What’s a Christian to think? an attempt at a Christian view about globalization Bruce Duggan Nov 2011

What’s a Christian to think?an attempt at a Christian view about globalization

Bruce Duggan

Nov 2011

a disclaimer:this isn’t a class

an attempt at a Christian view about globalization

informed opinion

$0

1820

1840

1860

1880

1900

1920

1940

1960

1980

2000

$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000

world trade in goods

A Short Survey

1. When considering buying a good or product, what characteristics do you prefer it to have?

global

unknown

big

machine-made

artificial

local

known

small

hand-made

natural

A Short Survey

2. Think of what you’ve consumed in the last 24 hours.

Where do those goods or services fall on these continuums?

global

unknown

big

machine-made

artificial

local

known

small

hand-made

natural

A Short Survey

3. How close are your stated preferences to your actions?

global

unknown

big

machine-made

artificial

local

known

small

hand-made

natural

What are we to think?

2 possible views: we are oppressed we are compelled

Possible Views

we are oppressedThe author of Ephesians writes: ‘Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world...’

This is the language the American and British governments have used about terrorists, but…it is used more appropriately of the structure of world trade, and especially of the MNCs [Multi-National Corporations]…

Timothy Gorringe Principalities & Powers: A Framework for Thinking about Globalization 2004

Possible Views

we are oppressed and, simultaneously, we oppress

The world trade system is unjust….

Increased exports also lead to environmental destruction and disintegration of communities….

Economic globalisation leads to structural violence…

World Council of Churches Economic Globalization A Critical View and an Alternative Vision: Dossier 62001

Justice, Peace and Creation team, World Council of Churches Economic Globalization – A Critical View and an Alternative Vision Dossier 6

Possible Views


‘These people are trading in human misery. Elliott Associates are picking over the bones of the Peruvian economy like a pack of vultures. It may be just business to them but to the children of Peru it is school books, medicines and clean water.’

This is the reality of globalization, the true nature of the global market.

Gorringe

Possible Views


we are compelledAmerican demand for goods and services is not organic. That is, the demands are not internally created by a consumer.…

[D]emands are created by advertisers and the "machinery for consumer-demand creation" that benefit from increased consumer spending.

John Kenneth GalbraithThe Affluent Society1958

Possible Views

we are compelledAmericans are beyond apologizing for their lifestyle of scorched-earth consumerism….

Time was, decadence on this scale was something to fear…. But somehow….[w]e have decided not to avoid decadence but to embrace it.

Harry Flood “Manufacturing Desire” Adbusters2000

Possible Views

we are compelledI say that ‘consumerism’ is a piece of false consciousness, and indeed a tool for our continued and growing enslavement.

Rupert ReadOne World Column2011

Possible Views

we are compelledIdeology is a process accomplished by the so-called thinker consciously, indeed, but with a false consciousness. The real motives impelling him remain unknown to him…

Friedrich EngelsLetter to Franz Mehring1893

Possible Views

we are compelled

The Story of Stuff 16min 18sec

Possible Views

we are compelled

Possible Views


we are compelled manufactured desires false consciousness

Why do I disagree?

> flawed application of biblical texts

> “false consciousness” is a flawed idea

> globalization is not oppression

> flawed application of biblical texts Ephesians 6:12 isn’t about human institutions biblical texts don’t see global trade as wrong

> flawed application of biblical texts Ephesians 6:12 isn’t about human institutions

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12 NASB

> flawed application of biblical texts Ephesians 6:12 isn’t about human institutions biblical texts don’t see global trade as wrong

Solomon

Tyre

nard

purple cloth

grain

trade in luxuries

trade in necessities

Why do I disagree?

