ATS1309 Study Guide - Final Guide: Commodity Fetishism, Informal Sector, Labour Power
6 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
• “Commodity fetishism”: where an economic object becomes socially transformed into
an object which people choose to believe has intrinsic value in and of itself, regardless
of what has happened to produce it
Understanding the informal economy (6/10)
Production: The process of creating and supplying goods and services to a market
The foundations of product
1. Idea à Product
2. Capital, labor power, resources/parts and energy
3. Building (factory space to create product)
4. Market
Organising Production
1. All in one place
• Water power mill using local wool, provides houses for labour
• This approach would have production in many places, close to where people live
• Food production is for local consumption
2. At the raw material/At Port cities
• Production located on top of coal fields
• Easy to find labourers
• Energy was the crucial factor in production
• Coal was also shipped in via boats
• City development around ports in Japan
3. Break up into stages
• Producing a computer and it’s different parts in different locations
• Locate each in its “best” place
• Depends on
• The benefits of specialization
o Firms that specialize can be more effective and innovative
o Places that specialize reflect the skill of the firms
• The availability of low cost, reliable global transport
o Sea transport
o Air transport
Production System
Document Summary
Commodity fetishism : where an economic object becomes socially transformed into an object which people choose to believe has intrinsic value in and of itself, regardless of what has happened to produce it. Production: the process of creating and supplying goods and services to a market. The foundations of product: idea product, capital, labor power, resources/parts and energy, building (factory space to create product, market. Geographic implications: the geographic selectivity of global production. Ideas: based in usa, north west europe, asia: capital: usa, europe, asia, building/labour, high technology/skill: usa, europe, asia, low technology/skill: asia, geographic concentration of activity. Advanced skill labour: research, high tech factory. Middle skill labour: variable technology for components, final assembly. Major city, airport, container terminal, quality industrial estates. Kong, shenzhen: city with container terminal, accessible industrial land. Cities: bangkok, guangzhou: low cost factories, road access to container terminal.
