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The Global MarketplaceWhat’s a Christian to think?
an attempt at a Christian viewabout market globalization
Bruce Duggan
Nov 2011
a disclaimer:this isn’t a class
informed opinion
an attempt at a Christian viewabout market globalization
$6 trillion
$12 trillion
$18 trillion
1950 1970 1990 2010
global tradeUS$ equivalents
adjusted for inflation
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
“GLOBALIST”“LOCALIST”
What are we to think?
proposed views: we are oppressed we are compelled
Proposed 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
Proposed 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
Proposed Views
we are oppressed and, simultaneously, we oppress
‘These people are trading in human misery. Elliott Associates are picking over the bones of the Peruvian economy like a pack 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
Proposed Views
we are oppressed and, simultaneously, we oppress
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
Proposed 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
Proposed 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
Proposed 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
Proposed Views
we are compelled
The Story of Stuff 16min 18sec
Proposed Views
we are compelled
Proposed Views
we are oppressed and, simultaneously, we oppress
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
$6 trillion
$12 trillion
$18 trillion
1950 1970 1990 2010
Inflation-adjustedworld trade
$6 trillion
$12 trillion
$18 trillion
$0
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
world GDP per person
Inflation-adjustedworld trade
1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
child survival to age 5
$0
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
world GDP per person
1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
25%
50%
75%
100%
$0
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
world GDP per person
1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
25
50
75
life expectancy
child survival to age 5
$0
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
world GDP per person
1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
life expectancy
child survival to age 5
25%
50%
75%
100%
ratio of girls to boys enrolled in primary school
world
India
China
Japan
Nigeria
Canada
1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
$0
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
$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
> flawed application of biblical texts
> “false consciousness” is a flawed idea
> 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 ProjectGrowing trade ties between countries are…
very good somewhat good
objections
> globalization harms the poor1. the poor get poorer
2. child labour flourishes
3. globalization exacerbates inequality
> globalization is unsustainable4. won’t we hit a wall?
1. the poor get poorer?
World Bank World Development Indicators http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators
25%
50%
75%
100%
1980 1990 2000
India
China
Nigeria
BrazilMexico
% li
ving
on
less
than
$2/
day
2. child labour flourishes?
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
2. child labour flourishes?
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/lang--en/index.htm
1.6b children
215m child labourers
53m under 15 0
50m
100m
150m
200m
250m
2000 2004 2008
under 15
2. child labour flourishes?
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/lang--en/index.htm
agriculture 129m
services 55m
industry 15m
not defined 16m
2. migrant labour & sweatshops
The Economist Jul 29, 2010 “The Next China”
3. exacerbating inequality?
$50,000
$100,000
$150,000
1976 1986 1996 2006
average after-tax income, by quintile, inflation-adjusted
3. exacerbating inequality?
4. won’t we hit a wall?
The 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
“GLOBALIST”
global
impersonal
big
machine-made
artificial
local
personal
small
hand-made
natural
“LOCALIST”
50,0
00
40,0
00
30,0
00
20,0
00
10,0
00
now
capi
talis
mgl
obal
ist
localist distance trade in luxury goods
What’s a Christian to think?
Inflation
-50%
-25%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
world
Angus Madison, Historical Statistics of the World Economy: 1-2008 AD http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/Historical_Statistics/horizontal-file_02-2010.xls
Japan
Canada
$10,000
$20,000
$30,000
1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
India
China
Nigeria
Portugal
Hungary
world
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
$10,000
$12,000
$14,000
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
~2,500 BCE
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Iraq´s Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur´s Royal Cemetery
Vesna Dimitrijevic and Boban Tripkovic “Spondylus and Glycymeris bracelets: trade reflections at Neolithic Vinca-Belo Brdo” 2006
~5,000 BCE
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
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite. John Kenneth Galbraith
Possible Explanations
We are oppressed[T]he capitalistic method[‘s]….one-sided control of economic power tempts to exploitation and oppression; it directs the production process of society primarily toward the creation of private profit rather than the service of human needs; it demands autocratic management and strengthens the autocratic principles in all social affairs; it has impressed a materialistic spirit on our whole civilization.Rauschenbusch ibid
“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
Angus Madison, Historical Statistics of the World Economy: 1-2008 AD http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/Historical_Statistics/horizontal-file_02-2010.xls
India
China
Japan
Nigeria
Canada
