http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/24/us-hon-hai-idUSBRE88N00L20120924
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKnx2JWfNSM
After reading the article and watching the video, answer this question:
What role do we as individuals play in a consumer culture in the case of Foxconn/Apple?
Paragraph #1: What is wrong with the situation over in China at Foxconn?
Paragraph #2: What can we as consumers do about it?
You as individuals play a big role in consumer culture in the care of Foxconn/Apple.
ReplyDeleteIn the factories of Foxconn and Apple their workers are pushed to there limits in order to just get by. The average workers work week is suppose to be 60hrs. But when we do some number crunching, only about 32% of workers actually work this amount. The other 68% works more. At one point the workers fought back. 2000 chinese workers vs. 5000 police. Although this was a riot there was a worker that got nearly beat to death by five police workers. 40 people were in critical condition and several were put in jail. Workers were so abused that they went to the point of killing themselves. It got to the point where they had to put nets on the side of the building in order to keep them from killing themselves.
You play a big roll because you always want or need something new. You see people constantly wanting and getting the newest thing. the second way you play a big roll is, you want when you don't need. You also know this because you have wanted something when you didn't need it. This plays a roll with Foxconn and Apple because they need to make so much of one product all because its the new cool thing. when you think of a ipod or iphone, you think games and music. While I think sweatshops and people crippling themselves to just barely get enough money to get by. A way you could help this is by maybe thinking for once and really asking yourself if YOU NEED this product or item.
We as individuals play a many roles in consumer culture in the case of Foxcom/Apple. Even when you are only a minute old you will be part of the consumer culture. Much of the machines in the hospitals where sold by a big company. When you are 10 you get you first phone, and you have a one of the biggest consumer culture you can find. Your 16th birthday you will get your first car, that consumer culture. Then a apartment a house, a better car, wedding, and starting a family and live a happy life. You will realise that you life would be very different life without it.
ReplyDeleteOn the other side of the world at the same time you are born, another child is born, but with a much different life. When they are just turning 12 they will have to go work for Apple/Foxcom, in china. Getting minimal wage, poor work area, and bad security guards. he will have to live his life like this just to get a small paycheck at the end of the month. That man will be working 16 hour making Appple/Foxcom product for the world to buy. But this man has had it, on the roof of the building he jumps because he can not live like this.
This is a true story for some that work at the Foxcom in china. Know that you have read this you might think to yourself how can i help him?( if not you are now.) The hard true is that you can’t help them unless you are head of Apple you can't do much.(The only real way to help is to fly over to china, find Foxcom and stand outside of the gate and had then thank you note.? and that wouldn’t do much.) This will continue to happen until Apple put a foot down and get the china work what they deserve.
We as individuals play a big role in consumer culture in the case of foxconn/Apple
ReplyDeleteOne thing that is wrong over there is the Suicides that is the biggest thing is happening over at Foxconn because workers getting paid low wages. They are also committing suicide because of a lost of a prototype for the i phone 4 where one man committed suicide. Another thing that is wrong over there is the beating that the security guards. There are also the poor working conditions where Foxconn is making the workers work overtime. Foxconn is just putting to much pressure on the worker because they started a riot of 2000 workers.
One thing that I think that we can do as consumers is to stop buying i phones,i pods and i pads so they they start to lose money. WE won’t buy a single thing until they decide to give the workers a bigger wage and less overtime. so then less suicides happen because they will have less stress can’t off of them. Also there won’t be any more riots would happen.
We as individual play a big role in consumer culture in the case of Foxconn/Apple. Foxconn is one of the biggest factories in the world today. They have unfair wages and their home are poor for people to live in. Employees make around $400 a month. Some of the people posted a messaged that guards are missed treated and beaten. The employees at Foxconn are so stressed out that they think the only way of escaping is by killing themselves.
ReplyDeleteIf the riot at a Foxconn plant didn’t happen, we would have never looked into it the company more and found out how they treated their workers. We as people can stop buying Apple products and hope they try to do the right thing. Another thing is we can ask them to help make a change. It is truly up to Foxconn to change their ways, they are the only one that can change it.
