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

by David Pellow, Lisa Sun-Hee Park

Overview

Examines the environmental racism at the foundation of the Silicon Valley economy

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814768174
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	12/22/2002
Series:	Critical America , #31
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	303
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

David Pellow (Author)
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.

Lisa Sun-Hee Park (Author)
Lisa Sun-Hee Park is Professor and Chair of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is the author of Entitled to Nothing: The Struggle for Immigrant Health Care in the Age of Welfare Reform as well as co-author of The Silicon Valley of Dreams: Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy and The Slums of Aspen: Immigrants vs. the Environment in America’s Eden.

Table of Contents

Preface 1 Introduction2 Early History and the Struggle for Resources: Native Nations, Spain, Mexico, and the United States 3 The Valley of the Heart’s Delight: Santa Clara County’s Agricultural Period, 1870–1970 4 The Emergence of Silicon Valley: High-Tech Development and Ecocide, 1950–2001 5 The Political Economy of Work and Health in Silicon Valley 6 The Core: Work and the Struggle to Make a Living without Dying 7 The Periphery: Expendable People, Dangerous Work 8 Beyond Silicon Valley: The Social and Environmental Costs of the Global Microelectronics Industry 9 Toward Environmental and Social Justice in Silicon Valley, USA, and Beyond 10 The Broader Picture: Natural Resources, Globalization, and Increasing InequalityNotes References Index About the Authors 

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"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."

-Ted Smith,Executive Director, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition

"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."

-Karen Hossfeld,San Francisco State University

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

-Contemporary Sociology,

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

-International Migration Review,

"Powerful and passionate exposé"

-Journal of American Ethnic History

Editorial Reviews

The irony here is the contrast between the dream and the reality of Silicon Valley. We are encouraged to regard the region as "the model for postindustrial, post-smokestack, high-technology economic development," the authors point out, and yet they assert that the Santa Clara Valley includes "the highest density of federally designated toxic Superfund sites anywhere in the nation." And, because of the area's reliance on immigrant labor, they are "front-line casualties" of what the authors call "the war on immigrants and the environment." — Jonathan Kirsch

The Los Angeles Times

"Powerful and passionate expose."

Journal of American Ethnic History

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

Contemporary Sociology

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

International Migration Review

"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."

Conscious Choice

"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."

Ted Smith

"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."

Karen Hossfeld

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

- International Migration Review

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

- Contemporary Sociology

From the Publisher