Robert J. Flanagan
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195306002
- eISBN:
- 9780199783564
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195306007.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, International
This chapter contrasts the predictions of globalization skeptics with international economic analysis regarding the effect of globalization on labor conditions. Skeptics argue that globalization ...
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This chapter contrasts the predictions of globalization skeptics with international economic analysis regarding the effect of globalization on labor conditions. Skeptics argue that globalization encourages sweatshop labor conditions and increases world poverty and inequality, while economic analysis predicts that international competition produces a convergence of working conditions that reduces world inequality. The chapter makes a key semantic distinction between labor conditions (the actual working conditions and labor rights that workers experience) and labor standards (policy objectives or legal requirements regarding the treatment of labor). The chapter concludes by explaining the questions addressed in the rest of the book.Less
This chapter contrasts the predictions of globalization skeptics with international economic analysis regarding the effect of globalization on labor conditions. Skeptics argue that globalization encourages sweatshop labor conditions and increases world poverty and inequality, while economic analysis predicts that international competition produces a convergence of working conditions that reduces world inequality. The chapter makes a key semantic distinction between labor conditions (the actual working conditions and labor rights that workers experience) and labor standards (policy objectives or legal requirements regarding the treatment of labor). The chapter concludes by explaining the questions addressed in the rest of the book.
Sylvia Jenkins Cook
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195327809
- eISBN:
- 9780199870547
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195327809.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
This chapter considers some dramatic changes in the population of working women by the beginning of the 20th century, as well as continuities of the same ideals that had animated the earliest female ...
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This chapter considers some dramatic changes in the population of working women by the beginning of the 20th century, as well as continuities of the same ideals that had animated the earliest female industrial workers. It juxtaposes the hopes for self-culture of a generation of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who worked in the sweatshops of New York with those of the earlier Lowell workers, and explores the fiction that they wrote and that was written about them. It looks closely at Emma Goldman as an extreme manifestation, both celebrated and notorious, of the consequences of working women's aspirations to literariness and self-reliance. Like Margaret Fuller, Goldman edited a literary periodical, Mother Earth, asserted the romantic primacy of her individual mind, and ignored the sexual restrictions of her time. Like Fuller's working-class contemporaries, she appropriated from the romantic ideals of transcendentalism principles probably not developed with someone like herself in mind. Like those factory workers, too, she was a passionate reader and writer and, like them, she was the subject, sometimes admired, frequently ridiculed, of other people's fascinated fictions.Less
This chapter considers some dramatic changes in the population of working women by the beginning of the 20th century, as well as continuities of the same ideals that had animated the earliest female industrial workers. It juxtaposes the hopes for self-culture of a generation of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who worked in the sweatshops of New York with those of the earlier Lowell workers, and explores the fiction that they wrote and that was written about them. It looks closely at Emma Goldman as an extreme manifestation, both celebrated and notorious, of the consequences of working women's aspirations to literariness and self-reliance. Like Margaret Fuller, Goldman edited a literary periodical, Mother Earth, asserted the romantic primacy of her individual mind, and ignored the sexual restrictions of her time. Like Fuller's working-class contemporaries, she appropriated from the romantic ideals of transcendentalism principles probably not developed with someone like herself in mind. Like those factory workers, too, she was a passionate reader and writer and, like them, she was the subject, sometimes admired, frequently ridiculed, of other people's fascinated fictions.
Aaron James
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199846153
- eISBN:
- 9780199933389
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199846153.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter accounts for the significance of “external” moral issues, with special concern for labor exploitation and environmental degradation. Standard economic arguments for “sweatshops” do not ...
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This chapter accounts for the significance of “external” moral issues, with special concern for labor exploitation and environmental degradation. Standard economic arguments for “sweatshops” do not take the charge of exploitation seriously. The charge can in principle be answered, but not without significant international and transnational efforts to advance prospects for developing country workers. Concerns of environmental degradation potentially pose a more fundamental problem to the very existence of a global economy. It is suggested that its socioeconomic benefits, especially to poor people, are sufficiently important to preserve its basic legitimacy.Less
This chapter accounts for the significance of “external” moral issues, with special concern for labor exploitation and environmental degradation. Standard economic arguments for “sweatshops” do not take the charge of exploitation seriously. The charge can in principle be answered, but not without significant international and transnational efforts to advance prospects for developing country workers. Concerns of environmental degradation potentially pose a more fundamental problem to the very existence of a global economy. It is suggested that its socioeconomic benefits, especially to poor people, are sufficiently important to preserve its basic legitimacy.
