Sweatshops Research Paper

Sweatshops have been around for centuries, beginning around the late 1880’s. Sweatshops are classified by three main components, long work hours, very low pay and unsafe and unhealthy working environments. Sweatshops are usually found in manufacturing industries and the most highlighted production is clothing corporations, who take full advantage of the low production costs of their products. Many may think sweatshops are a thing of the past but they are still affecting many lives across the nations. There are many ways sweatshops affect lives, but a recent article titled “New study finds ‘more sweatshops than Starbucks’ in Chicago” explains that there are many low wage industry jobs that are violating labor laws in the United States alone. The article also reports how employees who are working in such conditions won’t speak up in fear of the retaliation employers will implement. Analyzing Sweatshops through the lens of the Sociological perspectives will help us better understand the illegal conditions of workplaces that still exist today.

In 2009, a sweatshop scandal rocked the business world in the United States involving a big name in athletic gear, Russell Athletics, which is owned by Berkshire-Hathaway family of products. This scandal shows a light on part of the business world that few talked about and this changed how companies viewed social responsibility when it came to what they did around the world. Sweatshops have been around for a long time but now more people are wanting to get involved to try and stop. The question is who is responsible on regulating labor practices around the world and why does it seem that the Unites States is always involved?

In his opinion essay, “Sweatshop Oppression,” published in the student newspaper, The Lantern, at Ohio State University, writer Rajeev Ravisankar uses his article as a platform to raise awareness about the deplorable conditions in sweatshops. Ravisankar awakens his readers from their slumber and brings to light the fact that they are partly responsible for the problem. His first goal in the essay is to designate college students as conscious consumers who look to purchase goods at the lowest prices. Then he makes the connection between this type of low-cost consumerism and the high human cost that workers are forced to pay in sweatshops. His second goal is to place the real burden of responsibility directly with the companies that perpetuate this system of exploitation. Finally, he proposes what can be done about it. By establishing a relationship that includes himself in the audience, working to assign responsibility to the reader, and keeping them emotionally invested, Ravisankar makes a powerful argument that eventually prompts his student reader to take responsibility for their actions and make a change.

Sweltering heat, long hours, and unfair working conditions are a few descriptive words that Americans use to describe a sweatshop. I believe our judgment is being misguided by the success of our nation, and it is imperative we redefine the word “sweatshop”. Individuals that endure life in third world countries know hardships that Americans could not imagine. If we were to recognize these economical differences it may shine a light on why these workers seek sweatshop jobs. In many of these cases, children must work to aid in the family’s survival. If these jobs are voluntary and both parties agree to work conditions, it results in a mutually beneficial arrangement. One of the worst things we can do as outsiders, to help these impoverished

A majority of the clothing worn and purchased today in the United States has been manufactured overseas in sweatshops. Since the beginning of factories and businesses, owners have always looked for a way to cut production costs while still managing to produce large quantities of their product. It was found that the best way to cut costs was to utilize cheap labor in factories known as sweatshops. According to the US General Account Office, sweatshops are defined as a “business that regularly violates both wage or child labor and safety or health laws”. These sweatshops exploit their workers in various ways: making them work long hours in dangerous working conditions for little to no pay. Personally, I believe that the come up and employment of these sweatshops is unethical, but through my research I plan to find out if these shops produce more positive than negatives by giving these people in need a job despite the rough conditions.

Time and time again, there have been opposing views on just about every single possible topic one could fathom. From the most politically controversial topics of gun control and stem cell research to the more mundane transparent ones of brown or white rice and hat or no hat—it continues. Sweatshops and the controversy surrounding them is one that is unable to be put into simplistic terms, for sweatshops themselves are complex. The grand debate of opposing views in regards to sweatshops continues between two writers who both make convincing arguments as to why and how sweatshops should or should not be dealt with. In Sweat, Fire and Ethics, by Bob Jeffcott, he argues that more people ought to worry less about the outer layers of sweatshops and delve deeper into the real reason they exist and the unnecessariness of them. In contrast, Jeffrey D. Sachs writes of the urgent requirement of sweatshops needed during the industrialization time in a developing country, in his article of Bangladesh: On the Ladder of Development. The question is then asked: How do sweatshops positively and negatively affect people here in the United States of America and in other countries around the world?