> flawed application of biblical texts

> “false consciousness” is a flawed idea

> globalization is not oppression benefits outweigh harms

inflation-adjusted per capita GDP

$0

$5,000

$10,000

$15,000

$20,000

$25,000

0

50

0 A

D

10

00

AD

15

00

AD

20

00

AD

Angus Madison, Historical Statistics of the World Economy: 1-2008 AD http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/Historical_Statistics/horizontal-file_02-2010.xls

Effects (?) of Globalization

inflation-adjusted per capita GDPworld


Japan

Canada

$0

$10,000

$20,000

$30,000

1820

1840

1860

1880

1900

1920

1940

1960

1980

2000


world

India

China

Japan

Nigeria

Canada

$0

18

20

18

40

18

60

18

80

19

00

19

20

19

40

19

60

19

80

20

00

$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000


$0

$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000

$10,000

$12,000

$14,000

$16,000

$18,000

$20,000

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

South Korea

North Korea

world per capita GDP

The World Bank World Development Indicators & Global Development Finance http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators

$0

1820

1840

1860

1880

1900

1920

1940

1960

1980

2000

$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000

20%

40%

60%

% of GDP derived from trade

world trade in goods

> globalization is not oppression benefits outweigh harms

• correlated with (and perhaps causally related to) wealth creation poverty reduction health improvements education improvements

The Pew Global Attitudes ProjectQ.18a Please tell me whether you completely agree, mostly agree, mostly disagree or completely disagree with the following statements:

a. Most people are better off in a free market economy, even though some people are rich and some are poor.

Pew Research Center 2007 World Publics Welcome Global Trade - But Not Immigration http://www.pewglobal.org/files/pdf/258.pdf /

Canada

Japan

India

China

Nigeria

completely agree mostly agree agree disagreemostly disagreecompletely disagree

Objections

> globalization harms the poor1. child labour

2. migrant labour & sweatshops

3. the poor get poorer

4. globalization exacerbates inequality

> globalization is unsustainable5. limitless growth is impossible

6. globalization destroys the environment

1. child labour

International Labor Organization International Programme on the Elimination of

Child Labour2010 report:

“Accelerating action against Child Labour”

http://www.ilo.org/ipec/lang--en/index.htm

1. child labour


1.6b children

215m child labourers

53m under 15

0

50m

100m

150m

200m

250m

2000 2004 2008

under 15

1. child labour


agriculture 129m

services 55m

industry 15m

not defined 16m

2. migrant labour & sweatshops

The Economist Jul 29, 2010 “The Next China”

3. the poor get poorer

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/historical/inequality/IE-1.pdf

$9,132 $11,034

% living on less than $2/day

World Bank World Development Indicators http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

1980 1990 2000

India

China

Nigeria

BrazilMexico

% li

ving

on

less

than

$2/

day

But Won’t We Hit a Wall?

Paul & Ann EhrlichThe battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death...

The Population Bomb, 1968

Most of the people who are going to die in the greatest cataclysm in the history of man have already been born.

"Eco-Catastrophe!“, 1969

Due to a combination of ignorance, greed, and callousness, a situation has been created that could lead to a billion or more people starving to death.

The End of Affluence, 1974

Paul & Ann Ehrlich, quoted by Ed Regis in “The Doomslayer”, Wired http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.02/ffsimon_pr.html /

But Won’t We Hit a Wall?

Meadows et al. The Limits to Growth

1972; 2004

http://limitstogrowth.net//

Discussion?

Vesna Dimitrijevic and Boban Tripkovic “Spondylus and Glycymeris bracelets: trade reflections at Neolithic Vinca-Belo Brdo” 2006

~5,000 BCE

~2,500 BCE

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Iraq´s Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur´s Royal Cemetery

50,0

00

40,0

00

30,0

00

20,0

00

10,0

00

now

capi

talis

mgl

obal

izat

ion

local exchangeluxury trade

Inflation

-50%

-25%

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite. John Kenneth Galbraith

“Global” trade in food

[A]t Myra in Lycia….the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it….

Acts 27 NASB

A Short Survey

3. Consider all the things you carried with you into this room—including your clothing.

What percentage of those things are over on the left, and how many on the right?

global

impersonal

big

machine-made

artificial

local

personal

small

hand-made

natural

inflation-adjusted per capita GDP

$0

$5,000

$10,000

$15,000

$20,000

$25,000

0

500

1000

1500

1800

2000

world


India

China

Japan

Nigeria

Canada

Portugal

Hungary

world

$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000

$10,000

$12,000

$14,000

1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

https://uwaterloo.ca/canadian-index-wellbeing/resources/galleries/domain-graphs

http://www.oecd.org/statistics/betterlifeinitiativemeasuringwell-beingandprogress.htm

Documents

What’s a Christian to think? an attempt at a Christian view about globalization Bruce Duggan Nov 2011