Overview
This volume addresses many of the complex issues raised by North American integration through the lens of one of the largest and most global industries in the region: textiles and apparel. In part, this is a story of winners and losers in the globalization process, especially if one focuses on jobs lost and jobs gained in different countries and communities within North America, defined here as: Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. However, it would be a mistake to view the industry solely in these zerosum terms. The North American apparel industry is an excellent illustration of larger trends in the global economy, in which regional divisions of labor appear to be one of the most stable and effective responses to globalization. The contributors to this volume are an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars who have all done detailed fieldwork at the firm and factory levels in one or more countries of North America. Taken together the essays offer theoretical and methodological innovations built around the intersection of the global commodity chains and industrial districts literatures, as well as innovative approaches to studying the impact of cross-national, interfirm networks in terms of production and trade issues, and local development outcomes for workers and communities.
Full Product Details
Author: Gary Gereffi ,
David Spener ,
Jennifer Bair ,
Jennifer Bair (Lecturer in Sociology, Yale University, Connecticut, USA)
Publisher: Temple University Press,U.S.
Imprint: Temple University Press,U.S.
Dimensions:
Width: 17.80cm
, Height: 2.40cm
, Length: 25.40cm
Weight: 0.753kg
ISBN: 9781566399685
ISBN 10: 1566399688
Pages: 360
Publication Date: 12 August 2002
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Awaiting stock
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Reviews
Free Trade and Uneven Development is a superb collection of essays that seeks to understand the process of globalization through an intensive geographical focus on North America and a sectoral emphasis on the apparel industry, all in the context of examining the impact of an important regional trade agreement. This rich, complex micro look illuminates broad trends shaping globalization and defines the costs and consequences of various trajectories. This book is an exceptionally important and unique contribution to the burgeoning literature on globalization. -Harley Shaiken, Professor of Social and Cultural Studies and Geography, University of California, Berkeley There are no books that I know of that provide such a comparative analysis of the garment industry in light of NAFTA. The chapters all break new ground in their topics, yet are unified by the common theme of North American apparel integration, and the common theoretical framework of global commodity chains. The editors have assembled an impressive array of scholars, and the topic could not be more timely. -Richard Appelbaum, Professor of Sociology and Global and International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara What the reader gets from this book is a subtle and nuanced picture of the effects of trade liberalization and NAFTA on the interfirm linkages, profitability, and employment prospects in the apparel industry...the overall quality of the contributions to this volume is very good. -Work and Occupations [P]rovides an innovative model for analyzing a global industry, and will be very useful to students of international development, industrial relations, and economic sociology. -Contemporary Sociology
""provides an innovative model for analyzing a global industry, and will be very useful to students of international development, industrial relations, and economic sociology."" Contemporary Sociology ""What the reader gets from this book is a subtle and nuanced picture of the effects of trade liberalization and NAFTA on the interfirm linkages, profitability, and employment prospects in the apparel industry...the overall quality of the contributions to this volume is very good."" --Work and Occupations ""Free Trade and Uneven Development is a superb collection of essays that seeks to understand the process of globalization through an intensive geographical focus on North America and a sectoral emphasis on the apparel industry, all in the context of examining the impact of an important regional trade agreement. This rich, complex micro look illuminates broad trends shaping globalization and defines the costs and consequences of various trajectories. This book is an exceptionally important and unique contribution to the burgeoning literature on globalization."" --Harley Shaiken, Professor of Social and Cultural Studies and Geography, University of California, Berkeley ""There are no books that I know of that provide such a comparative analysis of the garment industry in light of NAFTA. The chapters all break new ground in their topics, yet are unified by the common theme of North American apparel integration, and the common theoretical framework of global commodity chains. The editors have assembled an impressive array of scholars, and the topic could not be more timely."" --Richard Appelbaum, Professor of Sociology and Global and International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
provides an innovative model for analyzing a global industry, and will be very useful to students of international development, industrial relations, and economic sociology. Contemporary Sociology What the reader gets from this book is a subtle and nuanced picture of the effects of trade liberalization and NAFTA on the interfirm linkages, profitability, and employment prospects in the apparel industry...the overall quality of the contributions to this volume is very good. --Work and Occupations Free Trade and Uneven Development is a superb collection of essays that seeks to understand the process of globalization through an intensive geographical focus on North America and a sectoral emphasis on the apparel industry, all in the context of examining the impact of an important regional trade agreement. This rich, complex micro look illuminates broad trends shaping globalization and defines the costs and consequences of various trajectories. This book is an exceptionally important and unique contribution to the burgeoning literature on globalization. --Harley Shaiken, Professor of Social and Cultural Studies and Geography, University of California, Berkeley There are no books that I know of that provide such a comparative analysis of the garment industry in light of NAFTA. The chapters all break new ground in their topics, yet are unified by the common theme of North American apparel integration, and the common theoretical framework of global commodity chains. The editors have assembled an impressive array of scholars, and the topic could not be more timely. --Richard Appelbaum, Professor of Sociology and Global and International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
"""provides an innovative model for analyzing a global industry, and will be very useful to students of international development, industrial relations, and economic sociology."" Contemporary Sociology ""What the reader gets from this book is a subtle and nuanced picture of the effects of trade liberalization and NAFTA on the interfirm linkages, profitability, and employment prospects in the apparel industry...the overall quality of the contributions to this volume is very good."" --Work and Occupations ""Free Trade and Uneven Development is a superb collection of essays that seeks to understand the process of globalization through an intensive geographical focus on North America and a sectoral emphasis on the apparel industry, all in the context of examining the impact of an important regional trade agreement. This rich, complex micro look illuminates broad trends shaping globalization and defines the costs and consequences of various trajectories. This book is an exceptionally important and unique contribution to the burgeoning literature on globalization."" --Harley Shaiken, Professor of Social and Cultural Studies and Geography, University of California, Berkeley ""There are no books that I know of that provide such a comparative analysis of the garment industry in light of NAFTA. The chapters all break new ground in their topics, yet are unified by the common theme of North American apparel integration, and the common theoretical framework of global commodity chains. The editors have assembled an impressive array of scholars, and the topic could not be more timely."" --Richard Appelbaum, Professor of Sociology and Global and International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara"
Author Information
GARY GEREFFI is a Director of the Markets and Management Studies Program at Duke University. He is the coeditor of Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism (with Miguel Korzeniewicz) and Manufacturing Miracles: Paths of Industrialization in Latin America and East Asia (with Donald L. Wyman). DAVID SPENER is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He is the coeditor (with Kathleen Staudt) of The U.S.-Mexico Border: Transcending Divisions, Contesting Identities. JENNIFER BAIR is a Lecturer of Sociology at Yale University.
