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Free Exchange for Mutual Benefit: Sweatshops and Maitland’s “Classical Liberal Standard”

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  • Thomas Carson

Abstract

Ian Maitland defends sweatshop labor on the grounds that “A wage or labor practice is ethically acceptable if it is freely chosen by informed workers” (he calls his view “the Classical Liberal Standard,” CLS). I present several examples of economic exchanges that are mutually beneficial and satisfy the requirements of the CLS, but, nonetheless, are morally wrong. Maitland’s arguments in defense of sweatshops are unsuccessful because they depend on the flawed “CLS.” My paper criticizes Maitland’s arguments in defense of sweatshops, but I do not claim that his conclusions are false—I do not claim to have shown that the labor practices Maitland defends are morally wrong. I argue that some of the disagreements about sweatshops between Maitland and his critics depend on disagreements about the answers controversial questions in ethical theory. In the absence of definitive answers to those questions, there are no decisive arguments for or against Maitland’s view about sweatshops. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Carson, 2013. "Free Exchange for Mutual Benefit: Sweatshops and Maitland’s “Classical Liberal Standard”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(1), pages 127-135, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:112:y:2013:i:1:p:127-135
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-012-1236-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Maitland, Ian, 2002. "Priceless Goods: How Should Life-Saving Drugs be Priced?," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(4), pages 451-480, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Damian Bäumlisberger, 2021. "A Nozickian Case for Compulsory Employment Injury Insurance: The Example of Sweatshops," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 13-27, September.
    2. Andreas Ostermaier & Dominik Aaken, 2020. "Freedom trumps profit: a liberal approach to business ethics," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 90(5), pages 947-962, June.

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    Keywords

    Sweatshops; Maitland; Ian;
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