Rivioli Negative Effects Of Globalization

Rivioli discusses positive of globalization, and seems to agree that the world is becoming “flat” due to the increase in opportunities globalization has caused for all of those involved. However, in addition to discussing the positive effects of globalization the author also discusses the negative aspects of globalization. For example, in the first section of the book, the author discovers that the cotton of the t-shirt she bought in Florida was made in China, so she decides to travel the China. However, even though the t-shirt was created in China, Rivioli learns that the main product necessary in order to create the t-shirt, cotton, was harvested in Texas. Because the economy has become more global, more countries want to become rich; some believe that by manufacturing cotton they will be able to do this. However, because other countries …show more content…
When Rivioli describes her experience in seeing factory workers in China, she writes, “Jiang Lan works eight hours per day, six days per week in the Number 36 yarn factory in Shanghai…And at the end of the month, she receives a paycheck of about $100. She saves pretty much all of it,” (Rivioli 86). This is an example of the negative impact of economical globalization because the main reason why workers suffer in countries such as China and India is because of the race to the bottom. When countries are faced with much competition for goods, they must sell their products for cheaper prices. However, in order to make sure that they are making money instead of losing money, these countries must workers low wages, and lower work place safety standards; this is called the race to the bottom, and it negatively impacts the workers because they are not making what they deserve, and are in constant danger of being injured or losing their