I’m really not sure how to phrase this, but I understand that the first world enjoys a high level of material abundance, comfort, convenience, and privilege (“treats”) off of the backs of third world, sweatshop, child labour. From children mining for minerals that go into computer chips in the congo, to bengali women labouring in designer clothing sweatshops for pennies. What I don’t really have are books about that go indepth about this phenomenon and how it developed (and by this phenomenon I mean imperialism in the modern day)
I’ve only taken a cursorary glance through it but I think “A brief history of neoliberalism” by David Harvey might fit what I’m looking for
i highly recommend the divide by jason hickel as a very easy to read introduction to modern financial neo-imperialism (and the regular old imperialism that preceded it) and the unequal exchange and exploitation that defines the continuation of modern inequality. and correctly nails the major culprits as being the imf/world bank/wto as major drivers of how the west carries this out
he libs out a bit at the end, and he doesnt really tackle the systemic racism that underpins all of this, but its a really solid intro (and very appropriate to give to curious libs as well)
if you want to go a bit further in depth into the material history of how a lot of this exploitation developed and why, open veins of latin america is an excellent read that, as the name suggests, focuses exclusively on western exploitation of latin america. it was written in the 70s so its not really up to date on a lot of the newer stuff of how imperialism functions in the current neoliberal context, but its an incredibly solid background on how a continent has been pillaged for treats for centuries
Okay, no joke the best thing I've read on modern imperialism and the flow of treats is a polisci textbook.
It's Phillip McMichael's Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective I think you can get the 6th edition for 15 bucks. It's a great overview that's clearly indebted to the anti-globalization movement and it's the most comprehensive look at modern imperialism and austerity politics I've ever read. I'd recc it to any activist working on modern imperialism tbh
Oh, and for the psychological impact of the treat economy on workers in the Imperial Core, it's gotta be Society of the Spectacle
Lenin's 'Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism' discusses the process in its early stages and identifies what you could call 'treat theory', i.e the buying off of the western working class with some of the spoils of colonialism. I'd also second the person who recommended 'The Jakarta Method' because it shows how the west helped to violently crushed the third worldist movement via an anticommunist extermination campaign that was pivotal in ensuring that the treats kept flowing after the era of formal decolonisation
There's also Divided World, Divided Class by Zak Cope, which might be exactly what you're looking for
Anybody around here have any idea if Parenti's Against Empire would be relevant to OP?
Is this one set up more like a primer to give the general outlines or is this more of a deep dive into the subject?
Brief History of Neoliberalism is an essential read, imho. So I'd recommend that anyway. But "Digital Labour and Karl Marx" by Christian Fuchs covers the International Digital Division of Labor, or IDDL, which more or less touches on what you're describing.