Matthew Potoski and Aseem Prakash (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262162500
- eISBN:
- 9780262259132
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262162500.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The growth of voluntary programs has attracted the attention of policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and scholars. Thousands of firms around the world participate in these programs, in which ...
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The growth of voluntary programs has attracted the attention of policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and scholars. Thousands of firms around the world participate in these programs, in which members agree to undertake socially beneficial actions that go beyond the requirements of government regulations, such as following labor codes in the apparel industry, adhering to international accounting standards, and adopting internal environmental management systems. This book analyzes the efficacy of a variety of voluntary programs using a club theory, political-economy framework, and examines how programs’ design influences their effectiveness as policy tools. It finds that voluntary programs have achieved uneven success because of their varying standards and enforcement procedures. The club theory framework views voluntary programs as institutions that create incentives for firms to incur the costs of taking progressive action beyond what is required by law in exchange for benefits which nonmembers do not enjoy (such as enhanced standing with stakeholders). The book develops this theoretical framework and applies it to voluntary programs sponsored by industry associations, governments, and nongovernmental organizations, organized around policy issues such as “blood diamonds,” shipping, sweatshops, and the environment.Less
The growth of voluntary programs has attracted the attention of policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and scholars. Thousands of firms around the world participate in these programs, in which members agree to undertake socially beneficial actions that go beyond the requirements of government regulations, such as following labor codes in the apparel industry, adhering to international accounting standards, and adopting internal environmental management systems. This book analyzes the efficacy of a variety of voluntary programs using a club theory, political-economy framework, and examines how programs’ design influences their effectiveness as policy tools. It finds that voluntary programs have achieved uneven success because of their varying standards and enforcement procedures. The club theory framework views voluntary programs as institutions that create incentives for firms to incur the costs of taking progressive action beyond what is required by law in exchange for benefits which nonmembers do not enjoy (such as enhanced standing with stakeholders). The book develops this theoretical framework and applies it to voluntary programs sponsored by industry associations, governments, and nongovernmental organizations, organized around policy issues such as “blood diamonds,” shipping, sweatshops, and the environment.
Jody Heymann
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195335248
- eISBN:
- 9780199851362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335248.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Gabriela Saavedra was working in a sweatshop. The dangers of her job increased with the sleep deprivation. There was no leave time at the factory, and there were barely breaks for lunch. She couldn't ...
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Gabriela Saavedra was working in a sweatshop. The dangers of her job increased with the sleep deprivation. There was no leave time at the factory, and there were barely breaks for lunch. She couldn't afford to lose any of the limited wages she earned, so she worked when she was sick. She also worked when Ana Daniel, her 19-month-old toddler, was sick. Despite her mother's adoration, Ana Daniel didn't have a chance at a healthy childhood if her mother remained in the sweatshop where she worked. The anti-sweatshop movement has brought much-needed attention to the draconian conditions under which many adults must labor around the world. During the past 50 years, three striking forces have led to major transformations of family life that offer the potential to either lift families out of poverty or place children at heightened risk. When the three major historical shifts of labor, urbanization, and economic globalization occurred simultaneously, they dropped working families into the vortex of what is in many ways a perfect storm.Less
Gabriela Saavedra was working in a sweatshop. The dangers of her job increased with the sleep deprivation. There was no leave time at the factory, and there were barely breaks for lunch. She couldn't afford to lose any of the limited wages she earned, so she worked when she was sick. She also worked when Ana Daniel, her 19-month-old toddler, was sick. Despite her mother's adoration, Ana Daniel didn't have a chance at a healthy childhood if her mother remained in the sweatshop where she worked. The anti-sweatshop movement has brought much-needed attention to the draconian conditions under which many adults must labor around the world. During the past 50 years, three striking forces have led to major transformations of family life that offer the potential to either lift families out of poverty or place children at heightened risk. When the three major historical shifts of labor, urbanization, and economic globalization occurred simultaneously, they dropped working families into the vortex of what is in many ways a perfect storm.
Mark Hampton
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719099236
- eISBN:
- 9781526104373
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719099236.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Imperialism and Colonialism
During the post-war period, as a broad consensus was thought to have formed in the UK around the welfare state, Hong Kong was widely heralded as an arena in which pre-1945 British capitalist and ...
