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First developed countries may take advantage from underdeveloped countries with their cheap workforce but also some companies decide to contribute and help communities by creating new job opportunities and having a good impact in their community as the example shared where Lego will make sure to compensate the loss of trees due to the factory construction by planting new trees in Vietnam and having a carbon neutral plant. This fits perfectly to the  Modernization theory which according to Macionis it ¨links global poverty to the power of tradition where rich nations can help poor countries develop their economies¨(Macionis, pg 509).

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Last week, popular Danish toymaker Lego Group announced plans to build a new manufacturing operation in Vietnam, signed through a Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park Joint Venture Company Limited (VSIP).

According to Lego, they plan to invest over US$1 billion into the project, spurred by growing demand for its products in Asia - it has seen double-digit growth in the region since 2019.

About the carbon-neutral lego Vietnam plant

The Lego Group will build its first carbon-neutral factory near the Southeast Asian country's main business hub, Ho Chi Minh City.

In a statement, the company aims to achieve 100% energy consumption through solar panels on its roof and on a nearby farm.

Additionally, the company, together with VSIP, will plant 50,000 trees in Vietnam to compensate for vegetation removed during construction.

"We are very grateful for the support of the Vietnamese government in helping us achieve our ambition to build our first carbon-neutral factory," Lego's chief operations officer Carsten Rasmussen said.

Construction on their new site will start in 2022 and is slated to start production in 2024. The project is expected to create over 4,000 new jobs over a period of 15 years.

This will be the Danish toy giant's second factory in Asia after it opened its first plant in China in 2016, and its sixth manufacturing site in the world.

Lego locates factories close to its major markets, and this new project will expand the company's global supply chain footprint.

According to Lego, this strategy allows for the flexibility to respond quickly to shifts in consumer demand, shorten the supply chain, and reduce the environmental impact caused by long-distance shipping.

Lego building on strong bilateral ties between Denmark and Vietnam

Both Vietnam and Denmark have had a long history, with 2021 being the 50th year of its diplomatic relations.

Denmark's Ambassador to Vietnam and Laos, Mr. Kim Højlund Christensen said:

"During the past 50 years, both countries benefited economically and culturally from developing close ties - from development cooperation to trade and investment."

"This is the largest investment in Vietnam made by a Danish company, and it shows the confidence and optimism we have in the future of this important partnership," added Christensen.

Vietnam's pursuit of green energy excellence

Vietnam is the ASEAN region's leader in the adoption of solar and wind power capacity since 2019.

Supported by strong government and public support, the nation of 97 million is on the way to establishing itself as a global leader in renewable energy production.

Due to high governmental participation in the energy sector, government policies are essential for renewable development, especially given its capital intensiveness and high-risk exposure.

The country boasts generous economic incentives such as feed-in tariffs, tax exemptions, and investment subsidies.

These policies have strongly incentivized industry uptake, according to a study by Do et al (2021), in the journal Energy for Sustainable Development.

The Vietnamese appeal

Within developing ASEAN nations, Vietnam's labor costs are the third-lowest, with the average monthly wage hovering around US$248 in 2017, according to KPMG (as informed by Fitch).

This, together with its geographic proximity to the rest of Asia, makes it a viable location for richer countries looking to take advantage of lower labour costs by shifting their supply chains to the country.

Notably, this is amid a backdrop of US-China trade tensions, which has seen more US companies look towards SEA to avoid China.

However, due to the effects of lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam, like the rest of the world, faced drastic socio-economic setbacks.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that the pandemic would affect the livelihoods of up to 10.3 million (11%) of the nation's workers.

Nevertheless, Vietnam's GDP growth is among the highest in the ASEAN region, at +6.42% (USD$ 224 billion) in 2020, beaten only by Cambodia. Furthermore, their currency, the Viet Dong, is rather stable, with a volatility of around 1.15% - an average percentage for the region.

