What was striking to me was the first in-class activity regarding this assignment — the beads video. Not only was it alarming to see the conditions and the wages assigned to the Chinese workers, but it was disappointing to see the United States represented in such a way: drunks laughing and throwing away these beads, which were painstaking to make.
For me, it's always been difficult to assign any particular blame to either Wal-Mart, American consumers or China in the discussion over factory workers. The consumers have the right to buy what they'd like, so Wal-Mart has the right to provide. Its supply-chain methods are quite innovative and have been praised by businessmen, as we learned in one of our readings. Then, if it is willing, China can provide these goods. It's also providing its citizens with jobs, which they seem eager to accept.
Now here's the problem: does it matter how lousy the working conditions are? isn't a bad job better than no job at all? That's the issue I've grappled with when it comes to this. It does not look good, especially when compared to Americans' greed — as on display in the Black Friday anecdote in one of our readings.
What fraction of blame do we put on Wal-Mart for providing good that were made under such awful conditions? Or do we chalk it up to the American Way and the belief that a strong bottom line and good business trumps morals and ethics?
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