...whether Globalization is good or bad: ECONOMIC GOOD: -Economic theory of comparative advantage applies, international trade in the long run will make parties better off, developing countries improve their conditions by doing something they do “better” than an industrial nations (so they charge less for the same amount of work done) - Sweatshops are good for third world countries because they provide better wages and working conditions than the alternatives (e.g. prostitution) -Sweatshops are creating jobs for people in developing countries allowing them to have discretionary income - sweatshops are a major source of capital accumulation in a country. -Countries with sweat shops save on cost in production and so have increased capital investments by other countries and trade ports increases which lead to economic success -decrease in unemployment rate in the country that the sweatshops are located BAD -sweat shops create monopolies as small businesses can’t enter due to cost (they can’t get cheaper labour) -sweatshops often don’t pay tax and thus don’t pay for the public services they use for production and distribution and don’t contribute to the country’s revenue. SOCIALLY GOOD - They creates jobs for the unskilled people and people who unable to go to school not wasting mental capital, eliminating unemployment and income being generated. Some communities encourage people to work in a sweatshop. - Sweatshops are good because the clothes you...
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...A sweatshop can be defined simply as a shop or factory that employs workers at very low wages, working for long hours and in poor working conditions. Most of the workers employed in sweatshops are not offered benefits, and in most cases, are illiterate. Sweatshops are not only bad for the workers and the countries they are located in but also bad for America and the rest of the world. The common argument put forward by supporters of sweatshops, like that in the article by Nicholas Kristof (2009), is that they help unskilled workers gain skills and then further develop the economy. While this might appear to make sense on paper, a deeper analysis proves otherwise. Those who make this assumption fail to understand that some of the sweatshop workers...
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...Are Sweatshops Beneficial? January 22, 2016 Situation Analysis What I generally know about sweatshops is they are a horrible place to work. They are the lowest of the low. You work long hours for barely any money. For my audience, being my instructor and fellow classmates, I would assume they know at least that much, more or less. For the instructor’s expectations of my paper would include a couple of things to me. First and foremost a complete understanding of the chosen core reading. Within that I will be able to educate my audience more in depth of this subject being sweatshops. Another instructor expectation would to do all that within a well-organized, proper formatted paper. As for my audience expectations I expect they would to be properly informed on this subject before I put my personal opinion in the paper. I find this subject to be especially relevant to today’s world because we are affected by it daily. A lot of the mainstream products we have and use are made by companies that have sweatshops overseas. Most people would be interested in this because of what we buy can have an effect on the workers. Even though we don’t see it first-hand here in Indianapolis, Indiana, it does matter us as a human being. With this paper I hope to enlighten my fellow classmates on the core reading. Since the paper is more pro-sweatshops I will give some of the cons to it as my response. I want this paper to help educate the reader so they can make a more informed opinion on...
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...Sweatshops The word ‘sweatshop’ in today’s world has gained a predominantly negative connotation due to the Western perspective of this establishment. The term evokes a variety of emotions from people without a great deal of understanding of what the term describes or the reasons for its existence. As always, every issue has two sides, and in the case of sweatshops, it can be viewed as either the violation of human rights and dignity or as the building blocks of a country’s economy. This raises the very pertinent question of whether sweatshops are actually helpful or harmful. This essay attempts to showcase an informed and logical argument supporting sweatshops. The US General Accounting Office (GAO) defines "sweatshop" as an "employer that...
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...Sweatshops in Developing Economies: Overworked, Little Pay An Annotated Bibliography Timothy, Jeannine P. “Sweatshops in Paradise: A True Story of Slavery in Modern America.” Utah Bar Journal 27.2 (2014): 36-38. Legal Connection. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. This article is a book review done by the author, Jeannine Timothy. Timothy goes on to talk about a lady named Virginia Lynn Sudbury and how wonderful she is as a person. Virginia article is informative about the Vietnam sweatshops. As Timothy states, “The first reason is to learn of the astounding, heartbreaking, and recent practice of human slavery and servitude that occurred in American Samoa.” (page 36) Jeannine thinks of Virginia as an outstanding human being. They met during a court case regarding a child and its guardian. She then read into the story of Virginia and how she encountered a one in a lifetime experience dealing with how sweatshops mistreated women. The theme of this article is to tell how inspiring Virginia is and to go into greater detail of Virginia’s story. Because I am arguing that sweatshops overworked people, this article will help me explain that. Powell, Benjamin. “Meet the Old Sweatshops.” Independent Review 19.1 (2014): 109. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. Benjamin Powell claims that sweatshops have low minimum wage. The article also includes working long hours and being in horrible working conditions dealing with safe and healthiness. Sweatshops helps the economy...
