Canada and the Developing World -A comparative
framework
Thesis on children/youth:
Increasing global corporatization has integrated children/
youth in the Core and Peripheral countries into a global
commodity chain.
• Most children/youth in the Core help extract a major
share of surpluses (corporate profits) through their
consumption within a stable political economy. Thus, a
majority of the children/youth in the affluent Canada
(Core) have been transformed into conspicuous
consumers or service sector commodities, while a
minority of them (1 in 10 (circa 2010)) live in poverty
Thesis (cont’d)
• In contrast, through poorly paid or unpaid
household labour children/youth in the
Peripheries are exploited through surplus
extraction for profit for and consumption in
the Core. In the Periphery, those
children/youth who are from the rich and
middle classes, become comprador
consumers. But most of the peripheral
countries’ children are absolutely poor and
must work for their livelihood. Thus they
become labour commodities
Comparative arguments using WST:
1.
2.
3.
Global corporatization has integrated children/ youth in the Core and
Peripheral countries into a global commodity chain.
Most children/youth in the Core help extract a major share of
surpluses (corporate profits) through their consumption within a
stable political economy. Thus, a majority of the children/youth in
the affluent Canada (Core) have been transformed into conspicuous
consumers or service sector commodities, while a minority of them (1
in 10 (circa 2010)) live in poverty
In contrast, through poorly paid or unpaid household labour
children/youth in the Peripheries are exploited through surplus
extraction for profit for and consumption in the Core. In the
Periphery, those children/youth who are from the rich and middle
classes become comprador consumers. But most of the DWs’
children are absolutely poor and must work for their livelihood. Thus
they become labour commodities
WST concepts that explain the reasons for the
increase in child poverty in the Core and in the
Peripheries:
Neoliberalism:
• Declining role of the State
• Deregulation results in Financial
Meltdown (2008)
• Global Commodity Chain (GCC)
Neoliberalism & its result: GCC in Core:
Declining role of the State
Financial Deregulation
Dismantling of Social Welfare
Privatization of child care
Youth integration into GCC
• Weakening of social policy towards children
• State is unable to compensate the impact on
child poverty generated by the shocks
• Declining funding for youth programs & educ.
• Youth unemployment
WST concepts that explain the reasons for the
increase in child poverty in the Core and in the
Peripheries:
Neoliberalism:
• Declining role of the State
• Deregulation resulted in Financial
Meltdown (2008)
• Global Commodity Chain (GCC)
1. Global corporatization has integrated children/
youth in the Core and Peripheral countries into a
global commodity chain.
CHILD LABOR/SLAVERY: NIKE, APPLE, GAP, MICROSOFT -- CHINA, INDIA, PAK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57v_v6oSGZI 2010 4min
• Single division of labor: core accumulates
capital as periphery supplies labour
WST & Global Commodity Chain (GCC):
Commodity Chain Research HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs65dIcRKXE
Core: Capital rich
MNCs’ corporate Head Office:
R&D
Product design
Customization
Market distribution
Products
Retail
Ads
Inequitable Impacts of global Commodity Chains on workers in
Canada (Core): Wilma A. Dunaway,
Wealth & Capital Concentration
Economic Costs
In Commodity Production, lower wages for
the workers
Low Remuneration for Non-Wage Labor
(e.g. household work)
Educational &
cultural costs
Critical individual costs
Conspicuous Consumption
Devaluation of Arts & Humanities
Commodification of Youth, child, women as
Ads, Logo
Health
Civic freedoms
Discrimination: gender & Age
Human rights
Law & Order (prejudice against the poor)
GCC
Peripheries: Labour surplus
Production process:
•
•
Vertically integrated
GCC
Vertically integrated Model: MNCs’ GCC
Foreign subsidiary or Subcontracting local company
Manufacturing factories or Sweatshops
Extract raw materials from resource rich areas
Extract surplus from labour
Household labour of the poor (low/no wage or
slavery): Men, Women, Youth & Children
GCC (contd.)