We as individuals play a role in consumer culture in the case of Foxconn.
ReplyDeleteLots of workers at Foxconn are committing suicide because of unfair working hours, at least fourteen workers have tried and succeeded. The best that Foxconn could do to make this stop is to make all the workers sign a vow that they would not kill themselves. They also tried to put nets around the building, so if any workers try to jump over the edge, the net would catch them.
something we could do to help stop this is that we could stop buying Apple products, causing the company to lose money and go bankrupt, until they promise to give the worker’s more fair working hours.
We as individuals play a small role in consumer culture in the case of Foxconn/Apple. China Foxconn is have problems over their with suicides and riots. China’s riot and suicides are getting out of hand because Apple is not paying them enough and their living conditions are terrible. The suicides In reaction to a spate of worker suicides in which 14 people died in 2010. They are putting up nets so that the people over there won't kill themselves. They get paid less than 400 dollars a month.
ReplyDeleteWe can stop the riots and and the suicides by giving them more pay and better living conditions.I think that the founder of the company is very cheap because he won't give some of his to the employees. I also think that if the owner build better houses for the employees there won't be and riots and suicides. We as consumers should think about where our products come from and to know how they were made. In my opinion we as consumers can stop buying products from Apple and send emails to to the owner to give them more pay and better living conditions and shorter hours.
We as individuals play a big role in consumer culture in the case of foxconn/apple. Concerns over poor working and living conditions for employees were triggered by frequent and growing numbers of suicide incidents of factory workers. The death rate is so high that they are lying about it and putting up nets just to stop letting them die. It also seems strange that with everything Apple claims it does to make sure suppliers comply with local laws and regulations of its manufacturers’ facilities as well as its own, the scandal with Foxconn has been an ongoing issue that does not seem to have an end. Even though things were said to be improving for workers, the issue still persists. According to Pratap, Radhakrishnan and Dutta (2012), Foxconn is “the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer, taking in over 50% of global electronics’ manufacturing and service industry revenue. Its accumulated revenues for January to September 2010 reached NT$1.95 trillion (US$60.82 billion), up nearly 63% from its previous year—larger than some of the companies for which it manufactures products such as Microsoft and Nokia, by the rankings of the Global 500 companies” (p. 32). The same source reports that Apple’s earnings have also been growing and reported an increase in revenues by 52% comparing to 2009, one year before Foxconn’s issue generated public attention. Despite the growth in earnings for both companies, ethical performance towards stakeholders is not rated positively.
ReplyDeleteWhat can we do to improve this is we should just go and help all the people who works there. If we just go to apple and tell them what they should do to help all of the people who has died or try to die. And i think that they need to play them a lot more.
And I think that they need to pay them a lot more.
DeleteWe as individuals have an influence on consumer culture in the case of FoxConn-Apple extreme working conditions, tedious work on small pieces, long working hours, nets to keep people from jumping off high rise buildings. From killing themselves all this to create one of the greatest product known to man. Something is wrong with this picture when you woke up this morning you ate breakfast what was in it? Where did it come from? How long has that meal been circulating around before you put it in your mouth? Then you probably brushed your teeth not knowing what chemicals are in the toothpaste or even what company made your toothbrush. as a consumer we buy a lot of gadgets, food, martials, products, ext. But yet we don’t know who made it where it came from or what is in it. In my opinion this is very sad morally we should know this because the computer I typed this on. Your Apple Ipad or Iphone, any Microsoft product and Many other electronics probably came from a place over in China called Foxconn. where adults and kids some as young as 12 years old, work as long as 12 hours in harsh working conditions to make the product you all know as apple. Recently Foxconn put big nets around the buildings to denture people from jumping out of the windows of the factory to their deaths. I don't think one person can change the outcome of the issues with Apple. but i do believe that is our government, or a large movement boycotted the apple product we would be able to make great strides towards better working conditions and less child labor.
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