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...many children were open to were underneath what the poor have seen. Houses that were built to dwell in a family of four was shared by several families. Many of the houses didn’t have water supply and the streets were very dirty. Circumstances like these were meant to be repressed by the poor working people. It seemed that the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. Industrialization meant that the people with money will devote to have more money and the people that worked could spend the little money they earned buying those products. Industrialization meant exploitation of the working people. Women and children were paid less than men and often worked in Sweatshops. A sweatshop is defined by the U.S. Department of Labor as a factory that disrupts 2 or more labor laws. Sweatshops often have poor working situations, unfair wages, unreasonable hours, child labor, and an absence of welfares for workers....
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...Practices A growing demand on consumer goods require goods and apparel to be made quickly. For many consumers, purchasing new apparel or goods is dependent on the price. Consumers want low price apparel items and are usually willing to shop around to find the best deal. Many consumers are not paying attention to where the goods came from and if they were manufactured in sweatshops and clothing companies are not disclosing if their items were manufactured in such facility. Should apparel companies be forced to disclose the work conditions of where their items are made? Yes, apparel companies should either disclose the information or require their manufacturers to sign a fair labor contract. In this paper, Beverly will discuss how consumer demands affect a company’s business decisions, review how different ethical perspectives guide ethical decision making and explain how a company influences their ethical environment. Consumer Demands and Business Decisions Without consumers, businesses would not be able to expand and grow, so businesses try to pay close attention to what the consumer wants. When it comes to apparel, consumers want to know they are getting the best deal and the lowest price, especially with a shaky economy. In order for businesses to maintain the demand of low prices and stay competitive, they have to outsource their manufacturing to low cost companies, many of which are overseas. Some of these companies knowingly use sweatshop labor to produce and manufacture their...
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...Sweatshops are immoral The vast majority of Americans are shocked by reports of brutal conditions in overseas factories. The U.S. itself has a proud practice of unions and human rights groups that work to prevent such abuses like child labor, refusal to pay overtime pay, exposure to poisonous chemicals, and unsafe working environments. Every day, people from other countries come to America for a chance to work hard in return for better treatment, higher paying jobs than the jobs they can find in their native country. Consumer demands affect a company’s business decision in many cases. Fashion being so fast paced with many companies competing for the global dollars. Every company has cut prices which in turn has them searching for ways to reduce labor costs. Unfortunately the first thing companies do is outsource and turn to sweatshops for cheap fast labor in order to make a profit and to be competitive in the market. Different ethical perspectives guide ethical decision making in the right direction, wrong direction, and walking a fine line direction. Some companies use ethical decision making as a tool to keep their company out of trouble by using proper moral judgment. While other companies could care less if they are being ethical. The ones with unethical practices will do anything to make a dollar. There are also companies that walk a fine line when it comes to sweatshops. They usually know what regulations they can bend but not break. All in all the last two...
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...We should improve child labor laws, so children can have the chance at a normal childhood. Child labor is a form of indentured servitude and child slavery, where children have no say in what work they do. From working in sweatshops to having low wages, child labor is a form of crime against humanity, and even a form of dehumanization. Child labor is why many people live in poverty today. This is why we need to enforce more laws on child labor. The sanitation that these kids are put in, is unsafe and the children are put at high risk. In “Child Labor and Sweatshops” by Charles Clark it says, “American shoppers may not know it, but many of the name-brand products they purchase - from clothing to carpets to sports equipment - were made under appalling...
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...interesting from the beginning because it gave me a lot of insight on how the whole Nike incident began and how it ended. It made me feel sorry for the Nike Corporation at first but when all the details unfolded I started to look at the situation in a totally different light. Jonah Paretti started off the case by trying to order a pair of customized Nikes that he wanted to order from Nike id. What he wanted on the shoe is the word "sweatshop." Nike ultimately denied his request because it represented inappropriate slang. He replied to the Nike Corporation by saying he wanted to put a picture of the 10 year old Vietnamese girl who makes his shoes on the shoe. Paretti never received a response. Before Nike could blink an eye the situation turned into a public affair that would get many colleges and Universities involved. By now the Nike product has become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime, and arbitrary abuse. An even celebrity like Kathy Lee Gifford was shocked when she found out her clothing line was participating in sweatshops to produce these clothes. Whether or not these accusations were true the turmoil with Nike and their usage of sweat shops for the production of their shoes had begun. Nike was founded by Philip Knight in1964. By 1980, eight years after the company was founded Nike became the largest athletic shoe company in the world. Nike’s factories are located countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and Thailand were the labor cost were significantly...
