The Mushroom at the End of the World

This section covers Chapters 8-10: “Between the Dollar and the Yen,” “From Gifts to Commodities—and Back,” and “Salvage Rhythms: Business in Disturbance”

Tsing explains that, having now described the unique livelihood of mushroom pickers, it is important to ask: What has happened globally to make such unstable jobs typical rather than unusual? Far from being a minor or insignificant narrative, Tsing declares: “Shifting relations between U.S. and Japanese capital, I argue, led to global supply chains—and to the end of expectations of progress aimed toward collective advancement” (110). Supply chains mean that labor and working conditions are no longer of concern if desired goods are accessible when and where they are desired.

This hitherto unappreciated history of capitalism is observable via two historical eras, beginning in the late 19th century. First, the US demanded that Japan join the global economy as a trading partner. Then, in the late 1980s, American corporations responded to Japanese dominance by adopting their practices, including the use of supply chains rather than national firms. The result was that “the expectation that U.S. corporate leaders ought to provide employment disappeared. Instead, labor would be outsourced elsewhere—into more and more precarious situations” (110).