The Political Economy of “Transnational Business Feminism”

This article traces the emergence of a politico-economic project of “transnational business feminism” (TBF) over the past decade. This project – which is being developed by a coalition of states, financial institutions, the UN, corporations, NGOs and others – stresses the “business case” for gender equality by arguing that investments made in women can (and should) be measured in terms of the cost savings to families and communities, as well as in terms of boosting corporate profitability and national competitiveness. This article uses a feminist historical materialist framework to argue that TBF is facilitating the further entrenchment of the power of corporations to create “expert” knowledges about both “gender” and “development.” Using the Nike-led “Girl Effect” campaign as an example, it is argued that TBF is promoting a naturalized and essentialized view of women and gender relations that ignores the historical and structural causes of poverty and gender-based inequality. It is also helping to reproduce the same neoliberal macroeconomic framework that has created and sustained gender-based and other forms of oppression via the global feminization of labor, the erosion of support for social reproduction and the splintering of feminist critiques of capitalism.     

Help Wanted:Career Fairs Attempt to Meet Market Economy Demands

WITHIN the past 15 years, Chinese economic reform has brought with it a market-oriented economy that has broken up the traditional management mode of the centralized allocation of labor under the planned economy system. Talent, the primary factor to promote the success of an enterprise, is badly needed. All kinds of services that recruit talented personnel have sprung up. In Beijing alone, several hundred agencies have been established, where talent exchange fairs often are held. Women who are confronted with a crowded job market face many challenges     

“The Vital Force”: Visuality and the National Economy

Although it has often been conceived as a material or already‐existing kind of category, the “economy”, before it can be governed, must first be “made up” and constituted in particular ways. This paper seeks to contribute to recent genealogies of the “economy” by highlighting the role of one particular “cultural” technology–the techniques of visuality–in the making up of the national economy during the interwar and postwar periods. To develop this analysis, this paper reviews the ways in which private and public financial initiatives turned to visuality and advertising as a way to appeal more directly to and mobilize working class and everyday populations. In these appeals to “popular finance” visual techniques were used to diagram both a reworked conception of the national economy as well as the modes of citizenship key to this rationality of national economic space. This case also helps underscore the heterogeneity with which the national economy was assembled as a mode of economic governance constituted in multiple and never‐completed kinds of ways. Highlighting this heterogeneity, this paper concludes, is important especially in the context of discussions of “globalization” which are, once again, provoking questions relating to the very making of economic space, practice and identity.     

Social Economy and Home Care Services in Quebec: Co-Production or Co-Construction?

Third sector organizations have always played a significant role in the supply of home support services in Quebec, but this supply of services attained a crucial development phase in 1996, with the creation of 100 or so domestic help social economy enterprises (DHSEEs). These DHSEEs complemented the supply of public services delivered by the Quebec state, thus de facto taking part in the dynamics of co-production of services in the context of a mixed economy including the third sector. However, beyond that co-production, these enterprises also have to position themselves in a process of co-construction with the state, that is, in the joint, partnership-oriented construction of public policy, which provides the framework for their participation in services of public interest. Analysis of this public policy thus shows that the situation of DHSEEs in Quebec has swung, depending on the period, between co-production and various types of co-construction. A number of restrictive budget policies and subcontracting practices adopted by the Quebec state, along with tensions among DHSEE groups, curtailed the development of a genuine co-construction process during the 2000s.     

Present in the World Economy: Québec's Students in the Springtime

Abstract

On February 13th, 2012, a coalition of student federations in Québec called for an unlimited general strike against government plans to increase university tuition fees by 75% over 5 years. Charged by a sense of themselves as actors on a global stage, social forces in Québec made common cause of their struggle – precipitating what grew into the most significant season of social protest in Québec's modern history. Fearing the ghost of global crowds, governments reacted with impolitic intransigence, leaving themselves exposed and with no other recourse but to reach out of the encounter and call a general election.

The printemps québécois is an event that took place in its own time and fashion, in the context of a world-wide wave of protest against neo-liberal world order. Looking into it, we are offered an opportunity to think more generally about the possibilities of resistance to neo-liberal disciplining.

En febrero 13 de 2012, una coalición de federaciones de estudiantes de Quebec, convocó a una huelga general ilimitada contra los planes del gobierno de subir las matrículas universitarias en un 75% durante 5 años. Las fuerzas sociales en Quebec hicieron de su lucha una causa común – sintiéndose ellos mismos como actores en una escena global, precipitando lo que se convirtió en una de las temporadas más significativas de protesta social en la historia moderna de Quebec. Temiendo por el fantasma de las multitudes globales, los gobiernos reaccionaron con una intransigencia impolítica, exponiéndose y sin otro recurso que mantenerse fuera del encuentro y convocando una elección general. La primavera de Quebec es un evento que tuvo lugar en su propio momento y estilo, en el contexto de una ola de protesta mundial contra el orden del mundo neoliberal. Analizándolo, se nos ha ofrecido la oportunidad de pensar más generalmente sobre las posibilidades de resistencia a la disciplina neoliberal.

