Globalization I: Postmodernity

Globalization I: Postmodernity Post-Industrialism and Consumer Society

Starting Questions • What do you know about Postmodernism? And postmodernity? Globalization? • How are they inter-related? How are they related to postcolonialism?

Outline • Definitions and Connections • From Modernity to Postmodernity – • Fordism to post-Fordism • Post-Industrial Society • Disorganized capitalism • Service industry and Consumer Society • Globalization: Economic Issues; Taiwan as an example

Definitions (1): Postmodernism & Postmodernity • Controversial: • What is the ‘post’ here? What is modernism? • Variously defined as a period, a mode of thinking, and a style? • Some declare it ‘passé.’ • postmodernity and postmodern conditions— post-industrialism, multinational/global capitalism and over-all commodification • Postmodernism –culture in music, literature, architecture, popular culture and politics • Features：Depthlessness無深度, pastiche拼貼、metafictional (self-reflexive後設)、ambiguity 模擬兩可、questioning meta-narrative 質疑大敘述／真理、eclectic折衷、boundary-crossing 跨界、pluralistic 多元, etc.

Definitions (2): Postmodernism vs. Postcolonialism • Similarity -- • De-centering, Questioning Master Narratives and other Authorities • multiplicity in language and culture  parody, ambiguity and contamination. • Contradictions -- • History: e.g. Foucault -- The death of History   Re-Writing histories (To be colonized is to be ‘removed from history’ Albert Memmi ） • Subjectivity: pastiche 拼貼、contingent 臨時性 constructing subjectivities • Aestheticized politics vs. counter discourse for social change • Global capitalism vs. 最後的據點（ the only true counter-discourse, truly "past the last post."）

Definitions (3): Globalization • Definition: the product of processes through which goods, services, capital, people, information, and ideas flow across borders and lead to greaterintegration of economies and societies. • Cultural globalization –caused by the spreading of English language, media culture, telecommunication, migrating people, colonialism, international capitalism and international organizations. • Economic globalization – also caused by organization such as World Bank, free trade unions --such as 北美貿易協定NAFTA,關稅暨貿易總協定(ＧＡＴＴ)and 世界貿易組織(ＷＴＯ) –which support open and expanded market. (Clips: revolutions in the 90’s)

(chap 5 pp. 99-101) Keynesianism (State economy) Fordism – Standardization (large-scale production of standardized good) Rational Organization -- assembly line; full employment and centralized management  scientific management; industrial prosperity Post-Fordism (101) (rigidity of Fordism in investment, labor organization and in social welfare). Flexible, variable production (e.g. cell phone faceplate) Just-in-Time stock management Sub-contracting to horizontally related ‘independent’ companies.(e.g. Nike/寶成是紡織業。 ) Reorganization of labor (pp. 102) (clip: debate and inter-connections) Fordism to post-Fordism

(2) Neo-Fordism or Regulation School • Stresses the role of social and cultural relations in stablizing the advanced capitalist economies. • While diversification of companies and internationalization happens, labourers and consumers are still regulated and conditioned: • intensification of labour • Emphasis on lifestyle in consumer culture.

(3) Post-Industrial Society • (textbook chap 5 104) • A shift from industrial manufacturing to service industry • A shift of emphasis from production to consumption • Capital – information or knowledge • the dominance of 1) 電腦新貴 or PMC --Professorial-managerial class; 2) service workers

Disorganized Capitalism • (106-107) • Concentration and centralization fo industrial, banking and commerical capital; •  Flexible forms of work organization • (the rest skipped)

Consumer Society • (pp. 108 – • Overall commodification – the lines between high arts and popular culture get blurred; • Economy of Signs: signs replacing use values. • Lifestyle: Communal values (external validation) replaced by personal lifestyles (assemblage of goods, clothes, practices, experiences, appearance, etc.) • Against the above argument: consumers re-articulation of the social (110)

Globalization: Controversial Issues –economy • Increasing discrepancy between the rich and the poor • plutocracy (government by the wealthy few)–”The Commanding Heights” • National sovereignty questioned, the farmers suffer. • Instability in employment (e.g. The newly poor in Taiwan) • exploitation of third-world laborers (e.g. Nike, Disney, clip) • The need to meet the trends.

Globalization: Controversial Issues –economy e.g. • 台灣雖是全球化的參與者，但究竟是「全球化」的主導力量？抑或只是「被全球化」所整合？如果把全球化當成一個供應鍊條(chain)來看，殘酷的事實是，目前台灣多數公司都稱不上是全球品牌的企業，只能在供應鍊的上游和中游找到自己的位置。但這不必然說明小國就是被全球化，畢竟，芬蘭那麼小，也出了一個NOKIA；荷蘭也不大，卻早就有一個飛利浦。(中國時報,財經產業920205) 競合 (Co-opetition); production of parts to that of brands

References • Globalization defined http://progressiveliving.org/globalization_defined.htm • COMMANDING HEIGHTS The Battle for the World Economy Daniel Yerginhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/(traces the battle between State economy and market economy to two economists: John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich von Hayek ) • Related Clips: 1) Globalization and terrorism; 2) economic revolutions in 1990’s; 3) Fall of Communism: China’s Opening their market; 4) Mexico case (interconnection of politics and economy); 5) flows 6) capitalism; 7) the poor (e.g. snake kids) 8) For and against economic globalization

Globalization I: Postmodernity