Wrestling with Starbucks: Conscience, Capital, CappuccinoYou can find a Starbucks coffeehouse almost anywhere, from Paris, France to Paducah, Kentucky, from the crowded streets of Thailand to shopping malls in Qatar. With nearly 200 of them in New York City alone, this coffee retail giant with humble beginnings has become an actor and icon in the global economy. As we sip our cappuccinos, frappuccinos, and our double half-caf venti low-fat mochaccinos, many of us wonder if Starbucks is a haven of civilization or a cultural predator, a good or bad employer, a fair trader or a global menace. In this entertaining and provocative ramble through Starbucks's ethos and actions, Kim Fellner asks how a coffeehouse chain with a liberal reputation came to symbolize, for some, the ills of globalization. Armed with an open mind and a sense of humor, Fellner takes readers on an expedition into the muscle and soul of the coffee company. She finds a corporation filled with contradictions: between employee-friendly processes and anti-union practices; between an internationalist vision and a longing for global dominance; between community individuality and cultural hegemony. On a daily basis Starbucks walks a fine line. It must be profitable enough to please Wall Street and principled enough to please social justice advocates. Although observers might argue that the company has done well at achieving a balance, Starbucks's leaders run the risk of satisfying neither constituency and must constantly justify themselves to both. Through the voices of Central American coffee farmers, officers at corporate headquarters, independent café owners, unionists, baristas, traders, global justice activists, and consumers, Fellner explores the forces that affect Starbucks's worth and worthiness. Along the way, she subjects her own unabashedly progressive perspective to scrutiny and emerges with a compelling and unexpected look at Starbucks, the global economy, our economic convictions, and the values behind our morning cup of joe. |
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Contents
| 1 | |
The Empire Strikes Gold | 15 |
Running the 10K | 27 |
Banking on the Bean | 47 |
Go Sell It on the Mountain | 69 |
Moving Up on Eighth Street | 105 |
The Cross Dressing of CoffeeCounter Culture | 123 |
When Worker Met Partner | 140 |
The View from Headquarters | 186 |
Capitalism Is Like Fire | 203 |
Goodness As Battleground | 220 |
Bread Roses Coffee | 236 |
Acknowledgments | 245 |
Notes | 249 |
| 267 | |
About the Author | 285 |
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activists African American Alfred Peet American Andy Stern baristas beans brand C.A.F.E. Practices café capitalism chain coffee farmers coffeehouse company’s consumers cooperatives corporate Costa Rica counterculture countries create culture customers developing dollars drink Dunkin economic employees environmental Ethiopian export Fahsen Fair Trade Certified farm Fedecocagua Frappuccino gentrification Gerardo global justice Gordon Bowker growers Guatemala Howard Schultz International interviews issues labor latte manager McDonald’s meet million Murky neighborhood Nestlé organizations owners Oxfam partners Peet’s percent political pound profit Rainforest Alliance relationship retail roasters roasting plant Seattle share Sidamo social responsibility specialty coffee staff Starbucks coffee Starbucks stores story Street Tadesse Meskela Tawana there’s tion told trademark TransFair USA transnational union wages Wal-Mart what’s workers York
Bibliographic information
| Title | Wrestling with Starbucks: Conscience, Capital, Cappuccino |
| Author | Kim Fellner |
| Publisher | Rutgers University Press, 2008 |
| ISBN | 0813545064, 9780813545066 |
| Length | 288 pages |
| Subjects | › › Business & Economics / General Political Science / Labor & Industrial Relations Political Science / Public Policy / Economic Policy |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |