Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains from a Perspective of Gendered and Intersectional Social Inequalities

Sproll, Martina

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-87320-2_6

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…However, workers can no longer be optimised further and further. Workers across the Global South suffer from high levels of exploitation, even more so if they are subjected to intersecting forms of oppression (Sproll 2022). The situation of worker and human rights in GVCs has been criticised and contested for decades, but both private and public attempts at regulation have so far failed to remediate the situation (Banerjee 2018;Pye 2017).…”

Section: The Emergence Of Dwfismentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital worker feedback infrastructures: The digitalisation of worker rights monitoring in global value chains

Sorg,

Vestena,

Scheper

et al. 2023

Econ. labour relat. rev.

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In this paper, we present empirical research on what we call ‘digital worker feedback infrastructures’ (DWFI); these are communication systems based on digital technologies that allow for creating so-called ‘feedback data’ via different forms of information input of workers in global value chains (GVC). The paper provides an overview of over 50 current DWFIs in GVCs and asks about the main differences between management-oriented and worker-centred digital feedback infrastructures in their usage of worker data. In the first part, we trace the emergence of DWFIs at the intersection of different trends: the continuous non-improvement of working conditions through auditing, the permanent politicisation, and contestation of this fact through labour and activist networks as well as the development of new digital technologies. In the second section, we elaborate the main features of DWFIs and analyse potential shortcomings in the context of the ‘ethical’ audit and monitoring regime for GVCs. Third, we use our dataset to present an overview of the heterogeneity of DWFIs. We pay particular attention to examples of civil society developed tools as we suggest that they provide a glimpse of the potential of worker feedback technologies from below, which could contribute to better monitoring of worker rights and facilitate a more democratic coordination of workplaces and GVCs.

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Section: The Emergence Of Dwfismentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital worker feedback infrastructures: The digitalisation of worker rights monitoring in global value chains

Sorg,

Vestena,

Scheper

et al. 2023

Econ. labour relat. rev.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For instance, in contrast to developed nations, economic upgrading in developing countries less frequently translates into social upgrading [15]. This disparity is particularly pronounced among specific demographic groups, such as women [16], informal sector workers [17], or laborers positioned at the lower-value segments of the value chain [12], where economic upgrading does not readily lead to social advancement. Furthermore, the agency of laborers plays a pivotal role; workers, through means of protest and strikes, can bolster their bargaining power to propel social upgrading [18], albeit potentially at the cost of diminishing the global market competitiveness of enterprises, thereby precipitating the economic downgrading [19].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal Dynamics in Economic, Social, and Environmental Upgrading in China: Coupling Coordination and Influencing Factors

Cai,

Yang,

Huang

2023

Sustainability

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The focus on the concept of upgrading in the study of global production networks has expanded from economic upgrading to encompass social and environmental upgrading. However, rare research pays attention to the complex interplay among these three aspects. This paper tries to integrate the economic, social, and environmental upgrading into an analytical framework through the lens of coupling coordination. Using the Granger causality test and panel regression model, it provides empirical evidence and an explanation of the triad’s interaction based on the Chinese case study. It is found that, over the past twenty-five years from 1996 to 2020, China has seen a significant improvement in the coupling coordination of economic, social, and environmental upgrading with the coordination degree rising from 0.35 to 0.51, though it remains at a low level of coordination. Regional disparities in economic upgrading are more pronounced than those in social and environmental upgrading, and the inter-group disparities between economic and environmental upgrading have widened following the economic crisis. Panel regression analysis shows that economic globalization, public governance, legal environment, and environmental regulation positively influence the coupling coordination of the three types of upgrading, while economic privatization and corporate violations of law tend to have a negative impact.

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“…This is especially acute in the Global South where the crisis-driven dynamics of neoliberal restructuring have destroyed the basis of livelihoods, shifting the "previously fluid boundaries between expanded household relations of social reproduction and care, food provisioning and sustainability" (Bakker/Silvey 2008: 7). The commodification and privatization of assets such as water, land, seeds and increased urbanization lead to severe deprivation of means of subsistence and pose a threat to the existence of the poor, while informal paid and unpaid work arrangements intensify, particularly women's productive and reproductive work in private households (Sproll 2022). Survival and securing social reproduction in the Global South and North are connected through an unprecedented mobilization of a global labor force, driven by multinational corporations in the context of global value chains.…”

Section: Theorizing the Global Crisis Of Social Reproductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Contestations of Gender Rights

2022

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Across the globe, a growing number of social movements, such as demonstrations in support of equal civil status or reproductive freedom and against sexualized violence, show that women's and gender rights are highly contested. Against the backdrop of a long history of unequal rights implementation, the contributors to this volume deal with the questions of why and in which ways gender equality has become contested in various political contexts. Local case studies examine the relevant structural, institutional, and socio-cultural causes of the global challenges to equality. This book follows an interdisciplinary approach and unites scholars from law, linguistics, cultural studies, history, social sciences, and gender studies in diverse contexts.

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Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains from a Perspective of Gendered and Intersectional Social Inequalities

Cited by 7 publications

References 36 publications

Digital worker feedback infrastructures: The digitalisation of worker rights monitoring in global value chains

Digital worker feedback infrastructures: The digitalisation of worker rights monitoring in global value chains

Spatiotemporal Dynamics in Economic, Social, and Environmental Upgrading in China: Coupling Coordination and Influencing Factors

Global Contestations of Gender Rights

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