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Everything comes from somewhere. Going from the clothing you are wearing to the towels hanging in your bathroom, they all have a place where they are made. The tags on these items will tell the tale. These tags were most likely sewn together by a person working somewhere in the developing world, allegedly getting paid a lower wage in a year than someone in Canada would get in a day. This atrocity is called a sweatshop. Sweatshops are outsourcing factories that supply products for wealthier countries and do not take it as a priority to enforce human rights, such as adequate working conditions. So, my question is, do sweatshops bring prosperity to all people or does it for just some? The three sources I was given give some perspectives that can apply to this question. The first perspective, or source, is a short paragraph that can be described as a pro-globalization view. It goes to say that Sweatshops are adequate enough for the moment, yet soon will expire because of better job choices and economic awareness. The writer compares sweatshops with mines and mills from the 19th century, as to bring public to the view that sweatshops will eventually be overruled by better options such as higher paying jobs, and human rights such as child protection and reasonable working hours. …show more content…
The second perspective was shown as a picture.
This picture captured a scene in which an adolescent girl is standing, surrounded by fabric and threading machines. This factory was most likely her job and could also have been her life, since child labor laws in the 19th century revolution were like those in the modern day sweatshops. In this picture I see a little girl unhappy and surrounded by litter and loud machines. She could be a representation of the many children in modern times, around the world, who face the same things she did, and some worse than her. I believe, from what I see, that this picture could be from an anti-globalization
view. The last source the author compares the “West” to the whole world. Making everyone’s situation equal. Though there are points here, this short paragraph is very bias and one sided. This short paragraph is a “western perspective” or even anti-corporate. People’s cultures and standard of living is different in every single continent, nation, city, and even home. Every person’s situation is different. What if, for example, you were someone living in Asia and you needed to choose from ether starvation or from working in a factory. What would you choose if I added that if you didn’t take the factory you, and you family would starve? I would choose to work in the factory no matter what the criteria. Moving from there I see one great point in this source, being that sweatshops are usually in for themselves, not caring for employees like we would in Canada or the US. This part should change, but revision takes time and by simply closing down factories people that rely on their jobs will be sent back to starvation or poverty. The main way all these sources relate are that they all portray sweatshops in a bad light. Though these types of working places are not desirable to most, for some they are lifesavers. The source closest to this thought is source one. It stated that sweatshops are sufficient for the time being, but soon the people working in them should or will have better options. Though, this also comes with a price. Overruling sweatshops will take time, and source two and three come in and show that sweatshops do indeed have really atrocious conditions that need to be dealt with now. So, to say sweatshops are positive is total foolishness, but to say they are totally negative is just as foolish. To conclude, sweatshops are not fully positive and are not fully negative either. They bring people from starvation but don’t necessarily care for their well-being. This needs to be changed; yet change will not happen by simply closing down factories. People on the richer side of the line need to take the initiative to ensure that those who are working for them are being cared for and protected. So, do sweatshops bring prosperity to all people? No, not all people prosper because of them, though a few benefit, and that is better than none at all.
Bob Jeffcott supports the effort of workers of the global supply chains in order to win improved wages and good working conditions and a better quality of life of those who work on sweatshops. He mentions and describes in detail how the conditions of the sweatshops are and how the people working in them are forced to long working hours for little money. He makes the question, “we think we can end sweatshops abuses by just changing our individual buying habits?” referring to we can’t end the abuses that those women have by just stopping of buying their products because those women still have to work those long hours because other people are buying their product for less pay or less money. We can’t control and tell what you can buy or what you can’t because that’s up to the person...
Ravisankar concludes his expository essay by informing his audience about organizations like the University Students Against Sweatshops who are forcing corporations to source their clothes from respectful factories or they will not purchase their products.
...ade even more miserable and the workers have their rights violated. Both sources describes the elite nations taking advantages of the less developed countries, it may not be the country but the worker in it. Workers overseas get lower wages compared to the workers working in the more developed countries. Exploited, there’s nothing that the workers can do about it since they aren’t allowed to create unions to protect themselves. Countries are now even more in debt as some people believe that the IMF and the World Bank take advantage of them controlling not only their economy but even their politic. Inflation happens to a country, and in Jamaica, chaos was created due to that issue, the people become pugnacious and became rebellious. Economic globalization can bring many good opportunities but it could also bring some sort of different adverse outcomes to a country.
