The Silicon Valley of Dreams: Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy

David N. Pellow; Lisa  Sun-Hee Park

Published by New York University Press 2002

The Silicon Valley of Dreams

Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy

David N. Pellow and Lisa Sun-Hee Park

Volume 31 in the series Critical America

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814768570.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

Examines environmental inequality and racism in our globalized culture as evidenced by the social demographics of Silicon Valley.

Next to the nuclear industry, the largest producer of contaminants in the air, land, and water is the electronics industry. Silicon Valley hosts the highest density of Superfund sites anywhere in the nation and leads the country in the number of temporary workers per capita and in workforce gender inequities. Silicon Valley offers a sobering illustration of environmental inequality and other problems that are increasingly linked to the globalization of the world's economies.
In The Silicon Valley of Dreams, the authors take a hard look at the high-tech region of Silicon Valley to examine environmental racism within the context of immigrant patterns, labor markets, and the historical patterns of colonialism. One cannot understand Silicon Valley or the high-tech global economy in general, they contend, without also understanding the role people of color play in the labor force, working in the electronic industry's toxic environments. These toxic work environments produce chemical pollution that, in turn, disrupts the ecosystems of surrounding communities inhabited by people of color and immigrants. The authors trace the origins of this exploitation and provide a new understanding of the present-day struggles for occupational health and safety.
The Silicon Valley of Dreams will be critical reading for students and scholars in ethnic studies, immigration, urban studies, gender studies, social movements, and the environment, as well as activists and policy-makers working to address the needs of workers, communities, and industry.

Author / Editor information

Pellow David N. :

David N. Pellow is the Dehlsen Chair of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His teaching and research focus on environmental and ecological justice in the U.S. and globally.Park Lisa Sun-Hee :

Lisa Sun-Hee Park is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of Consuming Citizenship: Children of Asian Immigrant Entrepreneurs and the co-author, with David Pellow, of The Slums of Aspen: Immigrants vs. the Environment in America's Eden and Silicon Valley of Dreams: Immigrant Labor, Environmental Injustice, and the High Tech Global Economy, also available from NYU Press.

Reviews

Karen Hossfeld,San Francisco State University:
This landmark study adds significantly to our understanding of both the underside of Silicon Valley and the high-tech industry in specific, and the historic links between social inequality and environmental inequality in general. The authors also leave us with a sense of hope by offering examples of effective movements for justice.

Ted Smith,Executive Director, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition:
Provides a timely and necessary counter-balance to the incessant ‘new economy' hype that touts Silicon Valley as the answer to the myriad economic and environmental challenges around the world. This comprehensive overview helps to peel away the veneer by using an innovative combination of research methods, including direct participatory research. It raises disturbing and compelling concerns by examining the many environmental and gender injustices that have been at the center of the ‘Silicon Valley miracle.' An important contribution to the key debates of the twenty-first century about sustainable development.

Powerful and passionate expose.

Offers a lot for the general reader. The authors must be congratulated.

The Silicon Valley of Dreams . . . exposes the numerous inequities that plague the area, from the huge number of temporary workers, the highest per capita in the nation, to the obvious absence of union jobs.

An important contribution to the contemporary critique of high tech industry.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
1 Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Early History and the Struggle for Resources Native Nations, Spain, Mexico, and the United States Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
3 The Valley of the Heart’s Delight: Santa Clara County’s Agricultural Period, 1870–1970 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
4 The Emergence of Silicon Valley: High-Tech Development and Ecocide, 1950–2001 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
5 The Political Economy of Work and Health in Silicon Valley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
6 The Core: Work and the Struggle to Make a Living without Dying Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	112
7 The Periphery: Expendable People, Dangerous Work Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
8 Beyond Silicon Valley: The Social and Environmental Costs of the Global Microelectronics Industry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
9 Toward Environmental and Social Justice in Silicon Valley, USA, and Beyond Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
10 The Broader Picture: Natural Resources, Globalization, and Increasing Inequality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
About the Authors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;

eBook

Published: December 22, 2002
ISBN: 9780814768570