According to a 2020 report by , companies investing in projects related to environmental sustainability in Vietnam can enjoy generous corporate income tax (CIT) rates of 10% - 17%, from between 10 to 15 years. Other goodies include tax holidays, CIT reductions in the following years, import duty exemptions, and land rental fee exemptions.

Vietnam's forward-thinking renewable energy policies, governmental support, lower labor costs, and multiple economic incentives are undoubtedly why MNCs such as Lego have chosen to set their operations up in the developing nation.

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Why Vietnam for Lego's first carbon neutral plant? - Tech Wire Asia

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Last week, popular Danish toymaker Lego Group announced plans to build a new manufacturing operation in Vietnam, signed through a Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park Joint Venture Company Limited (VSIP). According to Lego, they plan to invest over US$1 billion into the project, spurred by growing demand for its products in Asia - it has seen double-digit growth in the region since 2019.

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This image from Tijuana, Mexico demonstrates how a modern era creates new types of problems where having high expectations from the people makes them be more competent leaving some without a job and increasing the poverty. This fact is evident in today’s high rates of unemployment and poverty. According to Macionis Postmodernity refers ¨to the transformations caused by the Information Revolution and the postindustrial economy¨(Macionis, pg 508). The picture of Amazon stock in Tijuana shows a little about how the industries take advantage from the poorest and making profit in countries underdeveloped changing their style of life with pros and cons.

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Symbolic Interactionist Perspective: Modernity and the Individual

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Symbolic Interactionist Perspective: Modernity and the Individual

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This video explains how modern society expects a lot from us where we end up creating feelings of anxiety and lack of meaning in the modern world to rapid social change that washes away tradition. Due to the massive increasing of population the society demands more challenges that many cannot accomplish. Macionis shared that the mass-society theory suggests that so much social diversity, widespread isolation, and rapid social change make it difficult for many people to establish any coherent identity at all (Wheelis, 1958; Berger, Berger, & Kellner, 1974)  (Macionis, pg 504). Having so many differences makes people having a harder conviction about how they want to live their lives feeling that they do not fit in any social group making them to take distance from the rest and start having emotions like depression and anxiety.

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How the Modern World Makes Us Mentally Ill

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Social-Conflict Perspective: Modernity as Class Society

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Social-Conflict Perspective: Modernity as Class Society

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As Macionis states a class society is ¨a capitalist society with pronounced social stratification¨(Macionis, pg 503). The capitalism has been one of the main reasons why the Earth has changed so much in a way many consider unhealthy because we are destroying our world by doing lots of activities that involve pollution, deforestation and contaminated waters which are caused by the unmeasured increasing power of capitalism. This drawing shows a simple example of how the capitalism embraces power by consuming the world and not leaving anything for it.

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Structural-Functional Perspective: Modernity as a Mass Society

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Structural-Functional Perspective: Modernity as a Mass Society

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According to Macionis a mass society is ¨a society in which prosperity and expanding bureaucracy have weakened traditional social ties¨(Macionis, pg 501). Social Media has been a big change in our daily routine because we have been used to been connected and interact with people via online but this has also brought its cons which decreases levels of social interaction in person with our society making them less social and limiting their social skills. This transformation of people of various backgrounds into a generic mass provides greater moral freedom but it may also end up dehumanizing everyone.

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According to Macionis Collective behavior is ¨an activity involving a large number of people that is unplanned, often controversial, and can bring about change¨ (Macionis, pg 490). An example change is the Borussia Dortmund fanbase who rejects the UEFA Reformations that intends to capitalize more the sport of football bringing more money and converting the clubs into mass companies and put aside the fans who were the original founders of the clubs. This happened during the pandemic but in social media a lot of fans joined to complain and to ask their club to not form part of these new reformations.

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A contemporary example of social change happening anywhere in the world right now.

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A contemporary example of social change happening anywhere in the world right now.

