The Effects of Globalization and Liberalized Industrialization on the Working Poor of India
"Map of India." The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html. Last updated 10 February 2005.
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1: MV Sport Sweatshirt sold in the Miami University Bookstore.
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2: Ahmedabad street. Photograph (c) Randolph Langenbach, www.conservationtech.com
Introduction
In recent years, the issue of globalization has grown in cultural and economic relevance. Held and McGrew (2002) outline the different views of this phenomenon in their book Globalization/Anti-Globalization. Throughout their investigation of the globalist perspective, they assert, “…contemporary economic globalization brings with it an increasingly unified world for elites, national, regional and global, but increasing division within nations as the global workforce is segmented, in rich and poor countries alike, into winners and losers,” (Held and McGrew 2002: 54). That is to say that while the new global market has made the rich richer, it has also made the poor that much poorer. Throughout my study, I will link the production of a Miami University sweatshirt (MV Sportswear) to the life of a factory worker in Ahmedabad , India – an examination of ethnicity, religion and socioeconomic status – and demonstrate the consequences, anticipated or not, of a global economy.
Context of India
India could be considered the epitome of diversity in this world. With a population of 1,065,070,607 as of July 2004 (The World Factbook 2005), India stands as one of the most populated nations in the world, and with 2,973,190 km 2 of land, that can mean a crowded home for anyone. Located in Southern Asia, just south of the Himalaya Mountain Range (see map above), India's climate varies from tropical monsoon in the southern portion of the country to a temperate climate in the northern region (The World Factbook). Geographically, India can be divided into three main territories, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, a relatively flat, desert-like area, the Himalayas (together with the Indo-Gangetic Plain termed, “North India”), and the southern Peninsula region. With rolling mountain ranges contrasting the great plateaus of India , the elevation ranges from sea level to an average of 6,000 meters in the Great Himalayan Mountains (Library of Congress 1995).
However, the diversity extends beyond geography and climate. India has one of the most turbulent histories of all civilization, which gives one explanation for its vast and diverse population. A wide range of influences, including a variety of climatic conditions, sociopolitical circumstances, and various but enduring religious and philosophical tendencies, have all shaped India 's history. A Country Study by the Library of Congress explains:
Through its history, India has undergone innumerable episodes involving
military conquests and integration, cultural infusion and assimilation,
political unification and fragmentation, religious toleration and conflict,
and communal harmony and violence. A few other regions in the world
also can claim such a vast and differentiated historical experience, but
Indian civilization seems to have endured the trials of time the longest.
(Library of Congress 1995).
Indeed, from Aryan invasion nearly 5,000 years ago (The World Factbook 2005) to Mughal intrusion in the Middle Ages to the appearance of the British Empire just 250 years ago (The Library of Congress 1995), the Indian identity has been molded by a string of influences. As a result, a variety of ethnicity, religion, and language – 14 official languages (The World Factbook) – exist among the Indian people. Today, India is divided into 35 states (Indian Census 2001) because of these ethnic and linguistic variations.
Also interesting to examine, India has traditionally fostered a relatively patriarchal society, one with what can be recognized as conservative family values. Little voice was given to the women of Hindu marriages, as they were expected to care for their husband's (or even their son's) children. However, throughout the past two decades, there has developed a spectrum of feminist perspectives across the nation.
Women in the north have little autonomy or freedom of movement, limited inheritance
rights in practice, and limited opportunities for control over economic resources. After
marriage, a young woman is expected to remain…under the authority of her husband's
family. …In contrast, women in south India have more autonomy in all of these respects
…more likely to work outside the home and control resources (Jejeebhoy and Sathar).
However, Jejeebhoy and Sathar proceed to explain that the female autonomy levels in India, despite southern liberalism, still remain among the lowest in the world. Still, such a diversity of thinking shows potential promise for Indian social order.
Due to India 's inherent and general diversity, I will focus on one region in particular known for its significance in the textile manufacturing and exporting industry. One of the most industrialized states in the nation, Gujarat is home to over 170 industrial sites (Maps of India 2005). 89% of Gujarat 's population is Hindu (Indian Census 2001). Ethnically, Indo-Aryan descent is most common in this area, and the language of business and government in this region is Gujarati (Library of Congress 1995).
