Sweatshops, Choice, and Exploitation
Business Ethics Quarterly 17 (4):689-727 (2007)
Abstract
This paper argues that a sweatshop worker's choice to accept the conditions of his or her employment is morally significant, both as an exercise of autonomy and as an expression of preference. This fact establishes a moral claim against interference in the conditions of sweatshop labor by third parties such as governments or consumer boycott groups. It should also lead us to doubt those who call for MNEs to voluntarily improve working conditions, at least when their arguments are based on the claim that workers have a moral right to such improvement. These conclusions are defended against three objections: 1) that sweatshop workers' consent to the conditions of their labor is not fully voluntary, 2) that sweatshops' offer of additional labor options is part of an overall package that actually harms workers, 3) that even if sweatshop labor benefits workers, it is nevertheless wrongfully exploitativeAuthor's Profile
ISBN(s)
1052-150X
DOI
10.5840/beq20071745
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Citations of this work
Sweatshops, Structural Injustice, and the Wrong of Exploitation: Why Multinational Corporations Have Positive Duties to the Global Poor.Brian Berkey - 2021 - Journal of Business Ethics 169 (1):43-56.
Business Ethics and (or as) Political Philosophy.Joseph Heath, Jeffrey Moriarty & Wayne Norman - 2010 - Business Ethics Quarterly 20 (3):427-452.
The Ethical and Economic Case Against Sweatshop Labor: A Critical Assessment. [REVIEW]Benjamin Powell & Matt Zwolinski - 2012 - Journal of Business Ethics 107 (4):449-472.
Exploitation and Sweatshop Labor: Perspectives and Issues.Jeremy Snyder - 2010 - Business Ethics Quarterly 20 (2):187-213.
References found in this work
A Theory of the Good and the Right.Richard B. Brandt - 1979 - Zeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 35 (2):307-310.