In this article he tries to prove his point of view of the sweatshop by proving and stating how the women suffer being there just so in the end we can have a brand accessory like Nike or Gap. Also he talks to his audience because he mentions that we can write letters to companies when workers’ rights are violated and to show support of their efforts to organize, “we can put pressure on our government to adopt policies and regulations that make companies accountable when they fail to address flagrant and persistent violations of workers’ rights.” As of today there are some major brands that have the ‘company code of conduct compliance staff’ in order to answer complaints and investigates the situation and report back and tell what they were going to do to fix the problem. But with all those advances made there’s still any changes in the workplace because he states that a “a little less child labor, fewer forced pregnancy tests or health and safety violations in the larger factories used by major brands” but they still give them poverty wages, long hours of forced overtime and massive firings of workers that tried

PURPOSE: (relate topic to this audience and establish credibility): The purpose of this topic is to inform the audience about the history of the sweatshops, companies impacted because of allegations, and what improvements and changes have been made to end sweatshops in the U.S. and especially in

In the essay “Sweatshop Oppression”, the writer, Rajeev Ravisankar begins his essay by building a connection with the audience by establishing common ground when he states, “being the “poor” college students that we all are” (Ravisankar, 2006). The problem he identifies is the significantly poor working conditions and slave labor wages that are often the price for cheaper goods from large renowned companies. Ravisankar assumes his readers are college students, and unaware of the reality of and often destitute conditions of these sweatshops. His goal is to not only bring awareness to the reality of sweatshop oppression, but how others, such as USAS have stepped up to bring change, and what

Sweatshops have always been a problem in the Unites States, especially during the past century. Unfair working conditions and pay prompted the formation of the Garment Worker

A sweatshop is a workplace that violates the law and where workers are subject to extreme exploitation (including the absence of a living wage or long work hours), poor working conditions such as health and safety hazards, arbitrary discipline such as verbal or physical discipline or fear and intimidation when they attempt to stand up for their rights or attempt to form a union.1 This paper explores the working conditions in sweatshops mainly located near the US-Mexican border and the results the production of sweatshops have caused. US companies import American parts into Mexico to assemble the parts in ‘maquiladoras’. Maquiladoras are best described as assembly plants run by foreign-based multinational corporations, most of which are headquartered in the United States and export the products back to the United States. The produced goods are then usually stamped ‘Assembled in Mexico or US Materials’.2

In this article, journalist Nicholas Kristof gives his readers a look at what people from South and Eastern Asia think about the jobs working/living inside of a garbage dump compared to what they think of sweatshops. Also, Kristof explains how he actually encourages the production of more sweatshops. Since he has lived in in East Asia, his wife’s living standards have increased due to sweatshop jobs. Kristof continues to talk about how he does understand how Americans want to help out other countries and think that there should be labor standards, but he makes a good point about how labor standards and “living standards are the two biggest impacts on the cost of textiles, and companies are trying find a balance between these two. This makes

By definition a sweatshop is a “negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay in horrible conditions, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay and or minimum wage”. Many corporations in the United States use sweatshop labor in countries over seas such as China to produce their products at a lower cost. As entailed in the letter from a man born in China, many citizens on these countries resort to factory labor to support themselves to escape other sources on income such as prostitution. Without these corporations usage of oversea sweatshops these employees would be forced to return to self-demeaning jobs such as these.

The item I researched was Levis jeans. I believe this item is a need in life because, it is necessary we cover our body from the public. In my dresser at home I have about five Levi jeans that I wear almost everyday. Since I wear jeans almost everyday, I wear one pair of jeans a day. Bodies grow everyday so with the amount of jeans I have and wear, my jeans should last at least one to one and half years. After that I need to buy new jeans and with that I usually donate my jeans to Goodwill or hand them down family friends in need of jeans. Borrowing jeans is harder when you get older because your body is completely different from the person’s body next to you. When I was younger I wore hand down jeans from the neighbor girls

The Sweatshop Watch, established in the year 1995 in Los Angeles, is a syndicate dedicated to advocating for the rights of sweatshop workers. In an article released by the Sweatshop Watch entitled, “Supporting Mexican Garment Workers at the Tarrant Ajalpan Factory,” they delineate the repeatedly ignored endeavors of the sweatshop workers to resist the relentless abuse they endure from the Ajalpan factory in Tarrant, Mexico. The Ajalpan factory, began operation in 1999 and distributes products to numerous brand name clothing companies including Polo Ralph Lauren. On June 10, 2003, as an attempt to ensure that the factory would mitigate the abysmal conditions that they experience everyday, 800 workers stood in protest and refused to work (Sweatshop