Capitalism as Source of Contemporary World's Challenges - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the fundamental premise of the book, Robbins affirms that the culture of capitalism is the major cause of some of the worst challenges in the contemporary world. These challenges include economic exploitation, diseases, poverty, injustice, hunger, genocide, social protests, ethnocide, and environmental deterioration. Robbins argues that though capitalism is culturally constructed, it is neither natural nor inevitably developed. He has used various case studies throughout history to demonstrate the development of capitalism alongside its negative consequences in human beings. His interpretive approach, however, does not clearly explain the reasons for the negative course of capitalism or the possible solutions to the cultural challenges that it produces. The global challenges are presented as intrinsic cultural features and as effects of improved living standards.

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Global Commodity Chain

Global capitalism has restructured the current world economy in a way that integrates international production and trade. The restructuring has caused the key commodity chain roles related to states, capital, and labor to increase. Commodity chains, therefore, refer to the connection between successive procedures in manufacturing, resulting in the final product which is available to consumers. The chain has product sites that involve acquiring the essential raw materials and semi-finished inputs, labor force recruitment, and provisions. Those who contribute towards the volume enhance elaboration and exploration of the global commodity chains (GCS) tactic. The GCS approach reformulates the elementary abstract categories of analyzing various patterns in global change and organization (Robins &Dowty, 2008). The GCS represents a model that is network-centered, a historical methodology that reviews below and above the nation-state level to enhance the better analysis of structures and changes in the contemporary world.

The global chain commodity experiences various problems which are discussed alongside their solutions. Risk management is a great challenge due to constant market changes emanating from various sources such as global sourcing, customer demands, and political agendas. The solution to this is always to be prepared with risk management plans to overcome disruptions during operations. In essence, the second challenge is finding appropriate personnel who are passionate about their line of duty. The solution to this is the promotion and hiring of personnel via inhouse staff. Lastly, unforeseen delays are another challenge because even though the procurement of products is easy, the delivery of products does not occur exactly when they are expected to occur due to different shipping time frames and time zone differences (Robins &Dowty, 2008). The solution to this is having buffer stock of commodities, create delivery time-cushions, and have an efficient warehouse management system.

Karl Polanyi's Paradox

Karl Polanyi's work entitled The Great Transformation was first published in 1944. The text became canonical in numerous inter-related social sciences including anthropology, sociology, global political economy, and geography. According to Polanyi, the rise of growth of market fundamentalism has overwhelming impacts on the society resulting to protective countermovement which might have either reactionary or progressive character (Robins &Dowty, 2008). Viewing Polanyi's frames enhances the comprehension of the renowned motive behind movements like; Yellow Vests, Brexit, Five-star movement, and Trumpism as a way of expanding markets that exclude, commodify, and denigrate the commodities.

According to Polanyi's paradox, the most challenging tasks in terms of automation are those that require judgments, flexibility, as well as common sense. Practically, this paradox means that most of the familiar tasks that range from sublime to quotidian, are hard to computerize since we do not know their rules. The three factors that can mitigate its automation impacts are discussed below. Firstly, the workers can only benefit from automation if there is a primary supply of substituted tasks. E.g., a worker who can only operate a shovel and not an excavator generally experiences declining wages due to advancement in automation. Secondly, final demands elasticity can either amplify or dampen automation gains. Changes in labor supply can also be used to mitigate wage gains. For instance, if complementary tasks supplied by construction laborers are abundant in the economy, most probably there will be a flooding of new construction workers stemming from complementarities amid human labor inputs and automation.

Negative Externalities

Global supply chain and sprawling provide consumers with timely and affordable products. However, their complexities, sizes, and unaccountability, make them origins of severe disruptions and risks. These risks and disruptions cannot be contained in the closed systems of respective supply chains but spill over into the surrounding communities and societies as the negative externalities. Subsequently, the contemporary supply chain should expect being subject to great pressures and scrutiny to decrease risks and offer compensations for the involuntary cost imposed on others (Robins &Dowty, 2008). An example of a negative externality is supply chain management risk. The supply chains operate in unpredictability and imperfections because they are subject to various disruptions and risks. Most disruptions are daily annoyances that are handled via corrective actions and sound management practices.

Cost Internalization

Cost of internalization is the process of integrating negative external impacts such as environmental degradation and depletion into the enterprises and household budgets. It is done through economic instruments such as fiscal actions and other incentives (Robins &Dowty, 2008). The main hindrance to the internalization of external costs is the ambiguity of economic effects on diverse economic sectors and areas across the globe. The challenge can be solved through modeling of impacts. Regional economic modeling can be used to overcome the challenge by establishing economic impacts of distinct sectors and areas. The model can also assess the intersectoral and interregional consequences of trade. Finally, the transport network model can also determine the impacts of internalized transportation costs and varying universal trade outlines.

Food Insecurity/Hunger

Food insecurity is one of the global chain challenges experienced regardless of Agriculture being practiced throughout the globe. There is a constant rise in food prices across the globe, with continued food shortages being reported in various parts of the globe. The shortages are due to the inefficient supply of chain of agro-commodities across the globe (Robins &Dowty, 2008). It can be understood from the fact that while one region has severe food shortages, another region around a hundred kilometers apart has excess food surplus. The challenge can, therefore, be solved by streamlining the supply chain in agro-commodities across the globe so that the regions that have surplus can feed those with shortages to overcome the challenges of food insecurity.

Environmental Degradation/Climate Change

It is difficult to stop all emissions resulting from human activities, but even if they all stopped, the climate will still change. The gas emissions escalate environmental degradation through desertification, global warming, and acidification of oceans, causing various climate changes. It is further aggravated by pollution and overutilization of natural resources leading to irreversible, severe, and pervasive changes to the ecosystem, people, economy, and assets across the globe. The immediate implications of environmental degradation and climatic changes include foo insecurities, stronger storms that affect coastal regions, increased economic damages, migration, and health complications (Robins & Dowty, 2008). The challenge should be solved by increasing development strategies that address the initial causes reasons for anthropogenic climatic changes, as well as implementing ways to build resilience for severe outcomes of environmental degradation and climate changes.

"Signature" Diseases/Pandemics

Global chain commodity is also affected by diseases and pandemics. Pandemics refer to large scale upsurge of transmissible diseases that rapidly increase mortality and morbidity rats in a large geographical area, leading to notable political, social, and economic disruptions. Currently, the possibility of pandemics is high due to the rise in global integration and travels. Changes in land usage, urbanization, and extreme utilization of natural resources. For instance, the current pandemic that has affected the entire world is Covid -19 (Corona Virus). There are more other pandemics that re likely to come; hence notable attention should be given to policies that identify and minimize the emergence of outbreaks that cause pandemics. There is also a need for investment sustainable and expansion in increasing health capacity and building preparedness.

Conclusion

As seen in this paper, the global commodity chain faces various challenges that include food insecurity, negative, externalities, environmental degradation, cost internalization, and diseases and pandemics. All these factors negatively impact the global commodity chain hence should be carefully looked into to ensure that their impacts are mitigated. If the proposed solution for each problem in the paper is accomplished, then our future world is likely to e better. Lastly, implementing these measures will curb the global commodity chain challenges leading to successful manufacturing procedures hence the availability of final products within consumers' reach.

References

Robbins, R. H., & Dowty, R. (2008). Global problems and the culture of capitalism. Pearson/Allyn & Bacon. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9197/cf421546626f9dae11b4d9a7cfce80e2cbac.pdf