Our discussions and videogames have led to some interesting thoughts. The relationship between operator and machine is an important theme in videogame analysis. Rarely, however, do we (the “first world”), think about where our machines come from. The articles/podcast this week tend to focus on one company, Foxconn (and through them, Apple), and one factory, the Foxconn factory of Shenzhen, China, in particular.
A natural debate arises from these readings: should “we” feel guilty about our consumption of cheap electronic goods? The articles represent a specific incident (or set of incidences: namely, the use of cheap labour by Apple) to call attention to the wider issue of whether or not our consumption harms others. Johnson writes “did my iPhone kill 17 people”? The podcast talks about the child workforce present in factory jobs. Sample writes about the game “Phone Story”, in which people see the harmful effects of factory life first-hand.
Should consumers take the blame for these atrocities? Best Buy does not seem evil for selling iPads, nor do many people walk around, wallowing in guilt, while playing angry birds on their iPhone. Should the companies exposing cheap labour be held accountable? Surely Apple and other companies must have knowledge of the conditions of their workforce.
I would suggest a different thought though: what involvement should the government have in the lives of workers? In particular, for the case of China, if the government can make “blacklists” (as described in the podcast), then shouldn’t that same government protect its workers from foreign manipulation? Should China exclude (either “exile” or heavily tax) companies that expose and harm its workers, as described in the readings and podcast?
Respondent:
Great job on the post! You pointed out some very interesting questions and to answer the first, I believe that consumers should not be blamed for what happens over in China and/or other countries. Yes, it is unfortunate that the workers are force under these conditions, but we have to realize these same conditions exist in other manufacturing companies in China such as clothing and other goods. Every time I go shopping and pick up a shirt from forever 21 or H&M, the tags says “made in China”. We see this everywhere! So the problem really is not the consumer buying the products, but those who are supplying. I do believe the companies should take responsibility for the suicide incidents because they are the ones giving jobs to Foxconn. A simpler example is a leader giving a side job to one of the workers. If the worker mess up on the job, then ultimately the leader will have to take the blame for it, because he or she felt that the worker is capable of doing the job. Therefore, Apple, Dell, Nokia, Toshiba and other companies need to set a level of expectation to the manufacturing industry of how they want the work to be done and how they do not promote or want to be affiliated with any suicides from a job. If Foxconn does not deliver, then those companies are obligated to find another manufacturing that can meet their expectations.