Final Integration Paper
Final Integration Paper
Question 1
Capitalist relations in the society contribute to the development of a number of infectious diseases. This tendency began in 1400 when capitalism started to develop at fast pace. On each stage of capitalism development so called “signature diseases” emerged. For example, “Bubonic plague in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries emerged as a result of the opening of trade routes to Asia, carried by merchants and warriors from the middle of the then world system west to Europe and east to China.” (Robbins, ch. 8). Urbanization processes started at that time when industrialization processes initiated by manufacturers attracted more people from villages to move to larger cities. People started to sexually interact with each other. Syphilis emerged as a result of increased sexual contacts between people in towns and cities in 16th and 17th centuries. More diseases emerged as a result of increasing population density: “Tuberculosis was the disease of the nineteenth century, spread through the air in the densely packed cities and slums of Europe, the United States, and the periphery.” (Robbins, ch. 8).
As Robbins stated, there are three factors influencing environment namely: population, technology, and consumption (ch. 7). We cannot influence population density because it is a matter of free choice of any human, but we can change technology used for manufacturing products and we can reduce consumption. Robbins argued that: “The environmental problem could be alleviated if consumers simply said “enough is enough” and stopped consuming as much as they do.” (ch. 7). The problem is that capitalism imposed humanity the style of life that is neither healthy nor wise. Robbins claimed that people do not need to consume much sugar and beef – the habit that was formed long ago when capitalism started to develop. Workers employed at industrial enterprises worked more than 12 hours and needed much calories derived from high-calories products such as sugar and beef to be able to sustain this workload. Presently, the majority of people do not need high-calories diet because physical labor was substituted by machine hours. People who used to consume many calories started to get fat: many American have problems with their weight because of wrong diet they keep. In addition, farming and agriculture in this form damages environment. Businesses and agricultural enterprises have to organize its work so it do not cause harm to the nature.
Besides, Robbins touched upon the dilemma of reducing consumption and its economic consequences: “the average American child will do twice the environmental damage of a Swedish child, three times that of an Italian child, thirteen times that of a Brazilian child, thirty-five times that of an Indian child, and 280 times that of a Chadian or Haitian child” (ch.7). However, reducing consumption level will inevitability result in economic disruption.
The protest against the expansion of capitalism culture seemed to be inevitable since not all people contributed from its development. Certainly, many people started to live lives people could hardly imagine 500, 600, even 100 years ago. Now they have goods and privileges people living several centuries ago could not have. However, people from developed countries mostly benefited from the expansion of capitalism culture while the rest of the world suffered from it. Robbins wrote the following about those who stayed on the periphery of the developed world:
“Farmers and peasants who lost their land and were made dependent on sporadic wage labor are not better off; women, certainly in the periphery, may not be better off; the quality of the lives of children in many countries declined with the globalization of the economy; indigenous peoples have not fared well; those condemned to live in conditions in which disease thrives, those suffering because of environmental degradation, and those forced by the segmentation of labor to work for less than a living wage cannot be said to be better off.” (ch. 10).
According to the theory of protest, protests cannot arise if there is no reason for it. The history of social studies is full of stories containing various social protests. Revolutions in Mexico, China, Russia, Algeria, Vietnam, and England were initiated by peasants. Robbins mentioned that more recent protests generated by “peasants in Malaysia, Kenya, and Mexico resemble the peasant rebellions of centuries ago against landlords, nobles, elites, or whoever controlled their land and whose demands became excessive or who threatened peasant survival.” (Ch. 11). Thus, the resistance originated from the natural desire to defend their rights to live on the piece of land feeding them. However, capitalists needed this land to generate wealth. It was the reason why unarmed peasant farmers called the Zapatistas in Chiapas were brave enough to resist “Mexican military equipped with modern weapons supplied largely by the United States” (ch. 10). American businessmen fed up with multiple benefits and privileges, were going to take away the last means of supporting poor peasants’ families in Mexico. According to Pobbins: “Social protest in the form of marches, worker’s strikes, religious and social movements, terrorism, and revolution seems an endemic feature of our emerging global culture.” (ch. 10). Obviously, it was the protests directed against capitalism culture, its main ideas and concepts. Besides, the protest was supported by many social entities including civil rights organizations, organizations protesting religious, gender, or ethnic discrimination, militia groups protesting “illegal government actions” and religious groups “protesting the increasing secularization of society or what they see as threats to the traditional family” (Ch. 10). Indeed, capitalism culture threatens not only environmental disasters, but damaging the systems of natural values as well.