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During the post-war period, as a broad consensus was thought to have formed in the UK around the welfare state, Hong Kong was widely heralded as an arena in which pre-1945 British capitalist and entrepreneurial ideals continued to flourish. To its defenders, Hong Kong’s laissez-faire practices, or “positive non-interventionism”, made Hong Kong more British than Britain itself. Detractors of colonial Hong Kong, who emphasized sweatshops and squatter huts, confirmed the sharp difference between metropolitan and colonial practice. To Hong Kong’s champions, whose views were broadly hegemonic, Britain’s “benign neglect” was largely responsible for Hong Kong’s transformation from a “barren rock” into one of the world’s great cities. Not only did such views appear in political debates and journalistic accounts, but they also came out in fictional accounts, above all in the novels of James Clavell. At the same time, Hong Kong’s advocates insisted that greater regulation was not only self-defeating but futile; according to prevailing discourse, Chinese people “liked to overwork”. During the 1960s and 1970s, critics of Britain’s welfare state consensus, including Sir Keith Joseph, often used Hong Kong as a foil for critiquing Britain’s own supposed failed economic policies and economic decline.Less
During the post-war period, as a broad consensus was thought to have formed in the UK around the welfare state, Hong Kong was widely heralded as an arena in which pre-1945 British capitalist and entrepreneurial ideals continued to flourish. To its defenders, Hong Kong’s laissez-faire practices, or “positive non-interventionism”, made Hong Kong more British than Britain itself. Detractors of colonial Hong Kong, who emphasized sweatshops and squatter huts, confirmed the sharp difference between metropolitan and colonial practice. To Hong Kong’s champions, whose views were broadly hegemonic, Britain’s “benign neglect” was largely responsible for Hong Kong’s transformation from a “barren rock” into one of the world’s great cities. Not only did such views appear in political debates and journalistic accounts, but they also came out in fictional accounts, above all in the novels of James Clavell. At the same time, Hong Kong’s advocates insisted that greater regulation was not only self-defeating but futile; according to prevailing discourse, Chinese people “liked to overwork”. During the 1960s and 1970s, critics of Britain’s welfare state consensus, including Sir Keith Joseph, often used Hong Kong as a foil for critiquing Britain’s own supposed failed economic policies and economic decline.
Steven Vallas, J. Matthew Judge, and Emily R. Cummins
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479847273
- eISBN:
- 9781479800223
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479847273.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter examines the public debate surrounding sweatshops within a “human rights” frame. Using existing ethnographies and archival data from ten anti-sweatshop campaigns that center on Central ...
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This chapter examines the public debate surrounding sweatshops within a “human rights” frame. Using existing ethnographies and archival data from ten anti-sweatshop campaigns that center on Central America's apparel industry, the chapter analyzes the consequences that have flowed from the convergence of human rights and workers' movements. It first outlines the main distinctions between human rights and workers' rights movements before considering the tensions that have emerged among the forms of leadership, strategies, and goals embraced by human rights and labor movement activists, and how such tensions have been addressed by solidarity movements. It then explores the consequences that arise when human rights orientations are infused into anti-sweatshop movements. It suggests that solidarity campaigns foster worker empowerment on the shop floor.Less
This chapter examines the public debate surrounding sweatshops within a “human rights” frame. Using existing ethnographies and archival data from ten anti-sweatshop campaigns that center on Central America's apparel industry, the chapter analyzes the consequences that have flowed from the convergence of human rights and workers' movements. It first outlines the main distinctions between human rights and workers' rights movements before considering the tensions that have emerged among the forms of leadership, strategies, and goals embraced by human rights and labor movement activists, and how such tensions have been addressed by solidarity movements. It then explores the consequences that arise when human rights orientations are infused into anti-sweatshop movements. It suggests that solidarity campaigns foster worker empowerment on the shop floor.
Sarosh Kuruvilla
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- September 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781501754517
- eISBN:
- 9781501754548
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501754517.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
This book examines the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility on improving labor standards in global supply chains. The book charts the development and effectiveness of corporate codes of ...
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This book examines the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility on improving labor standards in global supply chains. The book charts the development and effectiveness of corporate codes of conduct to ameliorate “sweatshop” conditions in global supply chains. This form of private voluntary regulation, spearheaded by Nike and Reebok, became necessary given the inability of third world countries to enforce their own laws and the absence of a global regulatory system for labor standards. Although private regulation programs have been adopted by other companies in many different industries, we know relatively little regarding the effectiveness of these programs because companies don't disclose information about their efforts and outcomes in regulating labor conditions in their supply chains. The book presents data from companies, multi-stakeholder institutions, and auditing firms in a comprehensive, investigative dive into the world of private voluntary regulation of labor conditions. The picture painted is wholistic and raw, but it considers several ways in which this private voluntary system can be improved to improve the lives of workers in global supply chains.Less
This book examines the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility on improving labor standards in global supply chains. The book charts the development and effectiveness of corporate codes of conduct to ameliorate “sweatshop” conditions in global supply chains. This form of private voluntary regulation, spearheaded by Nike and Reebok, became necessary given the inability of third world countries to enforce their own laws and the absence of a global regulatory system for labor standards. Although private regulation programs have been adopted by other companies in many different industries, we know relatively little regarding the effectiveness of these programs because companies don't disclose information about their efforts and outcomes in regulating labor conditions in their supply chains. The book presents data from companies, multi-stakeholder institutions, and auditing firms in a comprehensive, investigative dive into the world of private voluntary regulation of labor conditions. The picture painted is wholistic and raw, but it considers several ways in which this private voluntary system can be improved to improve the lives of workers in global supply chains.
