In the lecture this week, professor Downey talked
about the controversy of one of Apple’s biggest suppliers Foxconn. He also
mentioned the Foxconn suicides occurred 3 years ago when several employees
jumped off the dorms. I happened to follow the news in 2010, and by reviewing
the tragedy now, I find it still worth of studying under the topic of
information society.
Who is responsible for these people?
Apple’s Perspective:
Although Apple has its Supplier Responsibility
clearly stated “Ending excessive work hours”, it seems that overworking is
quite common in Apple’s suppliers’ factories. Although as a profitable company,
Apple could claim it is the supplier's fault, but as said in class, it is
possible for Apple to enforce its protocol. However, who wants to cut off the
profit?!
Foxcunn’s Perspective:
As a major manufacturer for Apple and other digital
device companies, there is little doubt that Foxcunn also aims at profit.
Placing its major factories in developing countries like China, it gains the
freedom of overwork its employees without being confronted by the labor union.
The flexibility of Foxcunn is what makes it truly valuable to Apple, and what
makes it a “labor camp”.
Employees’ Perspective:
Many people who work at Foxcunn are from the rural
area, who may not have the chance to go to college and receive higher
education. The working condition in Foxcunn may not be the best, but it does
offer them opportunities to stay in big cities. What makes them desperate is
possibly not the living condition, but the monotonous way of working (which
requires the employees to do the same kind of simple task for hours everyday),
the lack of social connection (since they spend over 10 hours a day at the
assembly line) as well as the disillusion of city dream (in which everything
should be glamorous and surreal).
Customers’ Perspective:
To be realistic, as an Apple customer myself, I
don’t think I ever thought about the labor process behind the digital devices
when I got them. However, it is not an excuse to overlook the problem and hold
blind trust in technology and its innocence. In the information and network
society, technology greatly improves communication between people, but the
improvement is not coming without a price. I think that while enjoying the
convenience brought by high-tech revolution today, it is crucial to hold back
sometimes and ponder over what might go wrong.
Sources:
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