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Feminism is a big social change nowadays, that has been very intense is in Mexico, where thousands of women joined to protest against the mass murders against a woman. The article shared in this category is about a feminist movement who is against a governor who is related with rape. According to Moran ¨ Violence against women has not lessened, with Mexico recording an average of 10 deaths a day¨ (Carmen Moran, ¨ In Mexico, feminism knocks furiously at the doors of the presidential palace¨,2021). Mexican women are tired of being silenced and now demand changes in terms of security and justice.

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Galvanized by the 'Salgado Macedonio' sexual assault case, the movement is taking center stage in national politics with unprecedented force ahead of a key state election

Feminist demonstrators outside the National Palace in Mexico City protesting the Salgado Macedonio case. Sáshenka Gutiérrez (EFE)

The women's movement in Mexico is starting to shake the National Palace, the seat of the federal executive and official residence of the president. It is a threat that could either cost or win votes. Women in Mexico have put gender equality and ending violence against them at the center of the political debate. In recent days, their struggle - which has grown to a scale unprecedented in Mexico - has questioned the country's institutions, its political parties and its public figures.

The political storm surrounding Félix Salgado Macedonio, a member of the governing National Regeneration Movement (Morena) who has been nominated to run for governor of the state of Guerrero despite two rape accusations and several counts of sexual assault, is just the latest blow against the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Since López Obrador took office, his government has struggled with its approach to women's fight for greater rights.

There were more signs of tension on Tuesday, when dozens of activists gathered in the Zócalo, the central square in Mexico City, while the president was holding his daily press conference. The protesters were stopped by the police before they could reach him, but their yells could be heard in the square: "A rapist cannot be a governor!" they called out, in reference to the accusations against Salgado Macedonio. Their demands have put López Obrador on the back foot. The president - who has never been comfortable with the feminist movement - has tried to frame the protest as politically motivated - in other words, a plot by his enemies to gain more support ahead of the election in Guerrero. But with International Women's Day just days away and the vote for governor in three months, neither side is showing signs of giving up.

The demands of the women's movement are legitimate and they go beyond political parties and elections

Cristina Santana, Redefine México

"The women's movement in Mexico has been gaining a lot of traction in the last year, it's a great momentum that should be used to visibilize violence [against women] and make gains," says Wendy Briceño, the president of the equality committee in Congress. "Sexism is being stripped bare and female victims are putting themselves at the center of the debate. Because we have all been victims in one way or another, but some cases are more horrifying than others." Briceño is one of 500 members of Morena who have demanded that Salgado Macedonio be withdrawn as a candidate.

According to Melissa Fernández Chagoya, professor at Claustro de Sor Juana University, the rise of the women's movement and its growing presence in public life is due to three factors. "On the one hand, it is an achievement of the institutionalization of feminism, with many women now holding positions of state, which is an achievement of liberal feminism," she says. "On the other hand, [it is due] to the bravery of young women and their fight on the street, which is bringing visibility to the cause; and finally, the movement is making an impact on social-digital media. Now we are finding out more things than ever before, even at a local level."

The veteran feminist Patricia Olamendi, who is an outspoken critic of the Mexican government's gender equality program, believes the strength of the movement lies in the fact that it is putting women's problems front and center, "compared with a rhetoric that doesn't understand what's going on and categorizes everything in the usual boxes: its enemies, its adversaries, the far right."

"Whoever says that just doesn't get it," adds Olamendi. "They are unable to see the scale of a movement that is political and social and all about demanding rights. It is an insurgency for rights."

This particular case has attracted media coverage and it will ultimately be forgotten. But we should praise the progress that it has brought about

Melissa Fernández Chagoya, Claustro de Sor Juana University

Women protested outside the presidential palace on Wednesday, and outside the Guerrero attorney general's office the day before. In Guerrero, protesters spilled red paint and called on the justice system to clarify how the case against Salgado Macedonia is progressing. Women in Mexico do not want to wait any longer. "The demands of the women's movement are legitimate and they go beyond political parties and elections," says Cristina Santana from Redefine Mexico, a department focused on youth within the Simone de Beauvoir Institute. "It's important that a person who has been formally reported [for rape and sexual harassment] not be allowed to hold political office, regardless of what party they belong to." At 27, Santana is one of the voices underscoring the strength of the women's movement in Mexico.