Ellen IsraelRosen
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520233362
- eISBN:
- 9780520928572
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520233362.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
Offering an historical analysis of the globalization of the U.S. apparel industry, this book focuses on the reemergence of sweatshops in the United States and the growth of new ones abroad. It probes ...
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Offering an historical analysis of the globalization of the U.S. apparel industry, this book focuses on the reemergence of sweatshops in the United States and the growth of new ones abroad. It probes the shifts in trade policy and global economics that have spawned momentous changes in the international apparel and textile trade. It also asks whether the process of globalization can be promoted in ways that blend industrialization and economic development in both poor and rich countries with concerns for social and economic justice—especially for the women who toil in the industry's low-wage sites around the world. It looks closely at the role trade policy has played in globalization in this industry. It traces the history of current policies toward the textile and apparel trade to cold war politics and the reconstruction of the Pacific Rim economies after World War II. The narrative takes us through the rise of protectionism and the subsequent dismantling of trade protection during the Reagan era to the passage of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the continued push for trade accords through the WTO. Going beyond purely economic factors, this valuable study elaborates the full historical and political context in which the globalization of textiles and apparel has taken place. It then takes a critical look at the promises of prosperity, both in the U.S. and in developing countries, made by advocates for the global expansion of these industries. It offers evidence to suggest that this process may inevitably create new and more extreme forms of poverty.Less
Offering an historical analysis of the globalization of the U.S. apparel industry, this book focuses on the reemergence of sweatshops in the United States and the growth of new ones abroad. It probes the shifts in trade policy and global economics that have spawned momentous changes in the international apparel and textile trade. It also asks whether the process of globalization can be promoted in ways that blend industrialization and economic development in both poor and rich countries with concerns for social and economic justice—especially for the women who toil in the industry's low-wage sites around the world. It looks closely at the role trade policy has played in globalization in this industry. It traces the history of current policies toward the textile and apparel trade to cold war politics and the reconstruction of the Pacific Rim economies after World War II. The narrative takes us through the rise of protectionism and the subsequent dismantling of trade protection during the Reagan era to the passage of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the continued push for trade accords through the WTO. Going beyond purely economic factors, this valuable study elaborates the full historical and political context in which the globalization of textiles and apparel has taken place. It then takes a critical look at the promises of prosperity, both in the U.S. and in developing countries, made by advocates for the global expansion of these industries. It offers evidence to suggest that this process may inevitably create new and more extreme forms of poverty.
James Christensen
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198810353
- eISBN:
- 9780191847349
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198810353.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
The international trading system remains a locus of fierce social conflict. The protesters who besiege gatherings of its managers—most famously on the streets of Seattle at the turn of the ...
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The international trading system remains a locus of fierce social conflict. The protesters who besiege gatherings of its managers—most famously on the streets of Seattle at the turn of the millennium—regard it with suspicion and hostility, as a threat to their livelihoods, an enemy of global justice, and their grievances are exploited by populist statesmen peddling their own mercantilist agendas. If we are to support the trading system, we must first assure ourselves that it can withstand moral scrutiny. We must ensure that it works for and not against those whom it envelops; that it serves to emancipate, not ensnare. While there is an extensive literature addressing the economic and legal aspects of trade, the ethical questions its raises have escaped close inspection. This book contributes to resetting the balance. It grapples with moral quandaries relating to world politics, globalization, and international commerce, and recognizes that resolving these problems is essential if we are to move toward a world in which trade justice is a reality.Less
The international trading system remains a locus of fierce social conflict. The protesters who besiege gatherings of its managers—most famously on the streets of Seattle at the turn of the millennium—regard it with suspicion and hostility, as a threat to their livelihoods, an enemy of global justice, and their grievances are exploited by populist statesmen peddling their own mercantilist agendas. If we are to support the trading system, we must first assure ourselves that it can withstand moral scrutiny. We must ensure that it works for and not against those whom it envelops; that it serves to emancipate, not ensnare. While there is an extensive literature addressing the economic and legal aspects of trade, the ethical questions its raises have escaped close inspection. This book contributes to resetting the balance. It grapples with moral quandaries relating to world politics, globalization, and international commerce, and recognizes that resolving these problems is essential if we are to move toward a world in which trade justice is a reality.