Industrialism began after India gained its independence from Great Britain in 1947 (Library of Congress 1995) and became a primarily state-run economic entity. However, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, state policy changes began “acceptance of liberalization, privatization and globalization […] in 1991 and since then India has seen a relatively rapid integration with the world economy with its well-known consequences for the working people” (World Social Forum 2004). I will examine these consequences throughout this study.
For more context: The Library of Congress Detailed Country Study of India.
Brand: MV Sport
MV Sport is a subsidiary of David Peyser Sportswear, a family run supplier of sports apparel since 1948. Based out of New York , MV Sport specializes in company logos and other licensed products, holding licensure to hundreds of collegiate organizations, Minor League Baseball, the USA Olympics, and the PGA (MV Sport 2005). I could find little else about this corporation or its parent company; in fact, it appears that David Peyser Sportswear has no web page.
However, this company's reputation expands beyond the marketplace for college sweatshirts and blankets. In 2001, the National Labor Committee (NLC) released a report entitled “Made in the USA? Nightmare at the Daewoosa Factory in American Samoa,” which exposed the inhumane conditions prevalent in American Samoa. Among the brands linked was none other than David Peyser Sportswear, specifically MV Sport (NLC Online 2003). After reading this article, it is clearer why these companies seem so secretive.
People
According to my research, this is a glimpse into the daily life of a typical factory worker in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. This is a fictitious individual, and this sketch is merely a projection based upon my research.
Jabhai is a 51-year-old man living in the urban area of Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, India. A practicing Hindu, like 89% of Gujarat's population, Jabhai wakes up every morning at dawn with his wife to bathe – which may consist of cold, dirty water from a water-closet sink – and worship of the gods at the modest altar (the family shrine) constructed within their two room house (Indian Census 2001, Table S00-012). This house is most probably constructed with cement, concrete, and brick, with perhaps a rug or two on the floors. Despite its modesty, however, the house is in good condition, with no major dilapidations (Indian Census 2001 S00-003).
Ahmedabad is a typical Indian city in terms of population. With 3,515,361 people, it is the sixth most populated city in India, with 439,843 people living in slums (Indian Census 2001 Administrative Tables). Jabhai, however, is fortunate enough to have not only a house, but also a job. His work history, however, is troubling.
Because of the cotton-textile industry's heavy concentration in Ahmedabad, Jabhai had no difficulty locating a job working as a laborer for a cotton mill, when he moved there in the late 1970s. This employment allowed him to provide relatively well for his wife, 3 children, and mother, who also lived with the family. While working for this composite mill, he worked under a union and considered himself blessed by the gods with fair wages and security benefits, earning nearly Rs2437 (Rupees) every month (Howell and Kambhampati 1999) while his wife and mother stayed in the home to raise Jabhai's three sons.
However, due to the liberalization of the cotton-textile industry that occurred in the mid-1980s through the early 1990s, the composite mill sector reduced severely in relevance to the cotton-textile industry, and so, therefore, Jabhai's job, along with the jobs of 227,702 other Gujarati mill workers, was eliminated (Howell and Kambhampati 1999).
In Ahmedabad's liberalized cotton-textile industry, the skills of workers like Jabhai are in extremely low demand, and the industry now looks primarily for younger workers with the technical experience and expertise demanded by the new factories (Howell and Kambhampati 1999). Fortunately, Jabhai was lucky enough to join the 44% of these workers able to find re-employment. The majority of these 44% began work as garment-makers (Howell and Kambhampati 1999).
This was all 10 years ago. Today, Jabhai is employed in a workshop specializing in handloom and print-making – much the same specialization as a MV Sport factory – where he conveys materials from one point in the workshop to another. Under the employment of this factory, Jabhai works a minimum of 48 hours a week.
Within the workshop itself, Jabhai is surprised at the number of women he sees working alongside him. While he transports materials throughout the factory, he notices there are men like him working on the looms and print-making machines, as well, most of whom are older than he and sitting next to women. In fact, after working at the workshop long enough, Jabhai learns that some married couples work together, often side-by-side at the workshop, as a means of bringing in a greater income.
