Going Bananas with Capitalism

By Anonymous

 Yadhira Ramirez

Professor Villegas

SOCY 

5 May 2022


In “The Ghost in the algorithm: raciak colonial capitalism and the digital age” Ricarda Hammer and Tina M. Park emphasizes how technologies have contributed to the increase of social inequalities especially in the economy. In the picture above, there are workers who are packaging bananas for the company Chiquita. This banana company focuses on providing individuals with the best and delicious produce that they have ever tasted. Behind the Chiquita sticker, there was discrimination within the laborers and owners. One of the problems that these workers face is the lack of pay that they receive compared to the amount of work that they produce. Not only are they unpaid unfairly, but they experienced horrible working conditions as well.  While the workers were being abused, owners spent their time and money on the cultivation and making sure they are financially stable, yet they undermined the fact that their workers are the ones suffering the most. Furthermore, this relates to Hammer and Tanks argument as the text states “From the domination of the body under plantation slavery, to resource extraction and the exploitation of racialized labor, colonial operationalized to feed into capitalists needs. In order to satisfy the need for labor, land and resources, colonialism forcefully opened up new markets, annexed more land, extracted more resources, and exploited labor” (227). 

This specific quote relates to the idea that capitalism is the determinant factor of the economy. In Chiquitas case, the company as a whole could have done a better job of creating a safer place for their workers and providing better wages. Instead, they opened new factories all over Latin America to provide new jobs for citizens. When in reality, this was a capitalist move in order to dismiss the issues that were brought to light from the workers and those who saw these problems.


Walker, T. (2014, July 25). Colombians lose torture claim suit against bananas firm. Retrieved May 6, 2022, from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/colombians-lose-torture-claim-suit-against-chiquita-bananas-in-us-court-9629723.html

R., W. A. I., King, K. Q., Hammer, R., & Park, T. M. (2021). The Ghost in the Algorithm: Racial Colonial Capitalism and the Digital Age. In Global historical sociology of race and racism (pp. 221–249). essay, Emerald Publishing. 

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