The controversial issue of sweatshops is one often over looked by The United States. In the Social Issues Encyclopedia, entry # 167, Matt Zwolinski tackles the issues of sweatshops. In this article Matt raises a question I have not been able to get out of my head since I have begun researching this topic, “ are companies who contract with sweatshops doing anything wrong?” this article goes on to argue that the people who work in the sweatshops willingly choose to work there, despite the poor environment. Many people in third world countries depend on the sweatshops to earn what they can to have any hopes of surviving. If the sweatshops were to shut down many people would lose their jobs, and therefore have no source of income. This may lead people to steal and prostitution as well. this article is suggesting that sweatshops will better the economy by giving people a better job than what they may have had. Due to this the companies contracting with sweatshops are not acting wrong in any way. This was a deductive article it had a lot of good examples to show how sweatshops are beneficial to third world countries. Radly Balko seemed to have the same view point as Matt Zwolinski. Many people believe the richer countries should not support the sweatshops Balko believes if people stopped buying products made in sweatshops the companies will have to shut down and relocate, firing all of the present workers. Rasing the fact that again the worker will have no source of income, the workers need the sweatshop to survive. Balko also uses the argument that the workers willingly work in the current environments.
Sweatshops started around the 1830’s when industrialization started growing in urban areas. Most people who worked in them at the time were immigrants who didn't have their papers. They took jobs where they thought they'd have the most economic stability. It’s changed a bit since then, companies just want the cheapest labor they can get and to be able to sell the product in order to make a big profit. It’s hard to find these types of workers in developed areas so they look toward 3rd world countries. “sweatshops exist wherever there is an opportunity to exploit workers who lack the knowledge and resources to stand up for themselves.” (Morey) In third world countries many people are very poor and are unable to afford food and water so the kids are pulled out of school and forced to work so they can try to better their lives. This results in n immense amount of uneducated people unaware they can have better jobs and that the sweatshops are basically slavery. With a large amounts uneducated they continue the cycle of economic instability. There becomes no hope for a brighter future so people just carry on not fighting for their basic rights. Times have changed. 5 Years ago companies would pay a much larger amount for a product to be made but now if they’re lucky they’ll pay half, if a manufacturer doesn't like that another company will happily take it (Barnes). Companies have gotten greedier and greedier in what they’ll pay to have a product manufactured. Companies have taken advantage of the fact that people in developing countries will do just about anything to feed their families, they know that if the sweatshop in Cambodia don't like getting paid 2 dollars per garment the one in Indonesia will. This means that there is less money being paid to the workers which mean more will starve and live in very unsafe environments. Life is
In his article “Sweatshops, Choice, and Exploitation” Matt Zwolinski attempts to tackle the problem of the morality of sweatshops, and whether or not third parties or even the actors who create the conditions, should attempt to intervene on behalf of the workers. Zwolinski’s argument is that it is not right for people to take away the option of working in a sweatshop, and that in doing so they are impeding on an individual’s free choice, and maybe even harming them. The main distinction that Zwolinski makes is that choice is something that is sacred, and should not be impeded upon by outside actors. This is showcased Zwolinski writes, “Nevertheless, the fact that they choose to work in sweatshops is morally significant. Taken seriously, workers' consent to the conditions of their labor should lead us to abandon certain moral objections to sweatshops, and perhaps even to view them as, on net, a good thing.” (Zwolinski, 689). He supports his argument of the importance of free choice by using a number of different tactics including hypothetical thought exercises and various quotes from other articles which spoke about the effects of regulation business. Throughout the article there were multiple points which helped illuminate Zwolinski’s argument as well as multiple points which muddle the argument a bit.
Many people in our society today are constantly asking, "Why do sweatshops exist?" The answer to this question is that companies like Nike and Wal-Mart use sweatshops to produce their goods for a much cheaper rate, to reduce the cost of their products. The problem with sweatshops is that the workers are subject to hard work in often times poor conditions for minimal pay. But although many people may condemn sweatshops, there are some advantages that many people overlook when arguing against sweatshops and their practices.
