User:Timer 910/sandbox

= Treadmill of Production = The treadmill of production delineates the subjected conditions under which economies are being placed in an infinite loop of a “treadmill”, where their welfare is no longer being improved by the ongoing pursuit for economic progression, and with it accompanied by the catastrophic damages to surrounding environment.

Structure, origin and application
Coined by Schnaiberg, the theory examines causes concerning the rapid deterioration of the U.S. environment following World War II. Central to the principles of the theory, the augmenting volume of capital for investment decisions alongside its dynamic methods in allocation have inevitably increased the demand for natural resources. This accumulation of capital – most prevalent in Western economies – was largely deposited in the development of technologies which would replace production labour, resulting in increased profits as its long-term goal. However, these technologies consumed far greater energy in its operation than earlier labour-intensive processes. Unlike the prior use of human labour, this technological consumption meant that there existed sunk costs of capital. In order to alleviate this problem, increased levels of production were needed for sustainable maintenance.

Essentially, the treadmill represents the inherent nature of capital investments in such technologies resulted in higher demand for natural resources from the environment, predicated on a predisposed level of social welfare across society. As each investment ensued, the labour situation for workers deteriorated alongside the environment but the profits increased overall. From the worker’s perspective, the implication of the ‘treadmill’ was that as investing options increased, these needed to be accommodated with the replacement of each worker in the production process. From the environment’s perspective, each corresponding level of accumulating resources became a commodity for market profits and investments, which resulted in the perpetual ‘turning’ of the treadmill whereby the demand for resources was still rapidly increasing.

Positional Economy of Consumption
By considering the positional economy of consumption, analytical frameworks in examining the treadmill of production are constructed. It identifies the structural mechanism that justifies why certain members of society endeavour in increasing their income levels as a “defensive” mechanism to perpetuate their current social procedures.

The underlying basis for the positional economy of consumption concerns underlying processes which may influence the “use-value” of other individual’s consumption. Veblen’s model of positional goods is a significant attempt at explaining the driving force of this analytical framework, where he considers the actions of the affluent and their considerations into relative differentials in quality and cost of commodities as a rationale to differentiate their wealth status from the less affluent. The impetus for such luxury consumption is defined to be primarily competitive. However, having regarded his insights, his formulations are not suitable for explaining the correlation between the treadmill of production and consumption.

To effectively examine the structural impetus that reproduces the treadmill of production is to consider the circumstances that individuals must engage in to exhibit “defensive consumption” as a mere attempt in protecting the integrity of their existing practices.

China
The establishment of special economic zones (SEZs) has encouraged foreign investments nationally in order to boost its economy during the 1980s. The tariff and preferential tax applications have also allowed SEZs have largely culminated the attention of foreign investors. In addition, the cheap labour force provides a large incentive for investors to strategically allocate their manufacturing factories to China due to efficient reduction in production expenses. From 1980 to 2001, 380,000 foreign plants were established, propelling the enormous increase from 1% to nearly 50% in Chinese proportion in world exports.

Thus, as China accordingly receives the status of “world factory”, it becomes relevant to consider how tremendous inundation of foreign investments have catapulted the Chinese economy and thereby economic growth. However, at this accelerated rate of growth, the positive outburst of the Chinese economy has unfortunately transpired at the expense of its surrounding resources from the environment. Industrial wastes in rivers as well as pollutants discharging into the atmosphere has brought upon adverse impacts into the environment. Ministry of Environment Protection (MEP) reports that upon examination, 57.3% of groundwater quality in 198 cities measured very poorly, with 30% of river basins being polluted. Given that more than 50% of the population depend on groundwater for purified drinking water, this extends into further implications upon the rural community, where 1 in 3 people lack access to safe drinking water. Further, the increased discharge of atmospheric pollutants has exacerbated health-related complications such as lung cancer and respiratory diseases.

On the surface, it appears that the Chinese government have reacted in a positive manner, demonstrating awareness and visibility with the implementation of regulatory policies in an attempt to mitigate degradation.