Socially speaking, in the workshop there is a sense of equality among the workers, even as they discuss their various caste backgrounds, and Jabhai soon learns a common slogan of these workers: Nangal ellarum velaikararkal tan: We are all merely poor people (De Neve 152). Therefore, the atmosphere within the workshop is quite relaxed: “the ‘culture' of the factory provides workers…with a space where they can momentarily negate the grim reality of multiple hierarchies and everyday toil,” (De Neve 152). Interestingly, Jabhai, when stepping into his workplace, tip-toes out of the social norms of traditionally Hindu gender roles. The woman who sits next to him at lunchtime is considered one of the leaders among the workers, respected and turned to for advice. In fact, the position of power is often subtly asserted by women in the forms of joking, teasing, and flirting (De Neve 155). He is even considering telling his wife that she could get a job at this workshop, a thought Jabhai had never once conceived, but, with his current income, it seems illogical not to consider the possibility.
Jabhai works a minimum of 48 hours in one week (approximately 8 hours/day), earning Rs38 every day, approximately Rs912 every month (LABORSTA 2003). This translates to less than $1/day (Oanda 2005), and that is quite different compared to his previous employer prior to the liberalization of the cotton-textile industry. To gain some perspective, according to the International Labor Organization's LABORSTA database, 1kg of rice alone costs Rs30.36, nearly an entire day's worth of Jabhai's wages. Thus, I would conclude that Rs38/day is hardly a living wage, and therefore other members of Jabhai's family (perhaps even his children) undoubtedly would have to work, also. After working at this factory for one month, Jabhai realizes he should go against his more traditional values, and consider the possibility of a working wife, as well.
Photos of Ahmedabad (c) Randolph Langenbach, www.conservationtech.com.
Process
Attempting to trace the production of this sweatshirt from the rack of the Miami University Bookstore back to the hands of an Indian textile worker has been quite a challenge, and MV Sport/David Peyser Sportswear were of no help whatsoever, other than labeling the nation of production on the sweatshirt's tag. Therefore, due to this lack of communication, the procedures that I followed in creating this character-sketch serve as vital to the success of my study. Here I will outline this process.
I attempted contact with MV Sport on three separate occasions, February 1, 15 and 25, each with a polite email, explaining my intention, as a student, to ascertain information as to the potential location of their factory. As it turns out, email is the only form of contact available on their company website: the “Contact Us” link is simply a prompt to open Microsoft Outlook, the email program, leaving only a very impersonal medium of communication.
Also striking me as odd, I was able to find no website or contact information for the parent company, David Peyser Sportswear. In fact, the only relevant details yielded by a Google search on the internet led me to learn of MV Sport's involvement in the 2001 Daewoosa Factory scandal in American Samoa. This NLC article then led me to the address and phone number of MV Sport Headquarters in New York. However, phone calls have yielded no results either.
As a result of this mystery hovering about David Peyser and MV Sport, I was left with no tools other than research and speculation. The first task that lay before me as an anthropologist was to specify a region of India to study. I did this by examining numerous demographic, economic, and political maps of India at MapsofIndia.com, in order to gauge where the cotton-textile industry seemed most prevalent. Determining that Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh are the two most industrial states of India, I then referred to an article titled, "Liberalization and Labour: The Fate of Retrenched Workers in the Cotton Textile Industry in India,” (Howell and Kambhampati: 1999). This article informed me of the cities in which the cotton-textile industry is concentrated. I chose Ahmedabad due to central location within the state of Gujarat, along with its importance to the industry.
From there, I constantly referred to the Indian Census of 2001 and the Country Study of India by the Library of Congress, to make claims on the tendencies of citizens from that area, from religion and ethnicity to economic and family status to most common age of workers in the area. Also, the previously mentioned journal article was helpful in lending insights into the economic status and history of this factory worker. In terms of the social aspect of Jabhai's new factory, Jejeebhoy and Sathar's article provided a helpful perspective in understanding the progression of female autonomy.
All in all, however, the secrecy that MV Sport and David Peyser Sportswear have established about their operations abroad is obvious, and, while the motivations for that secrecy may not be quite as clear, it seems to me that openness with the public would only serve their cause. After all, “MV Sport/Weatherproof is committed to the highest standards of business practices and has been a member of the Fair Labor Association since 2001," (MV Sport 2005). What have they got to hide? Does it have anything to do with their most recent publicity regarding their involvement in the "Nightmare in American Samoa?" This recent history, coupled with the secrecy of this corporation, leads me to wonder: despite the comfort the workers may have with each other, how safe are the conditions in these factories, beyond the substandard wages? Sometimes people band together to persevere through difficult surroundings.
