Content area
Full Text
Journal of Business Ethics (2006) 66: 261272 Springer 2006
DOI 10.1007/s10551-005-5597-8The Struggle Against Sweatshops:Moving Toward Responsible GlobalBusinesswTara J. Radin
Martin CalkinsABSTRACT. Todays sweatshops violate our notions ofjustice, yet they continue to flourish. This is so because wehave not settled on criteria that would allow us to condemnand do away with them and because the poor workingconditions in certain places are preferable to the alternativeof no job at all. In this paper, we examine these phenomena.We consider the definitional dilemmas posed by sweatshops by routing a standard definition of sweatshopsthrough the precepts put forward in the literature on justiceand virtue ethics. We conclude that fixing on definitions ispointless and misleading and that we are better off looking
at whether or not a workplace violates the basic humanrights of workers and whether or not the working conditions there cohere with situations on which we have alreadyrendered judgments. In the end, we suggest guidelines forbusinesses that operate in the global workplace to help themavoid charges of running sweatshops. These recommendations account for the harsh living conditions in certaindeveloping and emerging countries as well as the norms ofsocieties in developed countries.KEY WORDS: business ethics, corporate culture,justice, stakeholder theory, sweatshops, work environmentMuch of todays discussion of sweatshops steps froma simple question: Whats wrong with sweatshops? Those engaged in sweatshop labor practicesask, Whats wrong with sweatshops? to be able toshift the burden to critics to construct the opposingarguments. Opponents, on the other hand, askrhetorically, Whats wrong with sweatshops? skeptically leaving the emphasis on the end as if tosay, Where do I start? Regardless, Whats wrongwith sweatshops? remains the wrong question. Itmisses the crux of the issue and remains overly abstract. Further, it leaves people debating sweatshopswithout prompting them to reconsider decisionmaking and action.Sweatshops are wrong for a host of reasons. Theyperpetuate the violation of basic human rights aspeople are exploited for their labor. This constitutesa breach of the simple Kantian practical imperativethat people are supposed to treat others as endsvaluable in and of themselves, not only as means toends. In practice, sweatshops promulgate mentaland/or physical abuse and contradict our considerednotions of basic morality and strategic businesspurposes (Arnold and Hartman, 2003).* A summer research grant from the Frank G. Zarb School ofBusiness at Hofstra University contributed toward makingthis research possible.Tara J. Radin...