2012年2月13日,魁北克学生联合会的一个同盟呼吁无期限大罢工,反对政府计划在未来5年让大学学费增加75%的计划。以全球舞台上的行动者自据,魁北克的社会力量集体斗争——引来了在魁北克现当代历史上最有意义的社会抗议季节。 由于担心示威扩大到全球,政府做出不让步的反应,使得魁北克的社会力量别无选择只得放下工作并号召大罢工。Printempsquébécois指的是在世界范围的抗议新自由主义世界秩序浪潮中发生的一个事件。 通过考察这一事件,我们提供了一个更进一步地思考抵制新自由主义统治的可能性的机会。.

?? 13 ??????/???? 2012? ??? ?????? ????????? ???????? ?? ????? ??? ????? ??? ????? ???????? ??? ??? ??????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ????? 75 ?????? ??? ???? ??? ?????. ??? ??? ????? ?????????? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ??????? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ???????? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ?? ???????? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ???? ???? ???? ??? ????? ???? ???? ?????????? ?????????? ?? ????? ????? ??????. ??? ?? ??? ??????? ????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ?? ??? ?????? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ?? ??????? ??? ??? ?????? ??????? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ???????? ??????? ??? ???????? ????. ????? “???? ?????” ????? ????? ??????? ?? ?????? ???????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?????????? ??? ?????? ???????????? ?? ??????. ????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ????? ??????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ???????? ?????? ????????????.

2012? 2? 13? ?? ??????? ?? 5? ?? ?? ???? 75% ???? ?? ??? ???? ??? ???? ?????. ??? ????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ??? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ??? ?????. ??? ????? ???? ??????, ??? ??? ????? ?? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ?? ???, ??? ?? ??? ??????? ??? ????? ?????. ??? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ? ???? ??? ???? ? ??? ??? ??? ??? ????. ??? ?? ??? ??? ??, ??? ?????? ??? ?? ??? ???? ??? ? ? ????? ??? ? ?? ??? ?? ??.

13 февраля 2012 коалиция студенческих федераций в Квебеке призвала к неограниченной всеобщей забастовке против правительственных планов увеличить плату за обучение в университетах на 75% в течение 5 лет. Ощущая себя актерами на глобальной арене, социальные силы в Квебеке действовали сообща в их борьбе – осаждение, что превратилось в самый существенный сезон социального протеста в современной истории Квебека. Опасаясь призрака глобальной толпы, правительства реагировали с нецелесообразной непримиримостью, оставляя себя незащищенными и без другого выхода, кроме как выйти из столкновения и назначить всеобщие выборы. Кленовая весна Квебека, в контексте всемирной волны протеста против неолиберального мирового порядка, является событием своего времени и моды. Изучая его, предоставляется возможность думать больше и шире о возможностях сопротивления неолиберальной дисциплине.     

Hostile Worlds or Connected Lives? Research on the Interplay Between Intimacy and Economy

Economic sociologists have devoted most of their attention to the activities of individuals and firms in markets. However, recent attempts have pushed for a better understanding of the relationship between intimacy and economy. Such efforts have been inspired, in large part, by Viviana Zelizer (2000, 2005). In her inquiry on the purchase of intimacy, Zelizer proposed seminal differentiations between the “hostile worlds,” “nothing but,” and “connected lives” perspectives, and advanced a cultural relational analysis of the economy. In this essay, we review research that applies Zelizer's framework, and suggest substantive and analytical avenues for future research on economy/intimacy nexus.     

The Political Economy of International Agricultural Research: Innovation for Whom in the 1990s?

Book reviewed in this article: Rice Science and Development Politics: IRRI's Strategies and Asian Diversity 1950–1980. By Robert S. Anderson, Edwin Levy and Barrie Morrison. First the Seed: the Political Economy of Plant Biotechnology 1492–2000. By Jack Ralph Kloppenburg Jr.     

Present in the World Economy: The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (1996–2007)

To think through what new, perhaps transformative, way of life and struggle might be in the process of being invented by social forces moving on the terrain of the world economy, we must look into real concrete organizations binding people together. Only then can we begin to see what might be most radical about contemporary social movements: the putting into dialectical relation of two relatively autonomous, spatially specific, modes of struggle: a local ‘wars of position’ and a ‘war of movement’ that takes place on the terrain of the world economy. This article deals with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), which has just won a 10-year-long campaign to raise the income and better the living conditions of tomato pickers in Southwest Florida. For all its specificity, this campaign presents us with a concrete organizational experience from which we can think more generally about the political significance of what has been variously and vaguely termed ‘the new internationalism of social movements’, ‘the anti-globalization movement’, or ‘globalization from below’.     