"American Samoa Sweatshop Owner Convicted of Human Trafficking," (NLC).
Conclusion
What is so striking about Jabhai's story is his eventual consideration to ask his wife for income assistance, marking a huge shift in Indian social mentality. Ahmedabad is a part of mid-western India; therefore, it's difficult to know exactly where it stands on this feminist spectrum stretching from north to south. However, it seems possible that the liberalization of industry that cost thousands their jobs on the one hand created a sort of egalitarian attitude toward workers on the other. However, this inadvertent and small step toward gender equality comes at a great price, in that these small handloom-workshop owners are willing to hire anybody, as long as the profit margin remains wide. To business-people all around the world, the development of India's cotton-textile industry means more efficiency and profit. Yet, such a substantial drop in wage/income for the social elite of this Gujarat city stands as tangible evidence for the impact of the spread of industrialization to otherwise deindustrialized nations, and it is dangerous to assume these effects are always positive. To Jabhai and his family, that development means a harder day's work for less pay. While it may mean a small advancement of women's rights, it could also lead to a breakdown in a deeply rooted cultural tradition. But most importantly of all, for Jabhai and his family, it could mean the difference between sustenance and starvation.
Internet References Cited
Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA)
2005 World Factbook: India. Electronic document, http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html
accessed 1 February 2005.
This website is an entry in the CIA World Factbook, an online atlas
containing vital information/history for all the countries of the world.
Government of India
2001 Census of India 2001 - Index of Data Released. Electronic document,
http://www.censusindia.net/results/2001census_data_index.html
accessed 3 March 2005.
This is the census data India collected from its citizens in 2001, organized
into several charts and tables, displaying information ranging from
income to household size to physical state of one's house.
International Labor Organization (ILO)
2003 LABORSTA Internet, Labor Statistics - October Inquiry Data. Electronic
document, http://laborsta.ilo.org
accessed 3 March 2005.
This site contains laborer statistical data regarding income and living
situations, organized by nation.
Langenbach, Randolph
2004 India. Electronic documents, http://www.conservationtech.com/india-UNESCO/INDIA-home.htm
accessed 25 March 2005.
This website contains pictures of Ahmedabad, taken both before and after
the Buhj earthquake of 2001.
Maps of India
2005 Maps of India. Electronic documents, http://www.mapsofindia.com
accessed 26 February 2005.
This site contains numerous geological, geographical, political, demographical, industrial, and economic break-downs of India.
MV Sport/Weatherproof, Inc.
2005 Company Profile. Electronic document, http://www.mvsport.com/MV_home_site/company_profile.html
accessed 25 January 2005.
This is MV Sport's company profile, detailing the company's history.
National Labor Committee (NLC)
2003 American Samoa Sweatshop Owner Convicted of Human Trafficking.
Electronic document, http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/archive/samoa/
accessed 1 March 2005.
This is a press release regarding the misconduct of a factory owner
in American Samoa.
OANDA
2005 The Currency Site: Foreign Exchange Services and Trading - FX Converter
- 164 Currency Converter. Electronic document, http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic
accessed 3 March 2005.
This site is a currency converter based on current exchange rates.
World Social Forum
2004 India. Electronic document, http://www.wsfindia.org/generalinfo.php
accessed 3 March 2005.
This website provides a historical background of India.
Peer-Reviewed References Cited
-
De Neve, Geert
2001 Towards an Ethnography of the Workplace: Hierarchy, Authority and Sociability on the South Indian Textile Shop-floor. South Asia Research 21(2): 133-160.
- Federal Research Division,
Library of Congress
1995 India : Country Studies. Electronic document, http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/intoc, accessed 28 February 2005.
- Held, David and Anthony McGrew
2002 Globalization/Anti-Globalization. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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Howell, Jude and Uma Kambhampati
1999 Liberalization and Labour: The Fate of Retrenched Workers in the Cotton Textile Inudstry in India. Oxford Development Studies 27(1): 109-128.
- Shireen J. Jejeebhoy; Zeba A. Sathar
2001 Women's Autonomy in India and Pakistan : The Influence of Religion and Region. Population and Development Review 27(4): 687-712.