Peripheries: Labour surplus
Production process:
• Vertically integrated
• GCC
Hidden Inputs of the Peripheries’ child & women in the global
Commodity Chain
Typical Production Node of a
Capitalist Commodity Chain
Cheap Labor
Working class
child & women subsidize
the Production Process
Capitalist Costs that are
Externalized to
Households
Inequitable Impacts on children & women
Economic Costs to the Periphery
Surplus extraction from
labour: No-wage, Unpaid &
Low-wage subsidize
commodity production
State Subsidies: in providing societal
Infrastructure of maintaining stable
social order
State Subsidies to Capitalist Enterprises
External costs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC5R9WPId0s (7.39min)
Inequitable Impacts of global Commodity Chains
on Children/youth workers: in the Periphery: Wilma A.
Dunaway,
Economic costs:
• Negative impact of loss of education years on a
country’s development
• Country loses skill development in its future
population
Health costs
• Children in hazardous work: Life span, health and
welfare irrecoverably affected
Social costs
• Cycle of Poverty – destitution becomes endemic
Comparative conceptual arguments:
1.
2.
3.
Global corporatization has integrated children/ youth in the Core and
Peripheral countries into a global commodity chain.
Most children/youth in the Core help extract a major share of
surpluses (corporate profits) through their consumption within a
stable political economy. Thus, a majority of the children/youth in
the affluent Canada (Core) have been transformed into conspicuous
consumers or service sector commodities, while a minority of them (1
in 10 (circa 2010)) live in poverty
In contrast, through poorly paid or unpaid household labour
children/youth in the Peripheries are exploited through surplus
extraction for profit for and consumption in the Core. In the
Periphery, those children/youth who are from the rich and middle
classes become comprador consumers. But most of the DWs’
children are absolutely poor and must work for their livelihood. Thus
they become labour commodities
Canada: Core country’s children/youth:
Most are higher or middle income classes (80% all
children in Canada):
• Children at school
• Youth at school/work
• Consumers: Conspicuous Consumption
Canada: Child/youth are transformed into:
• Conspicuous consumers (endless consumption)
• Service sector commodities
Conspicuous consumers
Rich Kids for Romney http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fit79MQwyeY 50sec
2012
• Creation of artificial wants
• Persuaded to consume endlessly
• Ads & Peer pressure lure the young
Core’s Child/ Youth conspicuous consumption:
manufactured and manipulated by:
•Adult-led army of advertisers
• Marketing consultants
• Youth researchers
Child/youth in the Core transformed into:
• Conspicuous consumers (endless
consumption)
• Commodified in the Service sector
Core: youth work is:
• Low-end service work
• Low in status, value and skill
• Not “real” work
• Corporations view youth work as hobby
Consumerism - Commodification Link:
• Circularity in youth employment
Service sector employers:
• Hire young workers because ‘youth’
sells product
• Youth/child often is the real product being sold
e.g.: Ads of child/youth in jeans or t-shirts,
sneakers or snowboards, soft drinks or CDs
• Youth as consumers
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1587254,00.ht
e.g.: Retail and food service companies:
• Exploit the sexuality of young workers (esp.
women) to attract customers and increase sales
• Staff stores by hiring youth as workers with the
right “look”
• Hire by screening for an appearance, attitude and
demeanor based on age, gender, race and class
The company hires “brand representatives”:
• Not cashiers or clerks
• Exhibiting the “A&F Look” (to experience
Abercrombie & Fitch stores)
• Selling an experience for customer to
experience again and again through the
Brand
Commodification of Youth
Youth workers:
• wear brand name perfumes as directed.
But, in Starbucks: no colognes and perfumes –
only the “romance of coffee” aroma
• Faces freshly scrubbed with Body Shop Blue Corn
Mask
• Apartments furnished with Ikea self-assembled
bookcases and coffee tables
Circularity in youth employment:
• MNCs created mass consumerism (in post-WW II
era)
• Commodification of youth in mass advertising
• Demand for youth as service sector workers
• Canadian youth want stable economy: why? (Jobs
& MNCs’ profits will remain stable)
Globally Integrated conspicuous consumption
•Kinko’s, Starbucks and Blockbuster clerks buy
their uniforms of khakis and white or blue shirts
at the Gap
• “Hi! Welcome to the Gap!” greeting cheer is
fueled by Starbucks double espressos
• Résumés that got them the jobs were designed
at Kinko’s on friendly Macs, in 12-point
Helvetica on MS Word.
