Abstract:In this article, we aim to demonstrate that the low prices of goods produced in the global South and the attendant modest contribution of its exports to the Gross Domestic Product of the North conceals the real dependence of the latter's economies on low-waged Southern labor. We argue that the relocation of industry to the global South in the past three decades has resulted in a massive increase of transferred value to the North. The principal mechanisms for this transfer are the repatriation of surplus value … Show more
“…They have therefore given rise to what has been called the ‘Smiley Curve’ of exchange values and profits relative to the ‘Inverse Smiley’ of actual production values (Lauesen and Cope, ). Both pre‐production phases (such as research and development, design, management, finance and organization elements) and post‐production phases (branding, advertising, sales and marketing) now provide immense rents (especially from intellectual property monopolies) to global corporations, and these rents have been growing (UNCTAD, ).…”
Capitalism has always been a global system, but not in fixed ways. Different national powers have emerged and become dominant over the centuries, but the fundamental processes underlying the uneven development of global capitalism have not altered; they continue to be driven by imperialism — the struggle of large capital over economic territory of various kinds. Since the late 1960s, only the East Asian region has shown notable increases in its share of global GDP, and for the last two decades this has been dominated by the rise of China. This is directly related to the ability of the Chinese state to control the economy and to implement heterodox policies with very high investment rates. However, the Chinese case is exceptional: few other developing countries have followed a trajectory anything like that of China. Meanwhile, internal inequalities have increased across the world, as the bargaining power of capital vis‐à‐vis labour has increased dramatically in every country. This reflects the changed form of 21st century imperialism, which relies increasingly on the international legal and regulatory architecture as fortified by various multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral agreements that establish the hegemony of global capital in different ways.
“…They have therefore given rise to what has been called the ‘Smiley Curve’ of exchange values and profits relative to the ‘Inverse Smiley’ of actual production values (Lauesen and Cope, ). Both pre‐production phases (such as research and development, design, management, finance and organization elements) and post‐production phases (branding, advertising, sales and marketing) now provide immense rents (especially from intellectual property monopolies) to global corporations, and these rents have been growing (UNCTAD, ).…”
Capitalism has always been a global system, but not in fixed ways. Different national powers have emerged and become dominant over the centuries, but the fundamental processes underlying the uneven development of global capitalism have not altered; they continue to be driven by imperialism — the struggle of large capital over economic territory of various kinds. Since the late 1960s, only the East Asian region has shown notable increases in its share of global GDP, and for the last two decades this has been dominated by the rise of China. This is directly related to the ability of the Chinese state to control the economy and to implement heterodox policies with very high investment rates. However, the Chinese case is exceptional: few other developing countries have followed a trajectory anything like that of China. Meanwhile, internal inequalities have increased across the world, as the bargaining power of capital vis‐à‐vis labour has increased dramatically in every country. This reflects the changed form of 21st century imperialism, which relies increasingly on the international legal and regulatory architecture as fortified by various multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral agreements that establish the hegemony of global capital in different ways.
“…While there has been a tendency to underplay the relevance of imperialism in today's world economy, the fact remains that contemporary globalization has not so much transcended imperialist ties between the Global South and North as much as it has transformed them (Patnaik & Patnaik, 2016). The massive spurt in global capital flows and the splintering of production across the globe notwithstanding, the world economy today continues to be marked by sharp inequalities and power differentials (Lauesen & Cope, 2015; Smith, 2016). And what is more is that just as earlier, the “new” form of imperialism that we are witnessing today has entailed a massive squeeze on Southern labor reserves the brunt of which has been experienced by socially oppressed communities.…”
This article revisits the writings of José Carlos Mariátegui on race and of B.R. Ambedkar on caste from a comparative perspective in light of recent debates within the left on identity and its relationship with class. The article highlights how both these radical thinkers foregrounded issues of race and caste in the context of rising nationalist/anti‐colonial tides and in the context of militant class struggles that had started to emerge in both regions in the 1920s and 30s. It tries to delineate the similarities and differences in the way each thinker theorized the intricate links between social oppression, class struggle, and imperialism. The comparative analysis raises questions that remain of great relevance to left movements even today.
“…When it comes to the working class's agency in the age of globalization, Lauesen and Cope ()'s observation is particularly pertinent: Owing to the central position of the new proletariat in the South, its strength in the global economy (that the workers in the South don't realise) is much greater than it was under the wave of national liberation that swept the world in the 1960s and ’70s. However, the political realization of that strength is not at all given.…”
Section: Conclusion: Unequal Capitalism the Fall Of Workers’ State mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…However, the political realization of that strength is not at all given. The subjective forces are not in place either in the South or in the North.Lauesen and Cope (, 66), with author's own emphasis…”
Section: Conclusion: Unequal Capitalism the Fall Of Workers’ State mentioning
Workers’ agency is important to understand the Chinese working class's formation and gauge its capacity to forge transformative social and political movements. Recent labor study literature posits that class inequality and volatile capital movement leads to stronger labor resistance in post‐socialist China. Drawing on some of the theories on class consciousness and agency, this article re‐conceptualizes workers’ agency, which is broken down into behavioral and cognitive agencies. It examines Chinese workers’ cognitive agency in the megacities and lower‐tier cities via statistical survey data. This analysis of cognitive agency is new to the Chinese labor study. I argue that a relatively low class identification, poor understanding of democracy and politics, and weak sense of solidarity combine to reveal a new working class in post‐socialist China that, in general, shows both weak cognitive agency and growing conservativism. This distinction of workers’ behavioral and cognitive agency is vital as it may eventually challenge all labor interest parties to re‐think their current strategies of labor engagement and organization.
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