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The Struggle Against Sweatshops: Moving Toward Responsible Global Business

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  • Tara Radin
  • Martin Calkins

Abstract

Today’s sweatshops violate our notions of justice, yet they continue to flourish. This is so because we have not settled on criteria that would allow us to condemn and do away with them and because the poor working conditions in certain places are preferable to the alternative of 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 sweatshops through the precepts put forward in the literature on justice and virtue ethics. We conclude that fixing on definitions is pointless and misleading and that we are better off looking at whether or not a workplace violates the basic human rights of workers and whether or not the working conditions there cohere with situations on which we have already rendered judgments. In the end, we suggest guidelines for businesses that operate in the global workplace to help them avoid charges of running sweatshops. These recommendations account for the harsh living conditions in certain developing and emerging countries as well as the norms of societies in developed countries. Copyright Springer 2006

Suggested Citation

  • Tara Radin & Martin Calkins, 2006. "The Struggle Against Sweatshops: Moving Toward Responsible Global Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 261-272, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:66:y:2006:i:2:p:261-272
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-005-5597-8
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Edmund Byrne, 2014. "Towards Enforceable Bans on Illicit Businesses: From Moral Relativism to Human Rights," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 119-130, January.
    2. Nicolas Dahan & Milton Gittens, 2010. "Business and the Public Affairs of Slavery: A Discursive Approach of an Ethical Public Issue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(2), pages 227-249, March.
    3. Domènec Melé, 2014. "“Human Quality Treatment”: Five Organizational Levels," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(4), pages 457-471, April.
    4. Ivan Montiel & Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra & Junghoon Park & Raquel Antolín-López & Bryan W. Husted, 2021. "Implementing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(5), pages 999-1030, July.
    5. Marina Balboa & Germán López-Espinosa & Antonio Rubia, 2012. "Non-linear Dynamics in Discretionary Accruals: An Analysis of Bank Loan-Loss Provisions," Faculty Working Papers 07/12, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Navarra.
    6. Rouge Jean-François, 2016. "Sweet Sweatshops - A Reflexion about the Impact of Sweatshops on Countries’ Competitiveness," Economics, Sciendo, vol. 4(1), pages 7-36, June.
    7. John R. Hamman & George Loewenstein & Roberto A. Weber, 2010. "Self-Interest through Delegation: An Additional Rationale for the Principal-Agent Relationship," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1826-1846, September.
    8. Travis Timmerman & Abe Zakhem, 2021. "Sweatshops and Free Action: The Stakes of the Actualism/Possibilism Debate for Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(4), pages 683-694, July.
    9. Panicker, Vidya Sukumara & Georgiadou, Elena & Hodgkinson, Ian R., 2024. "Generous to a fault: Differential impact of CSR investments on financial gains in Indian market multinationals," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(3).
    10. Javalgi, Rajshekhar (Raj) G. & Dixit, Ashutosh & Scherer, Robert F., 2009. "Outsourcing to emerging markets: Theoretical perspectives and policy implications," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 156-168, June.
    11. Kaibin Xu & Wenqing Li, 2013. "An Ethical Stakeholder Approach to Crisis Communication: A Case Study of Foxconn’s 2010 Employee Suicide Crisis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 371-386, October.
    12. Neu, Dean & Everett, Jeff & Rahaman, Abu Shiraz, 2015. "Preventing corruption within government procurement: Constructing the disciplined and ethical subject," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 49-61.
    13. Oswaldo Lorenzo & Paul Esqueda & Janelle Larson, 2010. "Safety and Ethics in the Global Workplace: Asymmetries in Culture and Infrastructure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 87-106, March.
    14. 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.
    15. Angus Robson, 2022. "Aquinas’s Principle of Misericordia in Corporations: Implications for Workers and other Stakeholders," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 233-257, October.
    16. Jeff Everett & Dean Neu & Daniel Martinez, 2008. "Multi-Stakeholder Labour Monitoring Organizations: Egoists, Instrumentalists, or Moralists?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(1), pages 117-142, August.
    17. Alessandra Allini & Luca Ferri & Marco Maffei & Annamaria Zampella, 2017. "The Effect of Perceived Corruption on Entrepreneurial Intention: Evidence from Italy," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(6), pages 75-86, June.
    18. Muel Kaptein, 2017. "The Battle for Business Ethics: A Struggle Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 343-361, August.

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