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Commodity chains, creative destruction and global inequality: a class analysis

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  • Benjamin Selwyn

Abstract

The majority of global commodity chain analysis is concerned with producer firm upgrading, because it is held to engender local-level development. This represents a myopic comprehension of the interaction of firms under capitalism. This article argues, in contrast, that lead firm chain governance and supplier firm upgrading attempts constitute strategies and practices that reproduce global poverty and inequality. Schumpeter’s concept of creative destruction represents a starting point in undertaking this endeavour. However, his formulation of capitalist competition ignores class and global economic relations. A Marxian conception of creative destruction, in contrast, rests upon an understanding of globally constituted class relations, which provides a novel perspective in comprehending and investigating processes that re-produce global poverty and inequality. The article substantiates these claims by examining cases of buyer-driven global commodity chains, and lead firm strategies of increasing labour exploitation throughout these chains.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Selwyn, 2015. "Commodity chains, creative destruction and global inequality: a class analysis," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 253-274.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:15:y:2015:i:2:p:253-274.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeg/lbu014
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    Cited by:

    1. Mark ANNER, 2019. "Predatory purchasing practices in global apparel supply chains and the employment relations squeeze in the Indian garment export industry," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 158(4), pages 705-727, December.
    2. Christian Henderson, 2021. "Land grabs reexamined: Gulf Arab agro-commodity chains and spaces of extraction," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(2), pages 261-279, March.
    3. Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven, 2021. "Beyond the Stereotype: Restating the Relevance of the Dependency Research Programme," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(1), pages 76-112, January.
    4. Kvedarienė Audronė, 2019. "Strategic technology management within global value systems," Open Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 43-52, January.
    5. Anand Chand, 2017. "Proposing a Framework to Extend the Global Commodity Chain Theory: A Case Based Study with Evidence from Garment Supply Chain," Modern Applied Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(11), pages 1-34, November.
    6. Christopher Lloyd & Tony Ramsay, 2017. "Resisting neo-liberalism, reclaiming democracy? 21st-century organised labour beyond Polanyi and Streeck," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 28(1), pages 129-145, March.
    7. Thando Vilakazi & Stefano Ponte, 2022. "Black Economic Empowerment and Quota Allocations in South Africa's Industrial Fisheries," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(5), pages 1059-1086, September.
    8. Liam Campling & James Harrison & Ben Richardson & Adrian Smith & Mirela Barbu, 2021. "South Korea's Automotive Labour Regime, Hyundai Motors’ Global Production Network and Trade‐Based Integration with the European Union," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(1), pages 139-166, March.
    9. Lorenzo Cresti & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2023. "Weak sectors and weak ties? Labour dependence and asymmetric positioning in GVCs," LEM Papers Series 2023/10, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.

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