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...Sweatshops and Third World Living Standards: Are the Jobs Worth the Sweat? Benjamin Powell David Skarbek Independent Institute Working Paper Number 53 September 27, 2004 100 Swan Way, Oakland, CA 94621-1428 • 510-632-1366 • Fax: 510-568-6040 • Email: info@independent.org • http://www.independent.org Sweatshops and Third World Living Standards: Are the Jobs Worth the Sweat? Benjamin Powell and David Skarbek• Department of Economics San Jose State University San Jose, CA 95192-0114 benjamin.powell@sjsu.edu ABSTRACT Many studies have shown that multinational firms pay more than domestic firms in Third World countries. Economists critical of sweatshops have responded that multinational firms’ wage data do not address whether sweatshop jobs are above average because many of these jobs are with domestic subcontractors. In this paper we compare apparel industry wages and the wages of individual firms accused of being sweatshops to measures of the standard of living in Third World economies. We find that most sweatshop jobs provide an above average standard of living for their workers. Benjamin Powell is an Assistant Professor of Economics at San Jose State University and the Director of the Center for the Study of Entrepreneurial Innovation at the Independent Institute. David Skarbek is an economics major at San Jose State University and intern at the Independent Institute. The authors thank Jeffery Hummel, Charles Murray, Larry Pratt and Edward Stringham for helpful comments...
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...Labor Practices Jonathan Newberry PHL 320 12/1/2014 Wayne Moore Labor Practices According to the US Department of Labor, a “sweatshop” is a factory that violates 2 or more labor laws. Just using this definition, I’d say that using any means of production that is defined as a sweatshop is unethical. The US has a much stricter set of labor laws than many developing countries. We have higher standards for our working conditions, salaries, breaks, etc. Perspectives Manufactures that use overseas factories to make goods are just trying to maximize profit. They want to make the most money that is possible, with the least amount of effort. It isn’t ethical at all, but that is how capitalism works. “Many corporations use contract manufacturing firms to produce their goods. By separating themselves from the production of their goods, they can claim that they are not aware, and consequently not responsible for the conditions under which they were made” (Background). Pretending the problem doesn’t exist just goes to show that in most cases, making money is more important to the company than making an honest product for an honest price. Ethical perspectives here are either pay the people the right wage, or just pretend that they are being paid the right wage and ignore the fact that they are not only getting underpaid, but working in extremely poor and hostile conditions that no one would want to work in. Consumers Customer’s always want the best deal. The companies are always...
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...Hiromi Ochi ENG112 Professor Ashley Farmer Unit 2 Essay Sweatshops and the benefits of Fair Trade The great Abraham Lincoln once said, “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” In many countries worldwide, people are being exploited on a daily basis by factories around the world known as sweatshops. A sweatshop is a term used to describe a working environment, commonly factories manufacturing textile goods that are deemed dangerous due to poor working conditions. Workers who work at these sweatshops often endure sexual, physical and mental abuse, who work long unreasonable hours with no leave, lacking any health care benefits whatsoever for meager wage. These sweatshops often employ the usage of child labor and women, as they are easier to control. Today, my research essay will be on sweatshops and how the benefits of Fair trade and anti-sweatshop activism in the long run, can be beneficial. I will explore the poor and harsh working conditions of these workers, how working in a sweatshop can affect their health both mentally and physically, how child labor is being employed in these sweatshops and how women and children are mainly the ones being exploited in these sweatshops. More often than not, many Americans assume that these acts are not ongoing today, and are oblivious to the ways we as consumers, are actually supporting these organizations unknowingly. Authorities should further...
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...the public expects from an organization and how an organization communicates and build relationships with the public. Two main elements of organizational function are media and employee relations. Two main elements or the societal function are community relations and social responsibility. Organizational Functions Media Relations Media relations are significantly important to public relations because it is the main way organizations communicate with the public. “The public finds most of its information about a company through the media” (Functions of Public Relations). Different media outlets such as the newspaper, newswires, magazines, journalist, television, radio, and the Internet all have the power to make a company look bad or good in the public’s eye. One can consider the media a gateway between an organization and the public. The media and the public rely on one another; “The public depends on the media to keep an eye out and make sure they are helping the public stay away from scams...
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...borrowing money and managing property. The film was released around the time of major corporate scandals, such as Xerox, Enron, and WorldCom, and uses the metaphor “bad apples” to state that there are more than a few corporations that are bad. The film argues that if corporations were people, they would have psychopathic personalities. It then states that corporations have become a vessel which good and bad people can cause harm to society because of the way corporations have evolved and how they are protected. The Corporation film is concerned with the role corporations have in modern society its impact, or the corporate social responsibility. The film explores how corporations have been poisoning the earth as well as consumer minds and how the government is intended to look over and control these corporations. It looks into some of the unethical business practices and strategies executed by corporations and the externalities that are created to satisfy the main goal of the corporation: to maximize profit and market share. 2. Body A major social issue that was brought up in this film is the way that corporations treat foreign factory workers. The film is concerned with the rampant use of sweatshops by large businesses. The use Nike as an example, which was severely condemned and suspected of running sweatshops in several countries in Asia. The workers are paid only a small percentage of the price the products that they make are sold at and in do not have enough money to support...
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