Producing Migrant Domestic Work: Exploring the Everyday Political Economy of Malaysia's ‘Maid Shortage’

Abstract

The article considers how the employment of domestic workers by middle-class Malaysian households has been thrown into flux by the imposition of bans on the sending of workers by states such as Indonesia and Cambodia, as well as the decline in numbers of women seeking employment as domestic workers in Malaysia and rising employment costs. This article does not seek to focus on the high-level policy negotiations and disputes that have come to characterize systems of temporary return migration for domestic work in Asia, but to focus in on the everyday political economies (of social reproduction, work, and everyday agency) that constitute the conditions of possibility within which bilateral disputes and labour agreements between Southeast Asian states take shape. We examine three dimensions of migration for domestic work in Southeast Asia in ways that bring together literatures on everyday life and social reproduction. These interconnected yet distinct dimensions are (a) the relationship between strategies to boost remittances and flows of workers from some of the most impoverished parts of Southeast Asia; (b) the centrality of low-cost migrant domestic workers to Malaysian middle-class ‘success stories’, and (c) the day-to-day production of ‘good’ worker subjects—a process that is actively and constantly resisted by workers themselves. The article provides important insights into the mechanisms through arenas of everyday life—and the household in particular—are transformed; becoming sites for the ever widening and deepening of the market economy.     

Neue Arbeitswelt,Führung und organisationaler WandelNew Economy,Leadership and Organizational Change.

This article of the journal “Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation.” analyzes and discusses current changes in the working environment with regard to the associated opportunities and risks. Due to the growing dynamism of the markets, digitization, the demographic change and the change of values the importance of flexibility and changeability as central prerequisites for organizational survival is rising constantly. At the same time organizations and employees make higher demands on each other. This shift in the “psychological contract” between employees and organization is discussed in the light of the characteristics of “generation Y”. The article concludes by summarizing consequences of these developments for work in organizations, leadership, change processes and consulting.     

The Social Economy Sector and the Welfare State in France: Toward a Takeover of the Market?

Employee commitment to an organization is accepted as an important concept in organization psychology. Yet commitment to a project on which an employee might be working is largely unknown. Additional complications arise when the project makes use of volunteers who donate their time for reasons other than pecuniary reward. The relationships between volunteers, organizations, and projects represent a gap in the field of organizational commitment knowledge. This paper identifies from literature the values that inform and influence volunteer commitment levels. Known antecedents of commitment are developed to present a model which encapsulates the variables that should be recognized as influencing volunteer commitment levels within a project context. The paper proposes a conceptual model of volunteer commitment to a project using three categories of commitment: emotional, purposeful and contextual, and concludes that the next phase of the study will test this model and develop a tool that will enable the measurement of volunteer commitment in a project context.     

Irregular Migration and Informal Economy in Southern and Central‐Eastern Europe: Breaking the Vicious Cycle?

The flexible and cheap labour that European “post‐industrial” economies are in need of is often facilitated by undeclared labour. The undocumented migrant, from his/her part, relatively easily finds work that suits his ‐‐ at least initial ‐‐ plans. What lies behind this nexus between irregular migration and informal economy? To what extent can this nexus be attributed to the structural features of the so‐called “secondary”, as opposed to “primary”, labour market? And how does migration policy correlate with this economic context and lead to the entrapment of migrants in irregularity? Finally, can this vicious cycle of interests and life‐strategies be broken and what does the experience of the migrants indicate in this respect? This paper addresses these questions via an exploration of the grounds upon which irregular migration and the shadow economy complement each other in southern Europe (SE) and central and Eastern Europe (CEE) (two regions at different points in the migration cycle). In doing so, the dynamic character of the nexus between informal economy and irregular migration will come to the fore, and the abstract identity of the “average” undocumented migrant will be deconstructed.     

Australia as the Supermarket to Asia? Governments,Territory, and Political Economy in the Australian Agri-food System

Abstract The changing role of the nation state in agri-food systems is illustrated through a case study of the Supermarket to Asia, a recent policy initiative of the Australian government. The Supermarket to Asia provides a policy discourse that fills gaps created through policies of deregulation and self-reliance. It involves the creation of bureaucratic mechanics that straddle the public-private interface and gives explicit attention to small and medium-sized enterprises. In these ways, the state constructs a new set of relations, alliances, and allegiances with agri-food capital. The durability of these arrangements depends on the extent to which these policy arrangements are perceived to be consistent with the new realities of global agri-food trade.     