Question 2
According to Robbins, capitalism culture created a number of problems to the world society including “Hunger, poverty, the spread of disease, environmental degradation, exploitation of women, children, and minorities, and global conflict and militarization are not imaginary dangers or problems.” (Ch. 13). One of the multiple problems is the problem of overproduction. Robbins gave an example of automobile industry produced 50 million of automobiles instead of 40 million required. Overproduction created the problem of cars distribution since market was able to consume only 40 million of cars. However, automakers hoped “the problem of selling this surplus is someone else’s problem, so they continue to produce cars.” (Ch. 7). The most disappointing thing is that businesses do not try to either isolate or fix this problem. Moreover, “objecting to perpetual economic growth will not win many friends; capitalists require it for their profits, laborers for their wages, consumers for the "stuff" they are convinced they need, and nation-states for their power, revenue, and legitimacy” (Ch. 13). Solving the problems caused by capitalism culture means economic decline, poverty, and unemployment. On the one hand, manufacturing excessive quantities of goods leads to overproduction; on the other hand, employees have to work somewhere to earn their living and to pay their bills. No one wants to return to the life style our predecessors had many centuries ago. However, Robbins noted that: “Our consumption of goods obviously is a function of our culture.” (Ch. 7). Robbins stated that to change our consumption patterns we have to understand “how people are turned into consumers, how luxuries are turned into necessities” (Ch. 7). Only changing our culture and our way of thinking we can help our planet and ourselves. Thus, the capitalism culture should be substituted by another culture promoting respect for nature, responsibility for our actions related environment, and economical use of natural resources. Also, the government of the developed countries should pay a lot of attention to developing regulations related environmental protection and imposing strict limits on actions causing harm to environment. If capitalists do not think about the issues that arise from their activity, somebody have to think about it for the sake of future of mankind. Otherwise, mankind is threatened by extinction.
I consider that a lot of attention should be paid to environmentally sustainable manufacturing. Human society produced enough goods that are not needed. Many of these goods are manufactured at low cost using cheap labor and unfair trade. Humanity has to realize that this is the way to nowhere. We have to demand of businesses to stop unfair trade: “The first sweetened cup of hot tea to be drunk by an English worker was a significant historical event, because it prefigured the transformation of an entire society, a total remaking of its economic and social basis.” (Mintz cited in Robbins, ch. 7). A particular attention should be paid to elimination of exploitation of children labor in developing countries. Stricter regulation should be imposed to the corporations that violate these restrictions.
The goods that are manufactured now do not belong to the goods of primary needs. If businesses manufacture more goods to generate more wealth, the resources available on the Earth will not be enough to satisfy all human needs at full. We have to think about succeeding generations: “If the life-supporting ecosystems of the planet are to survive for future generations, the consumer society will have to dramatically curtail its use of resources—partly by shifting to high-quality, low-input durable goods and partly by seeking fulfillment through leisure, human relationships, and other nonmaterial avenues.” (Durning cited in Robbins, ch. 7). For this reason, environmental protection should be prioritized and promoted by all means.
Also, I think that we have to fight with inequality because many societies in Africa live in poor conditions. They do not have many goods that are available for people from European countries and US. The goods produced by people from the Third World could be offered to them at low prices so they at least have necessary products they cannot afford because of relatively high prices.
The most important point is that people should require help from governments in solving this problem. Governments should take a number of measures related regulation of manufacturing, environmental sustainability, and fair trade. The governments of the developed countries should be addressed first. People have to change their perception of the problem because we do not realize the importance of the problem. I think the governmental programs targeting ecological sustainability should be develop as soon as possible as the problem is beginning to blow at fast pace.
Another important issue is using natural resources and electricity. All people should be encouraged to use water and electricity economically. At the present time, US consume 10,127 units of energy in coal equivalent while Bangladesh consumes only 69 units of energy in coal equivalent (Robbins, ch. 7). If everyone on the Earth thinks about it, we could achieve great results. We have to encourage large corporations to stop consuming too much energy or use alternative ecologically friendly energy sources. Also, corporations could be encouraged to use recycled materials not to use more natural resources that are scarce. Besides, reduction of production volumes will also help save natural resources and make environmental pollution less intensive because I do not think that it is possible to stop manufacturing as businesses refuse to do it.
If we add to this people’s day-to-day acts of resistance, even just symbolical ones, against what they consider oppressive conditions or excessive demands made by others in such everyday settings as the workplace and school, we begin to appreciate how much of our lives involve, in one way or another, social protest.” (Ch. 10).
If each person contributes into the process, it would become a wave that could move the mountain of capitalist culture that was exalted 600 centuries ago. Everyone should contribute to the process of saving our planet and leave unpolluted environment to our successors.
References
Robbins, R. H. (2011). Global problems and the culture of capitalism. 5th ed. New Jersey: Pearson.
