"The Political Economy of Work and Health in Silicon Valley" by Pellow and Park

The reading this week is a chapter from David Naguib Pellow and Lisa Sun-Hee Park's book, The Silicon Valley of Dreams, which was published in the year 2002. Both authors have received a Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University, and are now professors of sociology at the University of Minnesota. Throughout their careers, they have written extensively on themes relating to the environment. Aside from The Silicon Valley of Dreams, Pellow and Park also co-authored The Slums of Aspen: Immigrants vs. the Environment in America's Eden in 2011. 

In The Silicon Valley of Dreams, Pellow and Park take a look at the region of Silicon Valley and share their observations regarding environmental racism within the context of immigrant patterns, labor markets, and historical patterns of colonialism. It is meant to be a critical read geared toward students studying ethnics, immigration, urban studies, gender studies, social movements, and the environment. The authors also aimed their writing towards activists and policy-makers who strive to address the needs of workers, communities, and industries.

In the chapter that we read for this week, “The Political Economy of Work and Health in Silicon Valley,” Pellow and Park discuss environmental inequalities and injustices. The area of Silicon Valley is weighted with low-wage jobs, a myriad of pollution, and a toxic living environment. These environmental injustices are affecting workers inside the area, including women, immigrants, and people of color. These toxins are also negatively affecting the low wage communities located in close proximity to the facilities and landfills. Pellow and Park include information about the policies enforced regarding women who are pregnant and are no longer allowed to work in these harsh environmental conditions due to high chances of birth defects. Despite the facts and statistics, employers within the manufacturing industry claim that there is no explanation for the correlation between the defects and the environment in which the mother works under. 

Pellow and Park also discuss racial inequality throughout the workplace. They refer to Asian women workers who have adept and precise hands as “secret weapons," or "Fast Fingered Malaysians." These were women workers who were considered more skilled than men at performing the intricate work required in electronic firms. Silicon Valley firms were looking for small, foreign, female workers to perform these very important and dexterous jobs.  They can maintain the accuracy required to be successful with technical work in manufacturing. These companies are acting upon cheap labor within the races, as well as treating the workers in an unequal fashion. Women, especially those falling under a minority category, tend to be less likely to speak their opinion, which makes it very difficult to fix this problem.

Overall, this chapter is valuable to read because the actuality of the low-wage occurrence in the Silicon Valley is not something that should not be overlooked. The health conditions that these workers receive due to these harsh working conditions must be dealt with. Pellow and Park do an excellent job of addressing this issue, and they continue to research these areas further during their studies of racial and ethnic inequality, immigrant status, and environmental and social injustices.