Ethnic‐Controlled Economy or Segregation? Exploring Inequality in Latina/o Co‐Ethnic Jobsites1

Recent research has increasingly focused on how ethnicity operates within labor markets. Due to perceptions of intragroup homogeneity and assumptions that inequality only occurs between majority whites and people of color, most research has neglected intragroup economic inequality. This study examines how skin color, immigration/nativity status, and gender influence wage differentials in Latina/o co‐ethnic jobsites (where workers are the same ethnicity). Using data from the Los Angeles Study of Urban Inequality (LASUI), it is found that there are skin color, immigration/nativity status, and sex wage gaps among Latina/os working in co‐ethnic jobsites. Moreover, illustrating intersectionality, immigrant women and dark‐skinned immigrants suffer from wage gaps in co‐ethnic jobsites. Unexpectedly, some Latinas experience a wage advantage, in comparison with Latinos, which is associated with lighter skin. The author suggests that Latinas are subjected to multiple‐jeopardy situations in which they experience an intersection of inequalities in jobsites saturated by co‐ethnics but that lightness of skin color functions as a form of social capital. Thus, research on the benefits or costs associated with working with co‐ethnics cannot be extended to the entire ethnic group. The conclusion is that for Central Americans and Mexicans, co‐ethnic jobsites are generally forms of segregated employment with limited protection from discrimination.     

Linking Local Food Systems and the Social Economy? Future Roles for Farmers' Markets in Alberta and British Columbia*

Often organized as grassroots, nonprofit organizations, many farmers' markets serve as strategic venues linking producers and consumers of local food while fulfilling multiple social, economic, and environmental objectives. This article examines the potential of farmers' markets to play a catalyst role in linking local food systems to the social economy in western Canada. We used the Delphi method of inquiry to solicit and synthesize perspectives on the future role of farmers' markets within local food systems and the social economy from farmers' market vendors, market managers, and policy and government representatives in each province. We found that negotiations over the definition of local food systems, the dynamics of supply and demand relationships, and perceptions of “authenticity” affect the positionality of farmers' markets in relation to other marketing channels within regional food systems. Stakeholders engaged in this Delphi inquiry strategized ways to scale up local food systems beyond current limits while also maintaining the “authentic experience” offered by farmers' markets that has helped to fuel increased consumer interest, demand, and growth. Results confirm the need for further investigation of the relationship between the social economy, infrastructure, and authenticity in the development of local food systems.     

Women's Occupational Trends in the Irish Economy: Moving towards High‐skilled Occupations or Evidence of Deskilling?

In recent years the increased participation of women in the Irish labour market and in tertiary education would appear to have placed them in an advantageous position to make use of the expanded opportunities in knowledge‐based occupations. Using occupational data from the 1996 and 2006 census this article examines the experience of women in high‐ and low‐skilled occupations. The data indicate that women are over‐represented in high‐skilled occupations relative to their overall participation rate in the labour force but there is also an increase in the proportion of women in low‐skilled occupations. The employment of women in high‐skilled occupations is substantially weaker in the private sector than the public sector. Public sector employment, we argue, is a crucial factor in the increased participation of women in high‐skilled occupations.     

The ‘Khanan Dream’: Engagements of Former Buddhist Monks with the Market Economy in Sipsong Panna,PR China

Studies of post-monastic careers and experiences of ordained men in Theravada Buddhist societies are few and far between. This paper explores this topics focusing on the case of Tai Lue former monks (khanan) in Sipsong Panna, in southwest China. During the post-1980 reform period, and contradicting stereotypes concerning economic performance on the part of ethnic minorities, Lue former monks have made use of the skills acquired during monkhood in order to engage with the contemporary economy in urban contexts. While many of them succeed in becoming mediators between the tradition symbolised by the temple and new economic forms, this paper argues that the participation in profit-oriented business of men whose behaviour is expected to be determined by selflessness and sacrifice for the community, provokes contradiction and tension among members of the group. This is seen in a recent economic venture set into motion by a group of young khanan who attempt to take advantage of nascent Buddhist economic networks in Sipsong Panna.     

The State and the Associational Order of the Economy: The Institutionalization of Cartels and Trade Associations in 1931–45 Japan

The existing literature on the impact of the state on the associational order has emphasized the state's concern on the implications of the associational order to the public goods and the role of the associational order as a policy tool of the state. However, few studies have investigated what particular characters of the state shape the pattern of the associational order. Through a historical analysis, this study highlights three important factors related to the state that contributed to the the rise of the associational order in Japan during the Great Depression and World War II. First, the shift of the state preference from protecting the liberties of private enterprises toward maintaining political stability in economic crisis and controlling resource allocation in war was the ultimate driving force behind the rise of associational order. Second, the constitutional order of the Japanese state, which involves not only the organization, composition, powers, and limitation of the state's executive, legislative, and jurisdictional branches, but also the people's liberties defined by the constitution, was strongly influenced by the continental legal tradition. This structurally shaped the Japanese pattern of the associational order. Third, the institutionalized legal and economic beliefs of property rights provided ideological support to the rise of the associational order.