Why Commodity Chains are created by global
corporation? How does it work?
• NDL: International division of labour (post
colonial)
• Endless accumulation: economic growth to
maximize profits
• Commodification of everything;
• Global search for surplus extraction
• Repeated cycles of innovation, change, and
expansion
Nike World Headquarters in Oregon
Profits & Patents
Research Lab: tests in biomechanics, physiology, sensory
Customise to suit the interest of clients’ geography, age, gender
e.g., Runners
- in the United States prefer hard surfaces
- in Europe prefer trails
Ads (consumerism): e.g.: 2001 the Nike Goddess outlets
Profit percolates up
Commodification of the Young:
child & youth workers
consumers
Extraction of Raw materials (mostly from
peripheries):
Rubber, leather and plastic
Extracted from places located in close proximity
Household labour
Women
Youth
Children
Peripheral states:
Subcontracts the production process:
900 contract factories
Independent private contractors in
China, Indonesia and Vietnam
Vertically integrated model
Sent to the factories or “Sweatshops” for
manufacturing
Comparative conceptual arguments:
1.
2.
3.
Global corporatization has integrated children/ youth in the Core and
Peripheral countries into a global commodity chain.
Most children/youth in the Core help extract a major share of
surpluses (corporate profits) through their consumption within a
stable political economy. Thus, a majority of the children/youth in
the affluent Canada (Core) have been transformed into conspicuous
consumers or service sector commodities, while a minority of them (1
in 10 (circa 2010)) live in poverty
In contrast, through poorly paid or unpaid household labour
children/youth in the Peripheries are exploited through surplus
extraction for profit for and consumption in the Core. In the
Periphery, those children/youth who are from the rich and middle
classes become comprador consumers. But most of the DWs’
children are absolutely poor and must work for their livelihood. Thus
they become labour commodities
Peripheral states:
MNCs’ Subcontractors (owner class):
Upper income class (global Elite class)
•luxury goods consumer household
Rich Kids Gone Wild? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW_VDMYxhvc
4.37 min 2011
Who made our shirt child lab in china http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2KCYsmWFP8 3min 2009
Educated & skilled workers:
Middle income class (White or Blue collar)
• Children & youth at school
• Formal sector: Working men/women
• Consumer household (beyond basic
goods)
Peripheral states:
Lower income and Poorer classes:
•Working Men
•Working Children
•Working youth
•Working women
Fourth World:
Indigenous population:
• Unemployed & discriminated men
• Children exploited in boarding schools
• Culturally alienated youth
• Working and abused women
Child/youth Poverty in Peripheral countries:
International Labor Organization (ILO) reports:
2010 Global total of Children (age 5-17): 1.586
billion
20 mil. more than in 2004 (1.3% increase)
In the Developing World (2010):
Working children. (age 5 - 17): 306 mil.
Child labour (5-17):
215 million
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
Source for 2004: http://www.ilo.org/global/Themes/Child_Labour/lang--en/index.htm
Child labourers are defined as those:
•Under the minimum age for work, or
• Engaged in work that poses a threat to their health,
safety or morals, or are subject to conditions of forced
labour.
Source: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
Child Labour: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty 2010 (5 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1cZFgJwzYM
*Child Labour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruh0O_mj1v0 5.20min 2006
Children in hazardous work: 115 million
2004 - 2010: 20% Increase in child labour in the 15-17
years age group: (from 52 million to 62 million)
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126685.pdf
India: children working
Mexico: children working
(pop:363 m. (31%) Age<14)
(pop: 32m. (29%) Age <14)
(2009)
(2009)
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/print/in.html)
• 13.6 million (Indian
census) in 1981
• 20 million children in
hazardous condition
(Labour Ministry) in
1994
• 77 million computed
on basis of # below
poverty line in 1995
(Commission on Labour Standards)
• 8-11 million children
under the age of 15
years are working in
Mexico in 1994 (US Dept of
Labor, Sweat and Toil of Children, 1994, citing
US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1993)
• 16 % of children (age
5-14) -15% of male &
16% female - in child
labour (1999-2003)
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/mexico_statistic
s.html
Working Children
India (cont’d) :
L Am (Mexico) (cont’d)
• 40 million children
(total pop. 500 mil in
• 60-115 million (Human
LAm) living or working
Rights Watch) (1996)
on the streets of Latin
• Child Economic Activity
America
rate: 13.5% (Male)
• 20% begging to
10.3% (Female)
survive
• Largest number of
working children in the • 24% by selling goods
world - Child labour
• rest by doing
productivity accounts
subcontracting work.
