. Timmerman wants us to feel people and their difficult lives that are in sweatshops, as well as child labor in apparel production. A common thread of each of these workers is family. A lot of people of them leave their hometown, where are usually small villages to look for jobs in the metropolis. After getting the salary, they would send money home to support their parents, siblings, and often their own children. The opportunity of going back home is really little; the salary of working, the working is always related to manufacturing jobs. These small wages bring them with some stability and hope for survival.

When I first heard the title Where am I Wearing, I wasn’t too excited about reading it. I thought it would be another boring school book that I was required to study. However, after reading a few chapters, I became intrigued and started to enjoy reading it. Kelsey Timmerman isn’t just another activist who is trying to convince you to stop buying clothes from big companies who use sweat shops and chid laborers. He is giving you a perspective into the lives of those who work in these factories and how they function in their everyday lives. It was interesting to hear the different encounters that he had with these people. Timmerman presents us with the ongoing concern of are sweatshops and globalization good for the people who live in these countries or do they do more harm then good?

Where am I Wearing: A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People that Make Our Clothes- Revised and Updated, written by Kelsey Timmerman, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in Hoboken, New Jersey during the year 2012, and consisting of 283 pages, addresses the issue of globalization. Globalization, or previously domestically made products now being produced in factories in foreign countries, is a rising issue in the modern age; many people believe that it leads to American unemployment, shoddy products, and the inhumane treatment of workers, while others argue that globalization boosts the economies of poverty-stricken countries and the production of technologically advanced goods.

In Kelsey Timmerman’s, Where am I Wearing? and the movie True Cost globalization and family sacrifices were major points in this book and movie. The globalization read about and seen is all about greed and wealth. The sacrifices were hard on some of the families from leaving their parent(s), spouse, child (ren), or whomever it may be they leave to help support their family.

When it comes to globalization, everyone may have a different vision of it’s outcome. For Marcelo Gleiser, the author of “Globalization: Two visions of the Future of Humanity”, a completely globalized world may result in a dystopia. In contrast, Jeffrey Wasserstrom, the author of “A Mickey Mouse Approach to Globalization” and Tanveer Ali, the creator of “The Subway Falafel Sandwich and the Americanization of Ethnic Food” may think of globalization as other cultures sharing each other’s components to interact on a new level and spurring a more “open-minded” (Ali 27) individual.

Globalization is the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale. According to economic and political writer Doug Bandow, “Some critics of globalization have contended that the process has helped the rich and hurt the poor. However, the best research indicates that this is accurate: ‘Poverty is falling rapidly in those poor countries that are integrating into the global economy.”. In both documentaries “The True Cost” and “Living on One Dollar” we can see how companies exploit their employees for consumer benefit, as well as the social and economic inequalities that are attached with globalization.

Globalization, defined as “a process that aims to expand business operations on a worldwide level, and was precipitated by the facilitation of global communications due to technological advancements, and socioeconomic, political and environmental developments” has been around for ages. However, it is a force that is becoming increasing more relevant in today’s world. In layman’s terms, globalism is the merging or “melting” of individual perspectives and markets into a more global market. As of recently, society has been obsessed with studying globalization. However, the conversation is rarely economical. Globalization is typically looked at as a social or cultural force that is shaping and connecting the world. This is scene in clothing styles, human travel, and popular culture that has become increasingly similar across nations. That sentiment isn’t wrong-globalization does have a cultural side, but many people are missing the economic impacts that this new world is facing. In fact, the economic implications of globalization and how governments legislate to control them leads to significant opportunity, but also huge threat globally.

Everyday, millions of consumers in the United States contribute to the harsh treatment, under paid, and sexual abuse of factory workers all over the world. The garment industry, one of the largest in the world, generates over 3 trillion dollars a year yet the average monthly wage is 21 dollars a month, 80% of whom are women, and including children ages 5 to 14. While most apparel used to be manufactured in the United States, in the past decade a majority of manufacturers have moved operations overseas due to loose regulations according to the huffington post (Badal). The current trend of fast fashion comes at a much greater cost than we are all aware of, The True Cost, a documentary by Andrew Morgan highlights fashions “unadvertised sins” such as unregulated production, toxic garment dyes harmful to both workers and the environment, and attempts by the factory workers to form unions that end in violence (Wilson).

