Global Commodity Chains, Karl Polanyi’s Paradox, and Negative Externalities
Global Commodity Chains, Karl Polanyi’s Paradox, and Negative Externalities
• The worldwide network of social relations and labor activities involved in the creation, distribution, consumption, and disposal of a commodity (defined as anything that can be bought and sold)
o Social relations: consumers, labor, capitalists, nation-states; and society/nature
o Commodity-chain activities: product design and financing; capture/extraction/cultivation of raw materials; processing; transportation; distribution/sale; purchase/consumption; and disposal
o Impacts: socioeconomic, political, environmental
o Questions
Culture of capitalism/global commodity chains
Karl Polanyi’s Paradox (as described in GPCC—not Michael Polanyi’s Paradox)
Negative externalities as expressed in Karl Polanyi’s Paradox
Internalizing negative externalities (cost internalization: more or less = “sustainability”)
• Example: “The coffee commodity chain is the linked sequence of activities involved in growing coffee, processing it, shipping it, roasting it, … selling it to consumers” (John Talbot) and disposing it.
• Video example: Coffee https://u.osu.edu/commoditychain2015/
• Scroll down for more examples of global commodity chains and negative externalities.
Final Essay Guidelines
• Choose either a specific commodity or some aspect of a commodity chain (such as its labor and/or ownership/control conditions; social, economic, environmental, and/or health consequences; waste disposal; consequences for political violence/wars; etc.).
• Emphasize relationships of consumption, labor, capitalists, nation-states, and the natural environment.
• I recommend the following essay structure:
o Paragraph #1
Global culture of capitalism: Very briefly—the rise of consumerism and its underlying causes (chapter one); how labor changed and the role of global labor segmentation (chapter two); how business organization changed, the industrial revolution, and colonialism and imperialism (chapter three and “King Leopold’s Ghost”); and the rise of the nation-state and its role as a building block of national and global capitalism (chapter four).
Karl Polanyi’s Paradox (as described in GPCC; not Michael Polanyi’s Paradox)
Negative externalities.
Challenges of internalizing externalities (cost internalization: more or less = “sustainability”)
o Paragraph #2: brief definition of “global commodity chain” and begin discussion of your specific topic.
o Continued paragraphs: discussion of your specific topic.
o Final/summary paragraph: Summary of your topic in view of (1) Karl Polanyi’s Paradox; (2) negative externalities; and (3) challenges of internalizing costs.
• 1000 or more words of narrative text (no maximum word count); college standards of writing;
• Double-spaced 11 or 12-point Times New Roman font; in-text citations; references section; Chicago, MLA, or APA format.
• If you want to focus on Covid-19 (or any other “signature” disease), scroll down for guidelines.
Covid-19 or another signature disease
• Paragraph #1
o Global culture of capitalism: Very briefly—the rise of consumerism and its underlying causes (chapter one); how labor changed and the role of global labor segmentation (chapter two); how business organization changed, the industrial revolution, and colonialism and imperialism (chapter three and “King Leopold’s Ghost”); and the rise of the nation-state and its role as a building block of national and global capitalism (chapter four).
o Karl Polanyi’s Paradox (as described in GPCC; not Michael Polanyi’s Paradox)
o Negative externalities.
Challenges of internalizing externalities (cost internalization: more or less = “sustainability”)
• Paragraph #2: What defines a “signature disease” of a specific historical time and pattern of geographic connections?
• Continuing paragraphs:
o Describe the possible cause and transmission of Covid-19 in terms of the relationships between (1) culture and disease; (2) cities and disease; (3) environmental change and disease; and (4) human ecology and disease.
o Within this framework, how is Covid-19 a “signature disease”? And how does it reflect Karl Polanyi’s Paradox and negative externalities?
• Final/summary paragraph: What are the arguments for healthcare as a global public good and human right, as opposed to healthcare as an individual, commodified choice?
Global Commodity Chain Examples (see also the course syllabus)
• “The Palm Oil Effect”
https://www.vogue.com/projects/13535833/palm-oil-controversy-beauty-products-ingredient-sourcing-deforestation-climate-change/
• “Big oil is in trouble. Its plan: Flood Africa with plastic”
• “Commodifying Nature”
http://www.uky.edu/~tmute2/nature-society/password-protect/ENS201-2015-lecture-PDFs/ENS201-commodification-CCs-shrimp.pdf
• “’Food Chains’ Looks at The Real Cost of Your Cheap Tomatoes”
• “Migrant Workers in U.S. Seafood Industry”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jun/08/us-seafood-workers-abuse-immgration-temporary-labor
• “Factory Farms: Animal Cruelty, Labor Exploitation”
https://sraproject.org/factory-farms-abuse-animals/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/11/i-had-to-wear-pampers-many-poultry-industry-workers-allegedly-cant-even-take-bathroom-breaks/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5535e7aaa7c1
• “Suburban Lawns”
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/news-blog/the-suburban-lawn-enemy-of-lakes-oc-2009-08-19/
• “Exploited Indian Child Cotton Workers”
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16639391
• “Bangladesh Factory Fire and Workers”
http://theconversation.com/five-years-after-deadly-factory-fire-bangladeshs-garment-workers-are-still-vulnerable-88027
• “Ugly Beautiful? Counting the Cost of the Global Fashion Industry”
http://geography.org.uk/download/GA_GeogCrewe.pdf
• “Domestic Workers Abuse/Exploitation”
• “Janitorial Workers Abuse/Exploitation”
https://corporate.univision.com/corporate/press/2015/06/18/univision-exposes-sexual-abuse-of-women-working-in-the-janitorial-industry-rape-on-the-night-shift-violacion-de-un-sueno-jornada-nocturna-airs-saturday-june-20-2015/
• “The World’s Trash Crisis, and Why Americans Are Oblivious”
http://www.latimes.com/world/global-development/la-fg-global-trash-20160422-20160421-snap-htmlstory.html
The Concept of Externalities
Externality: “a cost or benefit caused by a producer that is not financially incurred or received by that producer. An externality can be both positive or negative and can stem from either the production or consumption of a good or service” (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/externality.asp )
(Negative) externality: “a side effect or consequence of an industrial or commercial activity that affects other parties without this being reflected in the cost of the goods or services involved, such as the pollination of surrounding crops by bees kept for honey” (Oxford Languages)
Internalizing negative externalities (cost internalization, sustainability)
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/basics/external.htm
https://www.quora.com/What-does-internalizing-the-externality-mean
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Internalising-externalities-continuum_fig1_325565534
https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/about-us/what-is-sustainability/
Negative externalities: Examples
“The story of stuff”
https://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-stuff/ (video, 22 minutes)
Vehicles/driving
https://ideas.4brad.com/calculating-all-externalities-driving
Garbage
Suburban lawns
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/news-blog/the-suburban-lawn-enemy-of-lakes-oc-2009-08-19/
Chemical industries
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/economics/negative-externalities/
Fracking
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/poor-communities-bear-greatest-burden-from-fracking/
Palm oíl
https://www.fix.com/blog/how-palm-oil-affects-the-environment/
Industrial agriculture
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/hidden-costs-industrial-agriculture
