DorganMatrixReferences

Nierenberg, Danielle. "Factory Farming in Developing World." //Worldwatch Institute//. May-June 2003. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. . This article is written by Danielle Nierenberg, who is a staff researcher at the world watch institute. This article discusses the onset of factory farming, the reasons for why it came about and the problems related to this method of farming. The topic of factory farming has been known for quite some time in America and numerous documentaries such as Food Inc. describe the horrifying problems associated with this assembly-line approach to farming. This article is different because it shows how the problem is now spreading to the developing world. The author makes the argument that pressure from the World Trade Organization involving global trade has forced the Pilipino poultry industry to adopt many of the horrendous practices of industrial farming to keep up with demand. The author also makes the argument that, as we have had a drastic increase in the production of meats and poultry, the world has become more accustomed to the idea of having meat on a regular basis rather than having it as a special delicacy. Finally, awful and unnatural practices such as de-beaking are used because of the close confinement of the poultry in these factories. Practices such as de-beaking are extremely harmful to the chicken. These practices are actually being backed by government, who enjoy the increase in productivity “The business of white chickens is controlled by the big guys […] not only do small farmers have to compete with the three big companies that control white chickens in the Philippines but they must also contend with pressure from the WTO to open up trade”. “Meat once occupied a very different dietary place in most of the world. Beef, pork and chicken were considered luxuries and were eaten on special occasions or to enhance the flavor of other foods. But as agriculture became more mechanized, so did animal production” “The government has also encouraged big farms to expand by giving them loans. But as the farms get bigger and produce more, domestic prices for chicken and pork fall, forcing more farmers to scale up their production methods. And because the Philippines are prevented by the Global Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the WTO from imposing tariffs on imported products, the Philippines is forced to allow cheap factory-farmed American pork and poultry into the country. These products are then sold at lower prices than domestic meat.” This research is an extremely good example about how overproduction and a focus on maximizing productivity are extremely detrimental not just to the immediate environment (in this case the well-being of the animal) but also to the socio-economic status of a country. This factory farming initiative has helped only a very select few people who control the giant farms. The rest of the farmers who work on a small scale end up bearing the cost of this cheap meat, causing more problems than are worth. This problem of overproduction has so many vast applications and connects a huge number of sustainability problems. Of these sustainability problems, the worst has to be when this model of over-production is applied to agriculture. The consequences are devastating, and much of the world of junk food exists only because of this overproduction. In my wiki post I will have used the fact that meat use to be a luxury to explain how these advances in technology devalues the meaning of the product. I also demonstrate the many problems associated with giving only a few people control over the entire poultry supply. Arnould, Eric J., and Craig J. Thompson. "Consumer Culture Theory: Twenty Years of Research." //Journal of Consumer Research// 31.4 (2005): 868. ABI/INFORM Global. Web. . This journal, written by Eric J Arnould and Craig Thompson, is about the consumer culture and especially an in-depth view of the past 20 years of sociocultural, experiential, symbolic and ideological aspects of consumption. The goal of this research is to come up with a central theory for the consumer culture. Consumer culture theory is not about conducting tests in a lab to come up with theoretical models. Research is conducted in the field itself, looking at all facets associated with the consumer culture. Consumption and possession practices are rituals that have been immensely studied for this specific theory. The relationship between the consumers and producers is extremely central here. The ways in which consumers use these products to influence or define their lives is important to the overall CCT. “More broadly still, CCT research has emphasized the productive aspect of consumption. Consumer culture theory explores how consumers actively rework and transform symbolic meanings encoded in advertisements, brands, retail, setting or material goods to manifest their particular personal and social circumstances and further their identity and lifestyle goals.” “In contrast to traditional anthropological views of people as culture bearers, consumers are seen as culture producers. The key research question driving this program of research is this: how does the emergence of consumption as a dominant human practice reconfigure cultural blueprints for action and interpretation and vice versa?” This article looks at the consumer culture, which is basically what happens when the general public is flooded with a ridiculously wide array of consumer goods at lower and lower prices. The disillusioned idea that more production leads to better life is shattered by the reality that is the consumer culture that we live in as we stand surrounded by meaningless products. I use this article to explain just how the massive influx of consumer goods has distorted and twisted our culture into something built on very meaningless products which are thrown away and forgotten. This has to do with the nature of the product but also the social context of the product as well. Many social forces dictate how an object will be used such as how easy it is to obtain a replacement. Devinney, Timothy M., Auger, Pat, Eckhardt, Giana and Birtchnell, Thomas, The Other CSR: Consumer Social Responsibility (May 1, 2006). Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2006. Available at SSRN: [] The author is in the Australian graduate school of business. Any other credentials are too hard to find out. The main argument of the topic is that while a lot of attention is focused on corporate social responsibility, not nearly as much attention is focused on the consumer side of things. This article is an effort to take a look at the social responsibilities of the consumer. The article explains that the consumers often overstate how much they care about certain ethnical policies, or will often say things which end up not carrying through. There are also some blatant discrepancies and inconsistencies such as the variance in donations between two equally devastating elements which show that a lot of different forces are at work here. This is not about consumers being “dishonest” or overestimating their ethical conscience, but rather there are a ton of external forces at place which cannot be controlled by the individual. “The second model is more complex and implies that one has to account for a host of intervening factors that may imply that attitudes are not revealed correctly, that purchase intentions are gamed or erroneous, and that actual behavior is as much or more a function of external factors as it is a function of individual preferences” “What is clear from this information is that individuals may possess less knowledge than is socially desirable. To address this problem, we provided some individuals with information about the issues and others with no information. Although the provisions of their choices “tightened” individual preferences, there was no evidence that providing information to the consumers made any real difference to the choices they made.” “One thing is for sure – continuing to survey consumers about their attitudes towards ethical issues, without making a connection to actual behavior, and without understanding their underlying rationales, is no longer possible” This article goes completely against the idea that “consumers can just vote with their dollars”; the game is rigged from the very beginning. This is very important because it really shows that the behaviors that people exhibit are more a product of their environment and therefore by modifying the environment, people’s behavior can and will change. The value of a product essentially follows the same principle in that it depends on a series of external forces or specific contexts. I use this as support for claims such as the change in value of a plastic water bottle which placed in a different social context. I also use the fact that that consumers don’t know the social side of products which are produced to explain why people still make the decisions that they do.
 * Factory Farming in the Developing World **
 * The Consumer Culture Theory **
 * The Other CSR: Consumer Social Responsibility **