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Positive and negative advantages of technology
Positive and negative advantages of technology
Positive and negative advantages of technology
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Technological advancements due to new innovative and creative ideas have furthered the world and society to levels that would otherwise be unimaginable. Although many problems have been solved, new ones have emerged. In recent times, overseas factories have been a much-debated controversy on the issue of exploitation of workers. The majority of the products we own like our hats, shoes, and shirts are made entirely in a different country. Countries like China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Indonesia have factories filled with employees working long hours for not even half the amount Americans get paid for minimum wage. International factories that produce clothing for well-known brands like Nike and Adidas have earned the name “sweatshops”, due to the conditions and the low wages that workers get paid. The term sweatshops have been popularized through the media as exploiting workers in factories where they are underpaid …show more content…
Sweatshops may be viewed by many as unethical, however, they hold lots of valuable potential like providing thousands of people with jobs that pay higher than others offered in their country. Sweatshops also provide economic growth by companies investing in underdeveloped countries by building factories and providing income to people which help the economy expand. Many protesters try to end sweatshops but it will do more harm than good. For example, laying off thousands of people from their jobs would keep the world poverty even lower. Unfortunately, we cannot overlook the fact that some sweatshops do pose a threat to the lives and health of the employees but overall the dangers of working in a sweatshop are the best option many will have as opposed to other more dangerous jobs or no job at all. Sweatshops factories may seem unethical and immoral but it provides more good than people seem to
The controversial issue of sweatshops is one often over looked by The United States. In the Social Issues Encyclopedia, entry # 167, Matt Zwolinski tackles the issues of sweatshops. In this article Matt raises a question I have not been able to get out of my head since I have begun researching this topic, “ are companies who contract with sweatshops doing anything wrong?” this article goes on to argue that the people who work in the sweatshops willingly choose to work there, despite the poor environment. Many people in third world countries depend on the sweatshops to earn what they can to have any hopes of surviving. If the sweatshops were to shut down many people would lose their jobs, and therefore have no source of income. This may lead people to steal and prostitution as well. this article is suggesting that sweatshops will better the economy by giving people a better job than what they may have had. Due to this the companies contracting with sweatshops are not acting wrong in any way. This was a deductive article it had a lot of good examples to show how sweatshops are beneficial to third world countries. Radly Balko seemed to have the same view point as Matt Zwolinski. Many people believe the richer countries should not support the sweatshops Balko believes if people stopped buying products made in sweatshops the companies will have to shut down and relocate, firing all of the present workers. Rasing the fact that again the worker will have no source of income, the workers need the sweatshop to survive. Balko also uses the argument that the workers willingly work in the current environments.
Look down at the clothes you're wearing right now, chances are almost every single thing you are currently wearing was made in a sweatshop. It is estimated that between 50-75% of all garments are made under sweatshop like conditions. Designers and companies get 2nd party contractors to hire people to work in these factories, this is a tool to make them not responsible for the horrendous conditions. They get away with it by saying they are providing jobs for people in 3rd world countries so its okay, but in reality they are making their lives even worse. These companies and designers only care about their bank accounts so if they can exploit poor, young people from poverty stricken countries they surely will, and they do. A sweatshop is a factory
With the continued rise of consumer "needs" in "industrial" countries such as the United States, and the consistently high price that corporations must pay to produce goods in these countries, companies are looking to "increase (their) profits by driving down costs any way possible... To minimize costs, companies look for places with the lowest wages and human rights protections" (Dosomething). Countries with lax or unenforced labor laws grant multinational corporations the leeway to use cheap foreign labor to mass-produce their commodities so that they can be sold in countries like America. These inexpensive, sometimes borderline illegal, establishments are known as sweatshops. In his book Timmerman discusses the topic of sweatshops in great detail. Originally in search of "where (his) T-shirt was made(;) (Timmerman) (went) to visit the factory where it was made and (met) the people who made (it)" (Timmerman5).
Large corporations such as Nike, Gap, and Reebok and many others from the United States have moved their factories to undeveloped nations; barely pay their employees enough to live on. Countries such as China, Indonesia, and Haiti have readily abundant cheap labor. There should be labor laws or an obligation of respecting workers to provide decent working conditions, fair wages, and safety standards.
Some people of North America know about these sweatshop workers, they feel bad and some also protest. They set up NGOs, send funds and donations but they never try to break the tradition of sweatshop working. They all assume that this is best for the society. An Idea can be drawn from William
Bob Jeffcott supports the effort of workers of the global supply chains in order to win improved wages and good working conditions and a better quality of life of those who work on sweatshops. He mentions and describes in detail how the conditions of the sweatshops are and how the people working in them are forced to long working hours for little money. He makes the question, “we think we can end sweatshops abuses by just changing our individual buying habits?” referring to we can’t end the abuses that those women have by just stopping of buying their products because those women still have to work those long hours because other people are buying their product for less pay or less money. We can’t control and tell what you can buy or what you can’t because that’s up to the person...
In his article “Sweatshops, Choice, and Exploitation” Matt Zwolinski attempts to tackle the problem of the morality of sweatshops, and whether or not third parties or even the actors who create the conditions, should attempt to intervene on behalf of the workers. Zwolinski’s argument is that it is not right for people to take away the option of working in a sweatshop, and that in doing so they are impeding on an individual’s free choice, and maybe even harming them. The main distinction that Zwolinski makes is that choice is something that is sacred, and should not be impeded upon by outside actors. This is showcased Zwolinski writes, “Nevertheless, the fact that they choose to work in sweatshops is morally significant. Taken seriously, workers' consent to the conditions of their labor should lead us to abandon certain moral objections to sweatshops, and perhaps even to view them as, on net, a good thing.” (Zwolinski, 689). He supports his argument of the importance of free choice by using a number of different tactics including hypothetical thought exercises and various quotes from other articles which spoke about the effects of regulation business. Throughout the article there were multiple points which helped illuminate Zwolinski’s argument as well as multiple points which muddle the argument a bit.