Ellen Israel Rosen
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520233362
- eISBN:
- 9780520928572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520233362.003.0012
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
This chapter addresses the winners and the losers of the globalization of the apparel industry. Executives and managers of the large retail and apparel transnationals have clearly been winners, while ...
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This chapter addresses the winners and the losers of the globalization of the apparel industry. Executives and managers of the large retail and apparel transnationals have clearly been winners, while those who have been displaced from their jobs, mostly the women who now work in the industry's sweatshops are some of the losers. Job losses, wage reductions, and sweatshops are a result of “race to the bottom.” The dilemmas of globalization and the “new international division of labor” are then explained. The pressure to open new markets in lower and lower wage regions of the world has led to a Darwinian struggle, which is producing a race to the bottom. In general, it is hoped that this book will be part of a larger effort to ensure that a significant part of the new and emerging global labor force, women apparel workers, will be able to earn a living wage.Less
This chapter addresses the winners and the losers of the globalization of the apparel industry. Executives and managers of the large retail and apparel transnationals have clearly been winners, while those who have been displaced from their jobs, mostly the women who now work in the industry's sweatshops are some of the losers. Job losses, wage reductions, and sweatshops are a result of “race to the bottom.” The dilemmas of globalization and the “new international division of labor” are then explained. The pressure to open new markets in lower and lower wage regions of the world has led to a Darwinian struggle, which is producing a race to the bottom. In general, it is hoped that this book will be part of a larger effort to ensure that a significant part of the new and emerging global labor force, women apparel workers, will be able to earn a living wage.
Kimberly Ann Elliott and Richard B. Freeman
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226261577
- eISBN:
- 9780226261812
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226261812.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Public and Welfare
Labor standards in less developed countries became a hot-button issue in discussions of trade and economic development in the 1990s. Standards rose to the top of the public agenda because ...
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Labor standards in less developed countries became a hot-button issue in discussions of trade and economic development in the 1990s. Standards rose to the top of the public agenda because nongovernmental groups in advanced countries—the human rights vigilantes—galvanized consumers to demand that multinational firms and their suppliers improve working conditions and pay living wages in developing countries. This chapter analyzes consumer demand, stimulated by vigilante intermediaries, for corporations to improve working conditions in supplier factories. It examines the incentives that exist for firms to respond to this demand, assesses the role of human rights activists as intermediaries who expose abuses in sweatshops and trigger consumers to demand changes in corporate behavior, looks at the major anti-sweatshop campaigns of the 1990s and their achievements, and evaluates the limitations of activist consumer-based campaigns. The chapter concludes by analyzing when and how human rights vigilante efforts actually do good.Less
Labor standards in less developed countries became a hot-button issue in discussions of trade and economic development in the 1990s. Standards rose to the top of the public agenda because nongovernmental groups in advanced countries—the human rights vigilantes—galvanized consumers to demand that multinational firms and their suppliers improve working conditions and pay living wages in developing countries. This chapter analyzes consumer demand, stimulated by vigilante intermediaries, for corporations to improve working conditions in supplier factories. It examines the incentives that exist for firms to respond to this demand, assesses the role of human rights activists as intermediaries who expose abuses in sweatshops and trigger consumers to demand changes in corporate behavior, looks at the major anti-sweatshop campaigns of the 1990s and their achievements, and evaluates the limitations of activist consumer-based campaigns. The chapter concludes by analyzing when and how human rights vigilante efforts actually do good.
Anne J. Kershen
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781526123084
- eISBN:
- 9781526144676
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526123084.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter provides a detailed and comprehensive account of the workers and masters in the Leeds tailoring industry. Many of the new immigrants worked in sweatshops and in the outsourced workshops, ...
