Dying for an iPhone
Apple, Foxconn and the Lives of China's Workers
Jenny Chan author Mark Selden author Pun Ngai author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Pluto Press
Published:20th Jun '20
Should be back in stock very soon
This book, Dying for an iPhone, reveals the harsh realities faced by workers at Foxconn, shedding light on exploitation within the tech industry.
Based on extensive undercover research, Dying for an iPhone exposes the troubling treatment of workers at Foxconn, a major manufacturer for Apple. The book sheds light on alarming issues such as suicides, excessive overtime, and the pervasive hostility and violence experienced on the factory floors in China. Through vivid testimonies from a diverse range of individuals—including rural migrant workers, student interns, managers, and trade union staff—the narrative presents a devastating critique of the practices employed by two of the world's most powerful companies.
As the primary manufacturer of popular devices like iPhones, iPads, and Kindles, Foxconn employs around one million workers in China alone. The book illustrates how Foxconn's ambition to dominate the global electronics market aligns with China's aspirations to become a technology leader. This alignment has significant consequences for the workers, revealing the human cost of the relentless pursuit of technological advancement and consumer demand for the latest gadgets.
Moreover, Dying for an iPhone highlights the workers' resilience and capacity to organize. They have repeatedly shown their ability to strike at crucial points within the transnational production network, challenging both management and the Chinese state. This compelling work prompts a critical assessment of the impact of global capitalism's ongoing crisis on laborers, urging readers to reconsider the ethical implications of their consumer choices.
'Takes us to the dark side of Apple'
-- Le Monde Diplomatique - Books of the Month'Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, has said that his mission, and that of the company, is 'to serve humanity'; Dying for an iPhone calls into question that aim and the ethics of our globalized economy as a whole.'
-- Emily Kenway, Times Literary Supplement'Insightful'
-- CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title: China 2022Deeply researched, comprehensively annotated and fuelled by anger.
-- Mike Cormack, South China Morning PostAn invaluable resource for anyone wishing to explore the abuses inherent in labour practices, both in China and in tech supply lines.
-- Oliver Farry, Irish Times'A deep dive into exploitation and labour struggle in the world of high-tech electronics manufacturing in China during the past decade. Dying for an iPhone is an expose of the human suffering behind the brands. Everyone should read this'
-- Hsiao-Hung Pai, Taiwanese journalist'Dying for an iPhone is an absolutely necessary read for anyone seeking to understand the realities of modern-day capitalism. Contrary to the mythology of Silicon Valley, this carefully researched book explains why companies like Apple owe their success more to exploitation than to innovation'
-- Wendy Liu, author of 'Abolish Silicon Valley: How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism''Dying for an iPhone takes readers deep inside the dark Satanic mills of Foxconn's industrial empire. Drawing on the words of the workers themselves, the book offers an invaluable portrait of the Chinese working class as it pumps blood (sometimes literally) into the productive heart of world capitalism'
-- Ben Tarnoff, co-founder of Logic Magazine'Critical, accessible, and rigorously researched, this book offers the most comprehensive analysis of Foxconn, the world's largest electronics factory: its bleak landscape, dire consequences, and inspiring efforts to change it for the better'
-- Jack Linchuan Qiu, author of 'Goodbye iSlave: A Manifesto for Digital Abolition''A sobering investigation into the human, social and environmental costs of producing the devices we have come to rely on, a process in which both corporations and we, the consumers, are complicit'
-- Nick Holdstock, author of 'Chasing the Chinese Dream''Dying for an iPhone demonstrates forensically how rights continue to be denied to Apple’s supply chain workers, from the right to organize to the right to spend more than ten minutes in the bathroom'
-- Emily Kenway, Times Literary Supplement'A riveting account of the lives of workers on the production'
-- Labor Notes‘Includes both personal interviews with Chinese workers and, zooming out, detailed statistics regarding the composition of Foxconn’s workforce, including everything from the gender of workers to their migration patterns in order to work at Foxconn. Useful to a class looking at global capitalism and its human toll on workers’
-- Josh Young, Labor Studies JouISBN: 9780745341293
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 320g
304 pages