'Globalization In Walter Moss' An Age Of Progress

In Walter Moss’ book, An Age of Progress? Clashing Twentieth-century Global Forces, he provides information on large corporations and their effects on societies. By the end of the twentieth century globalization has become the ultimate power in much of the world. Large corporations provided jobs, injected money into local economies, enabled quick production of products and larger amounts of these products as a result of faster production. While globalization provided these benefits there were also harmful effects felt by the populations of the world, and it can be argued that these defects far outweighed large corporations benefits, often leaving less developed countries worse off than before.
Globalization can be defined as the process of …show more content…
This was a major concern the anarchists had during the 1999 Seattle WTO protest. As Han Shan of the Ruckus Society put it, “they are out for their own corporate agenda...not looking for a sustainable future.” Large companies like Nike and Starbucks were faced with accusations that they were treating third world countries poorly. In a speech by Nike Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Phil Knight, he talks about these allegations, saying, “It’s been said that Nike has single-handedly lowered the human rights standards for the sole purpose of maximizing profits. And Nike products have become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime, and arbitrary abuse.” An audit conducted on Vietnamese factories confirmed this when they found that the subcontractor producing Nike shoes was in violation of Vietnamese labor and environmental laws, but at the same time in compliance with Nike’s “Code of Conduct.” The reality that Nike’s “Code of Conduct” would be inferior to a third-world countries labor and environmental laws is mind boggling and proof of their detriment to societies. Corporations lack of responsibility when they hold so much power is something that protesters felt needed to be changed. These protesters were looking for a more transparent corporation and government. One who protected them and would not put society at such great risks for their own corporate benefit. Some say that “corporate greed was ruining the environment and enslaving mankind.” As one of the Seattle anarchists stated, “Being a rich man would make me sick and I’d rather be dead than have earned any sort of income from the controversial resources often