TY - JOUR AU - Brewer, Benjamin D. PY - 2011/08/26 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Global Commodity Chains & World Income Inequalities: The Missing Link of Inequality and the ?Upgrading? Paradox JF - Journal of World-Systems Research JA - JWSR VL - 17 IS - 2 SE - General Section DO - 10.5195/jwsr.2011.423 UR - http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/jwsr/article/view/423 SP - 308-327 AB - This article links key findings from two major research literatures within contemporary development and globalization studies: global commodity/value chains, and world income inequalities. Forging this missing link exposes what I call the ?upgrading paradox? within commodity and value chain analysis. The paradox hinges on the disconnect between the global commodity/value chain literature?s focus on the potential for firms and nations to ?upgrade? their position within chains and the roots of the global commodity chain construct in world-systems analysis, a theoretical framework that rejects the potential for widespread and generalizable developmental progress. Findings from the world income inequalities literature do indeed confirm the paradoxical nature of the upgrading discourse, so I conclude by discussing two potential paths for a ?post-paradox? commodity chain analysis. ER -