Just like Bangladesh and Cambodia Timmerman also went to China to see the enviroment that his flip-flops were made in. “Dingo couldn’t be nicer. It seems that we are now brother-in-arms. I had faced the wrath of Pat, and probably he too, many times. He tells me about his life. He was born in the Philippines and moved to the United States when he was five. Now he spends three months here and one month at home with his wife and 17-year-old son in California. “ Page 146. Kelsey Timmerman is telling us about how a life for this man Dingo is. Dingo is away in China working for three months, and then only gets to see his wife and son for one month. For Dingo to get food on the table and money to support his family he has to make sacrifices of not seeing his family to support them. Timmerman wants us to think of how greatful that our parents/ guardians are that they go to work and come home later on that evening; Not for Dingo’s family. Dingo’s family has to wait three whole months just to see him again for only a month. Imagine that. “The fisherman’s pole, like a 12-foot blade of glass, is all rod and no reel. He baits the hook with a grub and flicks his line out into the water and waits.” Page 146. You can tell that China doesn’t have that much money, because this man has to make his own

We often question how our food and clothes can be sold so cheap, this all comes down to where it is made or grown. Our clothes are made overseas in factories by women and in some cases even children in unsuitable conditions. They work long hours and don’t get paid much in return, it is said to be less than what they can afford to live on and made to work extra hours. This is why large stores like Primark and Asda can sell their clothes at such little cost. Some of the workers are said to be working 60 to 90 hours every week for as little as £17 per month. (Making social lives pg.88) The workers in the factories are grateful for their small wage and would struggle if the factories were to close and business was took elsewhere.

During the last decade of the twentieth century, the word ‘globalization’ has become an increasingly prominent feature of political, social, and economic discussion in academic and policymaking circles, as well as in the media. The processes and outcomes of globalization drew attention and debates that had one thing in common. The research shows that nearly everyone agrees that globalization is a trend that is changing the face of the world, and as a result the world society lives in a more ‘globalized’ world. Nearly two and a half decades passed since 1990s, and studies have been conducted to examine the causes and consequences of globalization. Moreover, nearly every person experiences some type of globalization and can testify firsthand the effects it has on their life, society, and the state. The analysis of the effects that globalization dynamics have on the world society indicates that globalization has a significant positive impact via spreading opportunities and wealth across nations, stimulating innovation and productivity, enhancing the economic development of poorer countries, and helping to improve living standards.

“Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world” (The State University of New York, 2014, para 1).

The main sociological issue depicted in the video is globalization. Globalization deals with social changes that affect the world on an international scale. This is regarded as the most important social change of the 21st century because the entire world is connected and can communicate in a matter of seconds. This eases the flow of ideas, people, and material objects and allows a small change somewhere to spread and have far reaching effects. This video examines how globalization has unequal effects on the quality of life for different populations of people all around the world. The living situations for a citizen in Malawi is vastly different from that of a citizen living in Beverly Hills. A specific example of the how globalization was created and how it can having varying effects on populations is how the Europeans conquered America and extracted the resources by force.

Since the era of globalization, people all over the world became closer than ever before. Goods and services that appear in a country are immediately promoted by the others, as well as international transfer and communication. Thomas L. Friedman, the author of “globalization: the super-story” that was published in 2002 as a book prologue, examines the factors of globalization from diverse aspects and how it could help people better understand the 9/11 events. Friedman not only claims that the globalization brings the world closer together, but also that people are no longer bound by where they come from.

The world is not a large and strange place anymore. The world is a place that is interconnected and intertwined. The world has become from a place that each country and their peoples are separate and isolated to a place that each country and their peoples are part of a global network. Thanks to globalization this is occurring. Globalization is the ‘international integration” or ‘de-bordering’ – “a number of highly disparate observations whose regular common denominator is the determination of a profound transformation of the traditional nation-state” (Von Bogdandy 2). Globalization is connecting different people from different cultures and backgrounds together. More and more corporations are entering new foreign markets to sell their