Global commodity chain research has become an important dimension of sociological research on globalization. Viewed from an anthropological perspective, however, it seems to be missing a critical orientation, one that is rooted in anthropology’s tradition of ‘studying down’. This study of Dominican baseball as a global commodity chain is an excellent pathway to understanding the ways in which neoliberal forces are altered as they articulate with local institutions and events in the developing world. The study also argues for injecting global commodity chain models with a more critical component to gain their full benefits.
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