Sociology 1027A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Sweatshop, Ozone Depletion, Environmental Health

• School: Western University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: Sociology 1027A/B
• Professor: Wolfgang Lehmann

Document Summary

Why would some argue sweatshops are a good thing: workers make free choices to work there. Alternatives are worse (poverty, prostitution, etc. : wages. Wages too high = destruction of local economy. But, helps increase local wage levels over time: bring more investment to country. Investment of mnc means decline of repression and oppressive regimes: overall argument: Follo(cid:449)i(cid:374)g (cid:862)hu(cid:373)a(cid:374)e(cid:863) la(cid:271)or pra(cid:272)ti(cid:272)es (cid:894)(cid:271)(cid:455) wester(cid:374) sta(cid:374)dards(cid:895) (cid:449)ould destroy local economies. Very little is reinvested in host country: neo-liberal polices. Enforces deregulation and makes hosts relatively powerless: multinationals not interested in development. Record salaries and compensation packages = ceos and top managers. Concerns regarding sweatshops: exploitation in cheap labor countries. Lack of labor regulations: ignoring human rights abuses. Support oppressive regimes: race to the bottom. Sweatshops also hurt people in rich countries: decline of manufacturing in many formerly industrial nations, loss of (cid:862)good(cid:863) e(cid:373)plo(cid:455)(cid:373)e(cid:374)t (cid:894)u(cid:374)io(cid:374)ized, per(cid:373)a(cid:374)e(cid:374)t, full-time, well paid, local examples: Decline of the entire textile industry in canada (ex.