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This chapter provides a detailed and comprehensive account of the workers and masters in the Leeds tailoring industry. Many of the new immigrants worked in sweatshops and in the outsourced workshops, which were in many ways an updated form of the domestic system in which all members of the family worked in the home. The workers soon found common cause and combined together to form the first and largest tailoring trade union. Their leader was the socialist Moses Sclare, who was a nationally important figure in the labour movement. Many of the Jewish masters exploited their fellow Jews but an exception was David Lubelski, who supported higher wages and shorter hours.Less
This chapter provides a detailed and comprehensive account of the workers and masters in the Leeds tailoring industry. Many of the new immigrants worked in sweatshops and in the outsourced workshops, which were in many ways an updated form of the domestic system in which all members of the family worked in the home. The workers soon found common cause and combined together to form the first and largest tailoring trade union. Their leader was the socialist Moses Sclare, who was a nationally important figure in the labour movement. Many of the Jewish masters exploited their fellow Jews but an exception was David Lubelski, who supported higher wages and shorter hours.
Thomas C. Holt
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813044774
- eISBN:
- 9780813046440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813044774.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This essay considers the global dimensions of citizenship, freedom, and emancipation, comparing the emancipations of the nineteenth century to contemporary discussions about citizenship, nation, and ...
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This essay considers the global dimensions of citizenship, freedom, and emancipation, comparing the emancipations of the nineteenth century to contemporary discussions about citizenship, nation, and modern forms of forced labor. Fundamental questions about labor, freedom, and citizenship posed by the Age of Revolution and the end of chattel slavery remain unanswered: reckoning with them requires rigorous re-examination of the conceptual frames within which empirical questions are posed. Freedpeople in the nineteenth century entered a new world of nation-states in which questions about their citizenship status were sharply posed. The creation of global relations of labor and consumption is constitutive of the advent of modernity, creating the problem of people who are non-citizens in their place of labor. Key concerns with the effects of modern globalization can be traced back to ambiguities in the meaning of “freedom” after slave emancipation.Less
This essay considers the global dimensions of citizenship, freedom, and emancipation, comparing the emancipations of the nineteenth century to contemporary discussions about citizenship, nation, and modern forms of forced labor. Fundamental questions about labor, freedom, and citizenship posed by the Age of Revolution and the end of chattel slavery remain unanswered: reckoning with them requires rigorous re-examination of the conceptual frames within which empirical questions are posed. Freedpeople in the nineteenth century entered a new world of nation-states in which questions about their citizenship status were sharply posed. The creation of global relations of labor and consumption is constitutive of the advent of modernity, creating the problem of people who are non-citizens in their place of labor. Key concerns with the effects of modern globalization can be traced back to ambiguities in the meaning of “freedom” after slave emancipation.
Andrew Ross
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814776292
- eISBN:
- 9780814777398
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814776292.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This chapter looks at two particular strands of environmental and labor advocacy: the anti-consumerist and the anti-sweatshop movements. The record of attention to labor abuses within the history of ...
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This chapter looks at two particular strands of environmental and labor advocacy: the anti-consumerist and the anti-sweatshop movements. The record of attention to labor abuses within the history of the consumer rights movement confirms that there has been a longstanding dialogue between organized groups on both sides, but it is equally a history of missed opportunities. In return, labor advocates have been slow to question the dominant materialist lifestyle of a consumer civilization, preferring to promote ethical reforms in consumption patterns that will sustain the existing jobs of goods and service producers. As for the anti-consumer activists who evangelize extensive changes in lifestyle, trading, and modes of subsistence, they tend to see ethical consumption as little more than a way to greenwash the status quo. Moreover, they are not especially sensitive to the immediate needs of the working masses whose livelihoods are tied to the existing system.Less
This chapter looks at two particular strands of environmental and labor advocacy: the anti-consumerist and the anti-sweatshop movements. The record of attention to labor abuses within the history of the consumer rights movement confirms that there has been a longstanding dialogue between organized groups on both sides, but it is equally a history of missed opportunities. In return, labor advocates have been slow to question the dominant materialist lifestyle of a consumer civilization, preferring to promote ethical reforms in consumption patterns that will sustain the existing jobs of goods and service producers. As for the anti-consumer activists who evangelize extensive changes in lifestyle, trading, and modes of subsistence, they tend to see ethical consumption as little more than a way to greenwash the status quo. Moreover, they are not especially sensitive to the immediate needs of the working masses whose livelihoods are tied to the existing system.
William A. Mirola
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252038839
- eISBN:
- 9780252096792
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252038839.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This chapter details several key eight-hour campaign successes and losses in the 1890s and their impact on the religious framing among workers and clergy. As the 1880s gave way to the 1890s, ...
