Capitalism, Prosumption and Exploitation

With the rise of capitalism and the strong influence of Americanisation on our modern world, we see that the rich do indeed ‘get richer’ while the poor become increasingly victimised.

Globalisation, as defined by Albrow (cited in Rantanen 2005, p. 7) “refers to all those processes by which the peoples of the world are incorporated into a single world society, global society.”

This being said, has globalisation made an improved world society? The victims of trade exploitation would I think say not. With all our advances in technology, our global village seems to have taken a moral dive.

Ritzer and Jurgenson describe the world as being “dominated by capitalism” (Ritzer & Jurgenson 2010, p. 13) and it can be suggested that this social structure still serves our ‘fat cats’—at the expense of the dregs of society.

Just as the internet is exploding with citizen journalism and people starting businesses from home, prosumption is also accelerating. Karl Marx has been known to acknowledge that, “although he fully understood that production always involved consumption (and vice versa), [he] clearly believed that it was production that was pre-eminent in the capitalism of his day” (Ritzer & Jurgenson 2010, p. 14).

Consumption and production used to be two separate entities, with producers and their target buyers clearly defined. Now, with constant international trade going on through facilitators like eBay and Amazon, prosumption is threatening to take over—and has already significantly decreased—traditional trade. Globalisation is demanding more products at a lower price.

This phenomenon, known as McDonaldisation, is making everything bow to Western culture.

Oxfam and other non-for-profit fair trade unions are working stop the exploitation, but capitalism, largely thanks to globalisation, the fight is indeed fierce.

Places like Wal-Mart, which Ritzer and Jurgenson refer to as “America’s cathedrals of consumption”(Ritzer & Jurgenson 2010, p. 16) are companies financially backing this industry of exploitation—whether intentionally or not. Americanisation promotes lower prices in department stores, which pressures people in countries like China to work for smaller and smaller salaries—with the threat of unemployment looming over them if they refuse.

Is prosumption the inevitable evolution of a ‘civilised’, capitalist society, or is it proof of our human tendency to exploit the weaknesses of others? Is it really building a mutually beneficial society, or a prison that traps those born into poverty?

References:

Images:

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Image 2: ‘Oxfam Australia’ retrieved 29 August 2013, <https://www.oxfam.org.au/2011/07/zara-european-brands-exploit-workers-in-bangladesh/>.

Image 3: Boycott China Picture: Madden, C 2013, ‘Chris Madden Cartoons’, retrieved 29 August 2013, <http://www.chrismadden.co.uk/cartoon-gallery/cartoon-boycott-products-made-in-china/>.

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Rantanen, T 2005, ‘Theorizing Media and Globalization’, The Media and Globalization, Sage, London, pp. 1-18.

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The Recycle of Fashion

We live in a remixed world where the question constantly looms in the back of our minds: is anything original? Is it possible to create something new, or is everything just a rehash of what we've previously consumed?

Because of globalisation, the flow of information is so rampant that copying and remixing is only increasing. Take fashion, for instance. New and amateur designers, thanks to technology and widely published books, now have access to all the fashion records of most major countries throughout history.

If an up-and-coming designer goes onto the internet and Google searches a 1800s  wedding gown style,

have they plagiarise the designs of that era when they present a slightly modified version of them to a company or is it simply just a remix?

As file-sharing and the music industry have shown us, intellectual property rights is such a slippery-slope these days, especially for those who would claim that the law is wrong, like some in the file-sharing community do.

In their article Sharing Music Files: Tactics of a challenge to the industry, scholars Martin, Moore and Salter support this, saying, “In analysing the controversy over file–sharing, it is important to note that what counts as injustice — or unfairness, inappropriate behaviour, or any other negative label — varies from person to person” (Martin, Moore & Salter 2010).

The middle road between inspiration and plagiarism is the remix. As with adaptation, you acknowledge the original source when ‘remixing’ an idea, but don’t reference your source officially, especially in areas like fashion.

B Martin, C Moore and C Salter also discuss cover-up as one of the main tactics to get away with stealing other people’s ideas. They say, “This cover–up is selective: within the file–sharing community, downloads can be carried out openly, whereas secrecy and disguise are more likely to be used in relation to outsiders” (Martin, Moore & Salter 2010). This could mean that amateur designers share their sources, but present the idea as original when marketing it to people.

It is commonly acknowledged that fashion moves in cycles, and while evolving somewhat, a lot of the styles are rehashed. As seen in the pictures above, clothing that used to be worn for practical reasons, like overalls, are now being showcased as fashion items. Also hundreds of years ago, tights were part of a typical gentleman’s dress, but now although supposedly obsolete, tights have resurfaced for boys in the form of ‘skins’ used for sports. Styles may be advertised as the ‘latest thing’, but in many cases an original form of that style can be found in fashion centuries ago.

Can we conclude then that although the ingredients we use to create something are the culmination or direct result of things we've consumed, that our end result is certainly personal to us, if not completely original?

References:

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The Explosion of Language

Language used to be a slowly evolving thing—a mass lazily floating along, gathering a word here, a phrase there. But today the evolution of language could more easily be compared to a high speed train creating an air vacuum along the track it travels.

Hatchen and Scotton describe globalisation as “a profound interchange of cultures—a communication revolution” (Hatchen & Scotton 2002, p. 3) which directly relates to how words and phrases are being revolutionised in our postmodern world. Modernity tells us to embrace change and creativity, which must then include text talk.

Almost all of this is thanks to the internet, and a direct product of globalisation. Pieterse Nederveen says in his article Globalisation: Consensus and Controversies that “globalisation is being shaped by technological change” (Nederveen 2004, p. 9). This is shown through the fact that despite slang’s long history in the English language, text talk has now made the phenomena explode.

New words often used to be attributed to particular people, like Shakespeare. Now, with the flow of information picking up speed with incredible force, it’s almost impossible to trace who invented which word or phrase. The best that we can do to keep up is the Urban Dictionary, a publication documenting new colloquial words and sayings as they evolve.

Hatchen and Scotton say that “the media flow of information and news throughout the globe will have a greater impact than education on the world’s ability to understand its problems and dangers” (Hatchen & Scotton 2002, p. 7), meaning that text talk’s main medium (social media) is integral to globalisation’s hegemony.

As the internet makes new trends go viral, protecting intellectual property rights is an ongoing struggle and copyright laws are continually changing to accommodate the accelerated growth of technology.  Text talk phrases—popular acronyms like LOL and ROFL—spread like wildfire and new trends are hard to contain or track.

Globalisation in theory should be about enhancing and improving communication, but as the picture above illustrates, excessive use of slang and text talk actually sometimes inhibits communication. Colloquial lingo further alienates certain groups because there is only a certain amount of the population who can understand them.

Nederveen again comments on communication, saying that "a thread that runs through all globalisation episodes and discourses is increasing connectivity” (Nederveen 2004, p. 9). While this is technically true, has this so-called connectivity actually improved our ability to transmit information to each other?

References:

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