The world believed that slavery had ended in December 6, 1865; however, in Bob Jeffcott article “Sweat, Fire, Ethics” he exposes the bitter truth about sweatshops and how companies have failed to accept the moral code (industries code). Consumers are unaware of the harsh labor some employees have to go through just to create the product we (consumers) wear on a daily basis. Jeffcott is against Globalization and free trade because he demonstrates the working condition within each company in how brutal they are.
...t the United States learned how to heal the wounds that it has inflicted upon Third World countries. Using the example of Mexico on a national level, we must understand that such struggles are not only suffered in the maquiladoras, but in sweatshops across the world on an international level. Until we find a means to restructure our hierarchy of control within capitalism, the global economy is doomed to accept the capitalist discourse. So far, as far as I can see, the government has played an ironic role in harming the workers, instead of ensuring their basic rights of safety, well being, and happiness. The conditions of the maquiladoras propose serious consequences with regards to their health and development; in order to protect these workers, free export zones must be eliminated, conditions must improve, and most importantly, the laws in Mexico must be enforced.
Inequality among humans has been and always will be a problem in the world. Large sums of people are extremely wealthy, live in mansions, drive multiple cars, and will never have a financial worry. Even larger sums of people are stuck working like slaves each day, and all they have to show for it is a cement box and if lucky a few personal belongings. A great example of these two life realities is the existence and operation of sweatshops. Huge companies like Wal-Mart, Nike, Apple and many others makes tons of money in the United States, while people in third world countries are doing their dirty work for around a dollar a day! It is apparent after reading “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair that sweatshops have been an issue and huge struggle for
Globalization and industrialization contribute to the existence of sweatshops, which are where garments are made cheaply, because they are moving production and consumption of those cheap goods. Industrialization has enabled for global distribution, to exchange those goods around the world. They can also set apart the circumstances of consumption and production, which Western countries as mass consumers, are protected from of producers in less developed countries. These factories are usually located in less developed countries and face worker exploitation and changes in social structures. Technological innovation allows for machines to take the place of workers and do all the dirty work instead of workers doing hours of hard work by hand.
Secondly, these sweatshops should be put to a halt since they are unfair towards their workers and violate their rights. One of many abusive things these sweatshops do to their workers is pay them a very low wage. For instance a Chinese sweatshops owned by the Apple Company pays their workers $1.28 per hour of labor and if lucky, they are forced to work only about 10 hours per day (Cooper). This is a ridiculous amount of pay for these workers considering that they are making device that will go and sell above four hundred dollars. According to statistics it would take a person working in that sweatshop about two months of their salary to be able to buy the cheapest iPad (Cooper). This statistic shows us how these sweatshop are being abusive towards their workers. If a company this big like Apple
Kristof, Nicholas D., and Sheryl WuDunn. "Two cheers for sweatshops." New York Times Magazine 24 (2000): 6-7.
These concerns typically include the rights of the children, the responsibility of the parents and employers, and the well-being and safety of the children. In Stefan Spath’s “The Virtues of Sweatshops,” it is made very clear that he, like many others, feel that the general public is highly misinformed on what sweatshops are and what they actually contribute to their respective communities. In the eyes of someone from a developed country, sweatshops and child labor that takes place in them seem primitive and are interpreted as simply a means by which companies can spend less money on employers. He states that when labor unions claim that companies which establish operations in developing nations create unemployment in America, they aren’t really explaining the whole story. The author claims that those who are adamantly protest sweatshops are only telling half the story with a claim like this. He points out in this part that the American people can rest assured that high skilled jobs will not be taken over to developing countries because “– high-skilled jobs require a level of worker education and skills that poorer countries cannot
Globalization brings down cultural barriers and can unfortunately affect society in a negative way. In the next three sources they all display a invasion of basic human rights. The first source shows child labour in China while these kids are mass producing toys. These children are neglected a childhood because they are forced to work and produced things to send across the world, this is an example of outsourcing. The government claims these children love all these toys but the children are forced to only make them not play with them. They are forced to earn low income and try to provide for their family. The perspective of the author on this source has a negative opinion on this ongoing child labour issue because it is depriving the children of their childhood and the things they should