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This chapter details several key eight-hour campaign successes and losses in the 1890s and their impact on the religious framing among workers and clergy. As the 1880s gave way to the 1890s, arbitration was heard much more frequently as a solution to impasses between employers and organized labor. Prominent businessmen such as Cyrus McCormick and Marshall Field rejected the notion of bargaining with their employees on what they considered to be their right to conduct their business affairs free from interference. Nevertheless, finding ways to minimize class hostilities and prevent the production losses that inevitably accompanied drawn-out strikes and lockouts was becoming a priority for more and more employers. In 1893, Illinois enacted the “Sweatshop Act” that limited the workdays of women and children to eight hours. Moreover, the 1890s is significant as the period in which eight-hour support among Protestant clergy was strengthened as the result of a new social consciousness regarding labor reform.Less
This chapter details several key eight-hour campaign successes and losses in the 1890s and their impact on the religious framing among workers and clergy. As the 1880s gave way to the 1890s, arbitration was heard much more frequently as a solution to impasses between employers and organized labor. Prominent businessmen such as Cyrus McCormick and Marshall Field rejected the notion of bargaining with their employees on what they considered to be their right to conduct their business affairs free from interference. Nevertheless, finding ways to minimize class hostilities and prevent the production losses that inevitably accompanied drawn-out strikes and lockouts was becoming a priority for more and more employers. In 1893, Illinois enacted the “Sweatshop Act” that limited the workdays of women and children to eight hours. Moreover, the 1890s is significant as the period in which eight-hour support among Protestant clergy was strengthened as the result of a new social consciousness regarding labor reform.
Scott Laderman
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520279100
- eISBN:
- 9780520958043
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520279100.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
By the early twenty-first century, surfing was a multibillion-dollar industry. It relied on the neoliberal globalization of the preceding decades, with surfwear corporations employing sweatshop labor ...
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By the early twenty-first century, surfing was a multibillion-dollar industry. It relied on the neoliberal globalization of the preceding decades, with surfwear corporations employing sweatshop labor in the developing world and contributing to the environmental damage produced by apparel manufacturing. At the same time, it marketed an image of surfing as cool and even rebellious. This industrialization exposed a tension within the surfing community: should surfers embrace their sport’s growth and professionalization or did the industrialization detract from the “purity” of people riding waves? By the early twenty-first century, the organic surfwear brands faced a growing threat from non-endemics such as Nike and Hollister.Less
By the early twenty-first century, surfing was a multibillion-dollar industry. It relied on the neoliberal globalization of the preceding decades, with surfwear corporations employing sweatshop labor in the developing world and contributing to the environmental damage produced by apparel manufacturing. At the same time, it marketed an image of surfing as cool and even rebellious. This industrialization exposed a tension within the surfing community: should surfers embrace their sport’s growth and professionalization or did the industrialization detract from the “purity” of people riding waves? By the early twenty-first century, the organic surfwear brands faced a growing threat from non-endemics such as Nike and Hollister.
Drusilla K. Brown, Alan V. Deardorff, and Robert M. Stern
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226036151
- eISBN:
- 9780226036557
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226036557.003.0009
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, International
This chapter assesses the empirical evidence on the effects of multinational production on wages and working conditions in developing countries. It is motivated by the controversies that have ...
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This chapter assesses the empirical evidence on the effects of multinational production on wages and working conditions in developing countries. It is motivated by the controversies that have emerged, especially in the past decade or so, concerning whether or not multinational firms in developing countries are exploiting their workers with “sweatshop” conditions—that is, paying low wages and subjecting them to coercive, abusive, unhealthy, and unsafe conditions in the workplace. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 8.2 addresses these controversies in the context of the efforts and programs of social activist groups and universities and colleges involved in the anti-sweatshop campaign in the United States, and the related issues of the social accountability of multinational firms and the role of such international institutions as the International Labor Organization and World Trade Organization in dealing with labor standards and trade. Section 8.3 presents a conceptual treatment of the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on wages in host countries and the effects of outsourcing and subcontracting by multinational firms. Section 8.4 reviews empirical evidence on multinational-firm wages in developing countries together with evidence on the relationship between FDI and labor rights, and Section 8.5 concludes. A commentary is also included at the end of the chapter.Less
This chapter assesses the empirical evidence on the effects of multinational production on wages and working conditions in developing countries. It is motivated by the controversies that have emerged, especially in the past decade or so, concerning whether or not multinational firms in developing countries are exploiting their workers with “sweatshop” conditions—that is, paying low wages and subjecting them to coercive, abusive, unhealthy, and unsafe conditions in the workplace. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 8.2 addresses these controversies in the context of the efforts and programs of social activist groups and universities and colleges involved in the anti-sweatshop campaign in the United States, and the related issues of the social accountability of multinational firms and the role of such international institutions as the International Labor Organization and World Trade Organization in dealing with labor standards and trade. Section 8.3 presents a conceptual treatment of the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on wages in host countries and the effects of outsourcing and subcontracting by multinational firms. Section 8.4 reviews empirical evidence on multinational-firm wages in developing countries together with evidence on the relationship between FDI and labor rights, and Section 8.5 concludes. A commentary is also included at the end of the chapter.