(Xinhua: Comtex , 2000)
for 20% of India’s GNP
India (cont’d)
• 85% of rural child
laborers work in
cultivation and
agriculture, e.g., tea
plantations,
• 40% of urban child
laborers work in
manufacturing and
repair
• Also in carpet making,
gem polishing,
fireworks
http://www.indianchild.in/Child_Expl
oitation/ (acc. April 09)
L.Am (Mexico) (cont’d) (2000)
• L.Am children working in
the streets, markets, tourist
& other areas of 108 cities 70% are boys and 30% girls
• work as cart-pushers,
kitchen help, and vendors
• children in the age group of
7 to 14 make up 30% of day
laborers in the agriculture
sector
http://www.globalmarch.org/resourcecent
re/world/mexico.pdf (acc. Ap 09)
http://www.hrw.org/children/labor.htm 2004
Why is child labour bad for the children?
• Four-year-olds tied to rug looms to keep them from
running away - Working at rug looms, for example,
has left children disabled with eye damage, lung
disease, stunted growth, and a susceptibility to
arthritis as they grow older
• Work prevents the child from going to school
• Work long hours, often in dangerous and unhealthy
conditions, are exposed to lasting physical and
psychological harm
… bad
for children:
• Children work for too many hours and too many days,
for too little, or no pay
• subject often to physical abuse
• exposed to dangerous pesticides
• work with dangerous tools
What did World Bank and the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation do?
• financing sericulture projects dependent on child labor
( Human Rights Watch, 2004)
… bad for children:
Children making silk thread in India
• dip their hands into boiling water that burns &
blisters
• breathe smoke and fumes from machinery
handle dead worms that cause infections
guide twisting threads that cut their fingers
Children harvesting sugar cane in El Salvador:
• use machetes to cut cane for up to nine hours a day
in
the hot sun
• injures their hands and legs
• medical care often not available
1999-2004
http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_30398.html
2012: (source:
http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-andstats
Number of children in the world
2.2 billion
Number in poverty 1 billion (every second child)
Total Global/ Regional Children/Youth in ’000 (March 2012)
Countries
<18
<5
Africa
477,383
Middle East and
North Africa
156,444
Asia
1,151,806
Latin America and
Caribbean
195,713
155,135
47,524
316,151
53,461
Industrialized
countries
203,008
57,212
Developing
countries
1,953,940
563,545
Least developed
countries
389,258
122,520
World
2,201,180
633,933
http://www.unicef.org/sowc2012/ accessed jan26,2013
Concepts Comparing on Children & poverty
Core: Canada &
children in poverty
• Affluent country
• Child benefits
• Social institutions &
financial support for
children
Periphery: Mexico &
India: Child Poverty
• Poorer countries
• Child poverty leads
to child labour
• Basic needs not met
Contrasts between Canada & DW
Children’s poverty
Children’s poverty
in DW: 2004
in Canada: 2005
•1.2 million
• Relative poverty
• Generational welfare trap
• Poverty cycle
• Social Security
• Publicly funded schools
• Universal medical care
• 250 million
•Absolute poverty
• Lack basic needs
• Hunger and death
• AIDS & blindness
• Severe disabilities
•Violence and orphans
Affluent Canada (2005):
Child poverty
• 1.2 million children, or (1 in
6) children live in poverty.
