Mardi Gras Made in
China is a documentary that looks at the consequences that consumers create
through globalization. The documentary examines how Chinese manufacturing firms
produce and bring Mardi Gras beads to markets in the U.S. and how the majority of
U.S. consumers are completely oblivious (or just don’t care) about how little offshore
workers are paid for these somewhat insignificant beads. In this article I will
be discussing why U.S. companies manufacture products overseas, why foreign
manufacturing welcomes U.S. firms, why foreign workers work under these
conditions, how products are embedded with cultural meaning, and finally the
economic impacts of globalization.
Why more and more U.S. firms are moving their product
manufacturing operations is simple; massive amounts of labor accompanied with
ridiculously low wages. Since the technology revolution companies have realized
that products can be produced at a fraction of the cost overseas then here at
home. The problem that has come from this is that the labor supply chain has
drastically shifted to low wage rate countries such as China, Korea, and
Taiwan. As stated in the documentary mentioned above a typical worker is making
the equivalent of 75 dollars a month. Compare that to someone in the U.S.
making 8 dollars an hour for a similar low-skilled profession and you can start
to see why the demand for labor has shifted so drastically to foreign firms.
U.S. consumers either don’t know where the products they buy come from, don’t
care, or that there are no close substitutes that they can purchase instead.
Overseas manufacturing companies welcome U.S. business
because they are like any other private company in the world; their main goal
is to make profits. Couple that with U.S.’s high demand for their labor and it
is hard for factory owners to turn them down because if they don’t make U.S.
companies products someone else will at a similarly low price. Furthermore,
because labor costs are so low overseas factory owners are also making huge
profits exploiting these wage laws.
Unfortunately factory workers partaking in this exportation
have no choice but to take the wage rate they are given. This is mainly due to
little or no education and many coming from already low income families. The
other reason is the shear size of the labor force in China; If a worker
complains about the working conditions or that they are not being paid enough
they can simply be replaced with another willing candidate. In low-skilled
professions such as bead making I don’t see wage conditions improving for these
workers in the foreseeable future without government intervention.
A great example of
how products are embedded with cultural meaning are the Mardi Gras beads that
we saw in the documentary. We see that these beads have been marketed and
evolved to become a major symbol of sex and partying in this particular
celebration. Just like all celebrations however, they come and go, leaving the value
consumers have on the beads in the trash. This is why people that participate in
Mardi Gras see the beads as disposable because they classify them as inferior
goods once the party stops.
There are many economic and social impacts that come with
globalization. As stated earlier it shifts the supply of labor away from home
countries but it also can affect other things such as lower prices of goods for
consumers in the U.S and also specialization between countries where each
country produces the goods that it has a comparative advantage in making. I
final thoughts are that we will continue to see companies moving their
manufacturing operations overseas. While some companies like Apple are starting
to create policies such as assembling their products here in the U.S. and while
they are still getting all the individual parts from overseas, it is a small
step in the right direction.
Sources
Mardi Gras Made in China [YouTube Preview]
Other Sources
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