Jason Brennan, William English, John Hasnas, and Peter Jaworski
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- August 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190076559
- eISBN:
- 9780197606513
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190076559.003.0005
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Corporate Governance and Accountability, HRM / IR
Sometimes voluntary agreements that are beneficial to all parties can still be unethical. This occurs when the benefits of the agreement are unfairly divided among the parties. The benefits of a ...
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Sometimes voluntary agreements that are beneficial to all parties can still be unethical. This occurs when the benefits of the agreement are unfairly divided among the parties. The benefits of a mutually beneficial transaction might be exploitative, meaning that one party unconscionably takes advantage of the vulnerability of another party. World poverty, globalization, and environmental disasters present a special challenges where exploitation could occur, but also where people’s good intentions might cause them to refuse to make trades that are beneficial for fear of being exploitative.Less
Sometimes voluntary agreements that are beneficial to all parties can still be unethical. This occurs when the benefits of the agreement are unfairly divided among the parties. The benefits of a mutually beneficial transaction might be exploitative, meaning that one party unconscionably takes advantage of the vulnerability of another party. World poverty, globalization, and environmental disasters present a special challenges where exploitation could occur, but also where people’s good intentions might cause them to refuse to make trades that are beneficial for fear of being exploitative.
Scott L. Cummings
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190215927
- eISBN:
- 9780190936839
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190215927.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Employment Law, Legal Profession and Ethics
Launched in 1995 with the discovery of more than seventy enslaved Thai workers in a suburban apartment complex surrounded by barbed wire fence, the movement to end garment sweatshops—led by the Asian ...
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Launched in 1995 with the discovery of more than seventy enslaved Thai workers in a suburban apartment complex surrounded by barbed wire fence, the movement to end garment sweatshops—led by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center—pioneered the integration of strategic litigation and worker organizing to challenge inequality in Los Angeles. The sweatshop regime was built upon a legal foundation of subcontracting, which insulated retailers and manufacturers from the contractors actually producing clothing. At its most ambitious, the campaign sought to make legal responsibility follow economic power, rupturing the fiction that protected retailers and manufacturers from labor abuses such as those uncovered in the Thai worker case. Chapter 2 shows how lawyers built a powerful alliance with labor and grassroots organizers, won important legal victories in court, and achieved passage of a landmark state law creating manufacturer liability for contract labor violations. It then traces the campaign through the fierce battle against retailer Forever 21, which showed the power of industry countermobilization and ultimately marked the end of the litigation campaign. This outcome underscored a central lesson of legal mobilization in the new economy: Individual enforcement and litigation strategies, even when paired with innovative organizing and media campaigns, faced long odds challenging abuse enabled by extensive contracting and—crucially—the threat of global outsourcing. However, in fusing law and organizing, the anti-sweatshop campaign marked a new beginning in the movement against low-wage work—one that would deploy the tools honed in the garment manufacturing context to target Los Angeles’s immobile service industries.Less
Launched in 1995 with the discovery of more than seventy enslaved Thai workers in a suburban apartment complex surrounded by barbed wire fence, the movement to end garment sweatshops—led by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center—pioneered the integration of strategic litigation and worker organizing to challenge inequality in Los Angeles. The sweatshop regime was built upon a legal foundation of subcontracting, which insulated retailers and manufacturers from the contractors actually producing clothing. At its most ambitious, the campaign sought to make legal responsibility follow economic power, rupturing the fiction that protected retailers and manufacturers from labor abuses such as those uncovered in the Thai worker case. Chapter 2 shows how lawyers built a powerful alliance with labor and grassroots organizers, won important legal victories in court, and achieved passage of a landmark state law creating manufacturer liability for contract labor violations. It then traces the campaign through the fierce battle against retailer Forever 21, which showed the power of industry countermobilization and ultimately marked the end of the litigation campaign. This outcome underscored a central lesson of legal mobilization in the new economy: Individual enforcement and litigation strategies, even when paired with innovative organizing and media campaigns, faced long odds challenging abuse enabled by extensive contracting and—crucially—the threat of global outsourcing. However, in fusing law and organizing, the anti-sweatshop campaign marked a new beginning in the movement against low-wage work—one that would deploy the tools honed in the garment manufacturing context to target Los Angeles’s immobile service industries.