• # in poverty- 20% rise
(1989-2004)
• 18% increase in (rate of)
poverty 2002- 2005
• 41% users of food banks, are
children
Child Poverty in Canada: Why are 10 percent of kids
poor? 1hr April 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt6s1maEMtw
Peripheries or DW (2004)
Child poverty :
• 674 million in poverty
(2005)
• 70% poor in rural
(agriculture) Gordon, D, et al (2003) "Child
poverty in the developing world"
Child labour (2004)
• 250 million working
• 120 million work full time
• 61% in Asia, 32 % in Africa,
7% in Latin Am
http://www.hrw.org/children/labor.htm accessed oct 2010
Income Inequality and Child Poverty in Canada: from Poor No
More, a Canadian fe 2.53min oct 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIWroI1wymg
Canada: http://www.campaign2000.ca/rc/rc04/04NationalReportCard.pdf
accessed Jan 2010
Canada (cont’d) (groups that
are in worse situation)
• Child poverty rates for
Aboriginal, immigrant &
visible minority groups
are more than double the
average of that of all
children
First Nation Children are Living in Poverty 5.16 min 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI1D9k4Adwo
Support for First Nations' Children 2010 3 min 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2AqunAgY2A
• child poverty rate among
children with disabilities
is 28%
Developing countries
(cont’d) (work)
• work as domestics
• work in trade & services
• work in manufacturing &
construction
Canada: 2009
Child Poverty: declined since
2005
• 639,000 children live in
poverty
• Poverty rate: 9.5%
• Youth unemployment
• 14.1% unemployment rate
• Aged 15-24: 408,000 youth
unemployed in Oct. 2011.
• weekly wage $398.74 $525.90 less than those aged
25 and over
• 30% of these youth find
themselves in precarious jobs
REVISITING FAMILY SECURITY IN INSECURE TIMES
2011 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada
Peripheries or DW (2011)
Child poverty :
• 1 out of 6 infants are born
with a low birth weight in
developing countries.
• A third of all childhood death
in sub-Saharan Africa is
caused by hunger.
• Every five seconds, a child
dies from hunger-related
diseases.
• 22,000 children die each day
due to conditions of poverty
http://www.thp.org/learn_more/issues/know_your_world_facts_a
bout_hunger_and_poverty
Know Your World: Facts About Hunger and Poverty 2011
Canada:
Child poverty is defined in the 2011 Society report
as “The proportion of children 17 years and under
living in households where disposable income is less
than half of the median in a given country.”
Ref: 2011 Society report (2011). The Conference Board of Canada, Ottawa
Child poverty in BC 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVXzsxc4ikY 1.37min April 2011
.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
Child Poverty in Canada
LIC: Low income cut-off LIM: low income measure
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75f0002m/2012002/lico-sfr-eng.htm
2011 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada
Canada’s Children in Poverty
http://www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/national/2011EnglishRreportCard.pdf
http://www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/national/2011EnglishRreportCard.pdf
Child/youth Poverty in Peripheral countries:
International Labor Organization (ILO) reports:
2010 Global total of Children (age 5-17): 1.586 billion
20 mil. more than in 2004 (1.3% increase)
In the Developing World (2010):
Working children. (age 5 - 17): 306 mil.
Child labour (5-17):
215 million
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
Source for 2004: http://www.ilo.org/global/Themes/Child_Labour/lang--en/index.htm
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
Children in hazardous work: 115 million
2004 - 2010: 20% Increase in child labour in the 15-17
years age group: (from 52 million to 62 million)
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126685.pdf
% Children in Poverty in OECD: Impact of State’s decline? (2000)
Poverty
Poverty
Poverty
http://www.tagg.org/rants/OECDChildPov.html
INDIA (2004):
• Conditions of ‘real’ poverty (worse than
‘monetary’ measure)
– 26% of children are education poor; (cf. 52 %
of adults)
– 70% of children <13 years old are
undernourished, 44% severely;
– 7% of individuals aged 7 to 59 suffered from
chronic illness.
hdr.undp.org/.../presentations/2004/topic_3/Approaches%20to%20Measuring%20poverty,%20Fran
ces%20Stewart.ppt
PERU: (2004)
•Condition of poverty (better than monetary measure)
–7 % of children are education poor.(cf. 20 % of adults
–29 % of children < 5 years were undernourished. (10 %
of adults were health poor).
hdr.undp.org/.../presentations/2004/topic_3/Approaches
%20to%20Measuring%20poverty,%20Frances%20Stew
art.ppt