lobal Commodity Chains & Negative Externalities
The worldwide network of social relations and labor activities involved in the creation, distribution, consumption, and disposal of a commodity (as defined in Appadurai, p. 3)
Social relations:
labor, capitalists, nation-states, and consumers; society/nature
Labor activities:
product design and financing; capture/extraction/cultivation of raw materials; processing; transportation; distribution/sale; purchase/consumption; and disposal
Impacts:
socioeconomic, political, environmental
Questions
Culture of capitalism/global commodity chains
Karl Polanyi’s Paradox (
as defined in GPCC
)
Negative externalities
Internalizing negative externalities
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/ (Links to an external site.)
Assignment
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; political violence/wars; etc.).
Emphasize relationships and activities of labor, capitalists, nation-states, consumers, and the natural environment.
Global culture of capitalism
Global commodity chains
Negative externalities
Karl Polanyi’s Paradox (
as defined in GPCC;
not Michael Polanyi’s Paradox)
Challenges of internalizing externalities (more or less = “sustainability”)
1000 or more words of narrative text (no maximum word count); college standards of writing
;
single 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):
Covid-19
Briefly describe and explain the principal relationships within the global culture of capitalism, including global commodity chains.
What are "negative externalities"?
What is "Karl Polanyi's Paradox" (
as defined in GPCC;
not Michael Polanyi’s Paradox)?
What are the basic questions to ask about patterns of disease at any point in time and space?
What defines a “signature disease” of a specific historical time and pattern of geographic connections?
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.
Within this framework, how is Covid-19 a “signature disease”? And how does it reflect negative externalities and Karl Polanyi’s Paradox?
What are arguments for healthcare as a global public good (and as a human right), as opposed to healthcare as an individual, commodified choice?
.
1. lobal Commodity Chains & Negative Externalities
The worldwide network of social relations and labor activities
involved in the creation, distribution, consumption, and disposal
of a commodity (as defined in Appadurai, p. 3)
Social relations:
labor, capitalists, nation-states, and consumers; society/nature
Labor activities:
product design and financing; capture/extraction/cultivation of
raw materials; processing; transportation; distribution/sale;
purchase/consumption; and disposal
Impacts:
socioeconomic, political, environmental
Questions
Culture of capitalism/global commodity chains
Karl Polanyi’s Paradox (
as defined in GPCC
)
Negative externalities
Internalizing negative externalities
Example: “The
2. 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/ (Links to an external
site.)
Assignment
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; political violence/wars; etc.).
Emphasize relationships and activities of labor, capitalists,
nation-states, consumers, and the natural environment.
Global culture of capitalism
Global commodity chains
Negative externalities
Karl Polanyi’s Paradox (
as defined in GPCC;
not Michael Polanyi’s Paradox)
Challenges of internalizing externalities (more or less =
3. “sustainability”)
1000 or more words of narrative text (no maximum word count);
college standards of writing
;
single 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):
Covid-19
Briefly describe and explain the principal relationships within
the global culture of capitalism, including global commodity
chains.
What are "negative externalities"?
What is "Karl Polanyi's Paradox" (
as defined in GPCC;
not Michael Polanyi’s Paradox)?
What are the basic questions to ask about patterns of disease at
any point in time and space?
What defines a “signature disease” of a specific historical time
and pattern of geographic connections?
Describe the possible cause and transmission of Covid-19 in
4. terms of the relationships between (1) culture and disease; (2)
cities and disease; (3) environmental change and disease; and
(4) human ecology and disease.
Within this framework, how is Covid-19 a “signature disease”?
And how does it reflect negative externalities and Karl
Polanyi’s Paradox?
What are arguments for healthcare as a global public good (and
as a human right), as opposed to healthcare as an individual,
commodified choice?