The coming months will be key to determining what impact the movement will have on the June election for governor of Guerrero. The clashes between feminists and López Obrador began early in his term and have not let up. Violence against women has not lessened, with Mexico recording an average of 10 deaths a day. What has visibly diminished are the hopes many feminists had in the government of López Obrador. Disappointment and disillusionment are the words most often used to describe how they feel about the president's gender equality program.

In his morning press conferences, López Obrador has made some terrible gaffes while discussing women's problems, such as the time he became angry at a journalist who asked him about the murder of Ingrid Escamilla, a 25-year-old woman attacked by her partner in February 2020. Instead of responding to the question, the president chose to continue talking about his presidential plane - a sign that he did not have a hold on feminist discourse. Despite this, his followers claim he is the most feminist president Mexico has ever had. López Obrador avoids this definition and prefers to call himself a "humanist."

Women also raised their voice when Mexico's attorney general, Alejandro Gertz Manero, suggested addressing femicides without a gender perspective. It was yet another sign that the women's movement in Mexico was not willing to remain silent.

Society is telling the movement that it is right, that what's happening is real, that violence is real

Patricia Olamendi, veteran feminist

At Tuesday's press conference, asked about a Twitter message from former conservative president Felipe Calderón condemning the nomination of Salgado Macedonio, López Obrador replied: "So now Calderón is a feminist, what else is there left to say?" The president believes that feminism belongs to the left, something that the women's movement rejects. Sometimes López Obrador puts the movement in the context of the greater social struggle, a comparison that the suffragettes of the 19th and 20th century already put an end to. Class struggle is one thing, women's struggle, another. "From my experience, I know that feminism leans more towards the left than the center or the right, but now it permeates everything, it raises questions about the institutions and parties and political actors," says Briceño. "Feminism does not exclude rights, and that is its commitment."

This commitment will be put to the test at the election, and Briceño is sure that it will influence the process. "It's obvious that it will, because it's reaching all the public forums, the morning news conferences, Congress, the cameras..."

Cristina Santana agrees. "The movement is very strong and it is being expressed in a very public way, from the youngest [activists] to the older ones. It is defining the agenda. Women vote, they represent half of the country and our decisions as citizens are made with an eye on the people working to guarantee our rights," she says. Asked about the political cost of the Salgado case, she says there is a demand to "break the pact."

"[The president] needs to be made very aware that this does not mean breaking his alliances with men, but breaking with the complicity and the silence in the face of violence or discrimination."

Fernández Chagoya fears that the Salgado case will end up being one of many that have dropped out of the collective consciousness. "The problem is structural. There are more cases of violence beyond Salgado. This particular case has attracted media coverage and it will ultimately be forgotten. But we should praise the progress that it has brought about."

The president's attitude towards the feminist movement has run into its biggest stumbling block with the Salgado Macedonio case. Proof of it is how strongly female members of his own party have spoken out about it, as well as members of his government, with messages siding with the victims and against the alleged attacker. So far López Obrador has deflected the issue, continuing to back a nominee who does not have a lot of support at street level.

"Of course this is going to have an electoral cost," says Olamendi. "The feminist movement has been gaining a recognition that it lacked in society. And society is telling the movement that it is right, that what's happening is real, that violence is real. The president should take steps and seek to talk with the movement, something that has yet to happen. He should talk to them, although he doesn't seem to talk with anyone."

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In Mexico, feminism knocks furiously at the doors of the presidential palace

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Galvanized by the 'Salgado Macedonio' sexual assault case, the movement is taking center stage in national politics with unprecedented force ahead of a key state election