Abstract:
Is it true that Global Value Chains (GVCs) 'boost incomes, create better jobs, and reduce poverty', as commonly claimed? In this lecture Professor Benjamin Selwyn will discuss his new book, co-authored with Christin Bernhold, which challenges this mainstream view by introducing the concept of Capitalist Value Chains (CVCs). Benjamin Selwyn will discuss how CVCs generate highly exploitative jobs, create new forms of poverty, stunt human development, damage the environment and are part and parcel of geopolitical conflict. He shows how the ‘upgrading as development’ narrative – the core of mainstream GVC research and policy – represents a fallacy of composition. Rather than waiting for the promised benefits of ‘upgrading,’ he highlights how workers’ collective action, within specific historical and geographic contexts, can improve pay and conditions. The talk invites us to imagine a world beyond these capitalist relations of exploitation and nature destruction.
Time and date:
Monday, May 18, 2026; 04:15 PM - 05:45 PM CET
Location:
HYBRID event: On site in Niebuhrstrasse 5, Bonn or via Zoom
Registration is required and can be completed by emailing events@dependency.uni-bonn.de
Further Information:
https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/events/joseph-c-miller-memorial-lecture-by-benjamin-selwyn