Sweatshops are factories that violate two or more human rights. Sweatshops are known in the media and politically as dangerous places for workers to work in and are infamous for paying minimum wages for long hours of labour. The first source is a quote that states that Nike has helped improve Vietnamese’s’ workers lives by helping them be able to afford luxuries they did not have access to before such as scooters, bicycles and even cars. The source is showing sweatshops in a positive light stating how before sweatshops were established in developing countries, Vietnamese citizens were very poor and underprivileged. The source continues to say that the moment when sweatshops came to Vietnam, workers started to get more profit and their lives eventually went uphill from their due to being able to afford more necessities and luxuries; one of them being a vehicle, which makes their commute to work much faster which in turn increases their quality of life. The source demonstrates this point by mentioning that this is all due to globalization. Because of globalization, multinationals are able to make investments in developing countries which in turn offers the sweatshops and the employees better technology, better working skills and an improvement in their education which overall helps raise the sweatshops’ productivity which results in an increase
What are sweatshops? The Miriam-Webster dictionary defines sweatshops as: A shop or factory in which employees work for long hours at low wages and under unhealthy conditions. These factories are mainly located in Third-World countries, although there are still a few in the United States. Many popular, name brand companies like Nike, use sweatshops around the world. Today there is much controversy about sweatshops and whether they should be banned and closed. In reality, the conditions of these factories are terrible. The employees are paid very little, even after working long, hard hours. The supervisors of these shops are often cruel, malicious, and brutal. Sadly, these factories are often the only source of income for Third-World workers. As bad as these sweatshops might be, they have pulled many countries and individuals out of poverty. So, are sweatshops beneficial?
Contrary to what many people believe, sweatshops actually improve the lives of workers and the surround community. Kristof is a personal witness to this phenomenon. In his words, “My views on sweatshops are shaped by years living in East Asia, watching as living standards soared… because of sweatshop jobs” (Kristof). Its one thing to notice a change in living standards, but how do sweatshops cause this change? In an interview with the Mises Institute on March 20th, 2017, Benjamin Powell reasoned, “Sweatshops bring with them the proximate cause of economic development- capital, technology, and the opportunity to build human capital” (Powell, “Sweatshops: A Way Out of Poverty”). He goes on to talk about how historically living conditions have risen rapidly in countries due to industrialization. Because of lower living conditions already, a sweatshop is no where near as harsh to its workers as it would appear to an outsider. Even
This new hip clothing store has labeled itself a sweatshop free. It employs over five thousand people at the Los Angeles location (Li par 27). This is incredible. It has given the people of Los Angeles many opportunities to improve their lives and to keep a steady job. The employees here are able to pump out around 200,000 garments of clothing per day (Li par 27). This is a great amount of production. This is in part due to how well the employees are treated. Shan Li describes their benefits as, “American Apparel's factory workers earn an average of $12 an hour. They have access to $3 subsidized lunches, an on-site medical clinic and free massages” (par 29). Being treated with respect often makes employees work harder because of the good relationships they have with their bosses. This is clearly shown by how much clothing is produced daily. American Apparel is a business that other American clothing companies can look to for guidance. With their annual sales of 634 million dollars, this store has shown what is possible for production in the United states (Li par
Sweatshops are factories where workers are working in unsafe conditions, work long hours, and get paid very little. We should boycott sweatshop made products because they are unethical. The conditions that the employees have to work in are harsh and violates multiple human right laws. In the BBC news video it said that employees had to work about 60 hours a week in an Apple factory.
Globalization and industrialization contribute to the existence of sweatshops, which are where garments are made cheaply, because they are moving production and consumption of those cheap goods. Industrialization has enabled for global distribution, to exchange those goods around the world. They can also set apart the circumstances of consumption and production, which Western countries as mass consumers, are protected from of producers in less developed countries. These factories are usually located in less developed countries and face worker exploitation and changes in social structures. Technological innovation allows for machines to take the place of workers and do all the dirty work instead of workers doing hours of hard work by hand.
While on the other end of the spectrum, garment industry workers are succumbed to dark and cramped workspaces with little ventilation, vulnerability to fire hazards, accidents, and alarming enough, physical abuse from the hands of bosses. Regarding the poor conditions and environment, regular breaks, safety equipment, overtime pay, and paid sick leave are all nonexistent, which are conditions taken for granted by employees in modern developed countries (“Sweatshops”). The nature of working in a sweatshop factory speaks for labor exploitation as needs of safety standards are unmet, which serves for a practice of violation in labor laws. Brand name retailers are aware of the proceedings, but claim no responsibility for the working conditions at their suppliers’ factories and willingly ignore complaints about violations of basic wage and working hour laws (Kornberg). The dependency on sweatshop labor has tremendously grown, where now “Only two percent of our clothing is dependable for having decent working conditions for all of its employees and proper compensation for work” (“Fast Fashion: The Real Costs of Your Cheapest Clothes”).
The US Department of Labor defines a sweatshop as any factory that violates two or more labor laws. UNITE, the US garment workers union, defines a “sweatshop” as any factory that does not respect workers’ right to organize an independent union. Global Exchange and other anti-sweatshop movements would add that a sweatshop is any work place that does not pay its workers a Living Wage. Sweatshops violate basic human rights, as stated in The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “ Article 1 – “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Article 5 – “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Article 23 – (2) “Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work,” and (4) “Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his/her interests.” Article 24 – “Everyone has the...