1. Summary
The present economy is not based on one country or even two; it is global and its “profits now” mentality threatens to destroy small scale producers who get in the way. Small farmers and producers have little hope of competing with corporate powerhouses and are left with little resources or prospects for their future. Many third world children have little choice but to work rather than attend school for an education and end up being exploited all in the name of revenue returns. Fair Trade was introduced to balance this inequality and help exploited producers break free of the vicious cycle of poverty. This paper tackles the moral problem of fair trade.
There exists a dilemma here, with respect to the role of corporate actors within our society; do they serve to increase profits only, or are they bound by a different morality? The role of business in society has to be understood in the context that a business is not an entity capable of action, no matter what the purpose of its formation was. A business, ultimately, is a group of resources, including people, and those people are not separate from society as a whole, indeed, they are society as a whole. The principles of both consequentialism and Kantian morality are applied to the problem of fair trade and it is determined that despite the enduring popularity of the "corporations are engines for profit" mentality, it is a view that is at odds with the prevailing ethics of our society. While the distributive justice principle at the heart of fair trade is in line with the values of the majority of our society there still exist many unanswered questions which belie its ability for aiding the underdog producer.
2. Moral Problem
The concept of fair trade arose in the We...
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...r country. The categorical imperative with respect to fair trade therefore can only be interpreted as being in support of the fair trade element of distributive justice, lending strength to the idea that fair trade pricing is the right thing to do.
Works Cited
Blake, Michael & Patrick Smith. "International distributive justice" Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 24 October 2013. Web.
Friedman, Milton. "The social responsibility of business is it increase its profits." New York Times Magazine. 13 September 1970: Print.
Johnson, Robert. "Kant's moral philosophy" Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 6 April 2008. Web.
Miller, David. "Fair trade: What does it mean and why does it matter?" CSSJ Working Papers Series, SJO13. November 2010. Web.
Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. "Consequentialsim" Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 27 September 2011. Web.
Wright, L. T., & Heaton, S. (2006). Fair Trade marketing: an exploration through qualitative research. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 14(4), 411-426. doi:10.1080/09652540600948019
Fair trades underlying principle is that companies should serve interests beyond their own profits. Wal-Mart has disregarded that principle, and their extensive trade with China is a perfect example of their slavish devotion toward just unjust profits.
Even in a world focused on the benefits free trade and aimed at achieving the goal of free trade, states are protectionist by nature. Unfortunately, the design of the international system allows for stronger nations to be more protectionist, leaving the weaker states even more vulnerable. A study that is more intensive than a critical commentary should be devoted to analyzing the impact of free trade on developing nations. I was limited to the readings and prior knowledge, and thus couldn’t provide a sufficient analysis on the fair treatment of developing nations. I was skeptical of the one reading that focused on fairness of international institutions because of the statistics that indicate these nations have not done well in recent decades. I would like to look into this more given more time and resources.
Roberts, Russell. (2006). The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Solution." Indiana Journal Of Global Legal Studies 18.2 (2011): 901-927. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
The commercial activity has been, over the centuries, linked to human activity, due to the need to obtain satisfactory. The evolution of trade throughout history presents issues of immense importance to understand the current configuration of trade, However, for the purposes of this research we will be observing what is free trade so we can understand and interpret every point that we will be talking about in this investigation. Free Trade is an economic concept, referring to the sale of products between countries, duty-free and any form of trade barriers. Free trade involves the elimination of artificial barriers (government regulations) to trade between individuals and companies from different countries.
Bibliography:.. Works Cited Friedman, Milton. A. The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Profit. N.P. Santayana, George.
“There is only one and only one social responsibility of business- to use its resources and engage in activities designated to increase its profits so long as it decides to stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.”
Friedman, M. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business is to make Profit. New York Times
The article “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits” is written by a famous economist Milton Friedman. Friedman in this article implies that shareholders are the main drivers of the corporations and he believes that it is to them corporations must be socially responsible to. The goal of any corporation is to maximize profits and return the portion of these profits to shareholders for investing in the corporation. The shareholders can themselves decide which social causes to take part in rather than assigning a corporate executive to decide on their behalf. Friedman argues that a corporation must have no social responsibility to society because its only concern is the increase profits for itself and its shareholders.
We begin our study of free trade by understanding the four principles of individual decision making.... ... middle of paper ... ... Edge, Ken, “Free trade and Protection: advantages and disadvantages of free trade” NSW HSC online http://www.hsc.csu.edu.au/economics/global_economy/tut7/Tutorial7.html#more Accessed November 29, 2011. Net Aparijita, Sinha, “What are the disadvantages of free trade?
“Fair trade is much more than a buying relationship,” Heyl said. “It’s about developing holistic communities and retaining wealth and talent and education in villages in India”. The model is especially significant for helping women. Heyl said in some communities, women aren’t allowed to leave the house without a man. Everything all at once.
Friedman, M., (2007). The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits. In W.
It seems obvious that large corporations have a tendency to ignore the negative effects of their actions in favor of profit. This example, although sensationalized, still says to me that with power comes responsibility. It affirmed my belief that a corporation’s goal cannot be just to provide profit to shareholders, but there must also be an element of social responsibility.
When the problem became serious two main views formed: the “narrow” view and the “broader” view, based on different ideas. The “narrow” view is based on the proposition that corporations have no social responsibility and they have only one main purpose, to make a profit (Friedman, 1970). So corporations should remain socially independent and all conflicts must be solved through the individual responsibility concept. On the contrary the “broader” view states that corporations have social obligations as all existing participants of market, persons and entities are tied together and are mutually dependent. So corporations cannot ignore some serious events or problems, which take place, and must help society, as profit is not their single purpose.