Samhället vi lever i idag är stark betonat av konsumtion. (Svensson, 2015) Genom konsumtion uttrycker man sin identitet och image. (Bengtsson & Östberg, 2011) Inte minst när det gäller klädkonsumtion. Den massiva konsumtionen av kläder har lett till negativa effekter, inte bara på miljön utan också hos människorna som gör denna konsumtion möjlig; nämligen textilarbetarna. (Klein, 2000) I en tid då fokus ligger på att värna om miljön faller dessa arbetares livsöden i skymundan. Aftonbladet har sänt ett program under namnet Sweatshop för att återigen belysa problemet. Med hjälp av programmet vill de väcka frågan angående etiska arbetsförhållanden för textilarbetare bland människor – främst ungdomar. Syftet med studien ämnar undersöka hur ungdomar tar till sig meddelandet om etiska arbetsförhållanden i form av mediekanalen Sweatshop. Studien stärks av teorier som berör bland annat kommunikationsteori, hantering av information och retorik. Undersökningen har genomförts med hjälp av fyra stycken fokusgrupper med deltagare i åldrarna 16–19 år. Fokusgrupperna syftade till att ta reda på ungdomars generella inställning till mode och textilbranschen före och efter att de sett programmet Sweatshop, samt deras tankar om programmet som förmedlare av budskapet. Slutsatsen av studien är att Sweatshop som program är ett bra sätt att förmedla budskapet på och det gav ungdomarna en bättre förståelse för arbetsförhållandena i tredje världen. Problemen som dök upp var dock att programmet inte verkar komma fram till ungdomarna och att de flesta av dem kände att de inte kan göra någonting åt problemet. / Today’s society has a strong emphasis on consumption. We express our identity and image through consumption, especially when it comes to our clothes. The massive consumption of clothing has affected not only the environment but also the people that make this consumption possible; the textile workers. In a time when the focus seems to lie on protecting the environment, the lives of these textile workers are sidelined. Aftonbladet broadcasted a web-based series called Sweatshop to shed some light on this problem. By broadcasting the series, they want to raise the awareness about ethical working conditions for textile workers among people in general and young people in particular. This study aims to examine how young people embrace the message of ethical working conditions in the form of Sweatshop. The study is strengthened by theories that concern communication theory, information management and rhetoric. The analysis was conducted by four focus groups with participants in ages from 16-19. The aim of the focus groups was to find out young people's general attitude toward fashion and the textile industry. A discussion took place before and after they watched Sweatshop and the study examined their thoughts on the series as a mediator of the message. The conclusion of the study is that Sweatshop is a great way to convey the message. It gave the young people a better understanding of the working conditions in factories in Third World countries. However, some problems with the series occurred. The series did not seem to have reached the young people. Most of the participants felt as if there was nothing they could do about the problem after watching the series.

Thesis advisor: William A. Gamson / In this dissertation, I examine the strategic evolution of the US anti-sweatshop movement, particularly United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC). While scholars of social movements have analyzed individual tactics used by movements, they have only recently begun to look at the larger question of strategy--how movements make choices about which tactics to use when and how they link these tactics together into a larger plan to alter macro-level power relations in society. This dissertation is one of the first empirical examinations of the processes by which particular groups have developed their strategy. I look at how ideology and values, a sophisticated analysis of the structure of the apparel industry, strategic models for action handed down from past movements, and the movement's decision-making structures interacted in the deliberations of anti-sweatshop activists to produce innovative strategies. I also focus on how the larger social environment, especially the structure of the apparel industry, has shaped the actions of the movement. In seeking to bring about change, the anti-sweatshop movement had to alter the policies of major apparel corporations, decision-making arenas typically closed to outside, grassroots influence. They did so by finding various points of leverage--structural vulnerabilities--that they could use against apparel companies. One of the most important was USAS's successful campaign to get a number of colleges and universities to implement pro-labor codes of conduct for the apparel companies who had lucrative licensing contracts with these schools. In USAS's campaigns to support workers at particular sweatshops fighting for their rights, they could then use the threat of a suspension or revocations of these contracts--and therefore a loss of substantial profits--as a means to pressure apparel companies to protect the workers' rights. This combination of strategic innovation and access to points of leverage has allowed the US anti-sweatshop movement to win some victories against much more powerful foes. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Sweatshop labor has been condemned by scholars, activists, students and consumers in more developed countries on charges of wrongful exploitation, and a failure to respect the dignity, and basic needs of sweatshop workers. This paper surveys charges against sweatshop labor, and some of the more influential arguments for, and against, rectifying the background structural injustices that perpetuate it. I argue that in certain sweatshop cases, compensating workers below a prima facie morally acceptable level can be most successful in striving towards the duty of beneficence that employers owe to their employees. Therefore, we ought to pursue utility-maximizing acts over others in better alignment with a deontic duty to compensate employees at a certain level. I eventually conclude that this debate is a paradigm example of deontological versus utilitarian moral judgments. Sometimes, utility maximizing acts are morally impermissible. Sometimes, adhering to deontic duties instead of committing a wrong to produce a right is morally required. In the circumstances that I describe, the morally right acts ought to be those that are most successful in maximizing overall utility for the most number of people. This responsibility coincides with acts that may not compensate workers at a prima facie morally acceptable level, but incidentally maximize overall utility, welfare and autonomy for some of the world’s most marginalized and impoverished people.

This dissertation examines the conventions used to frame and represent sweatshops in and to the U.S. Employing qualitative research methods this dissertation examines U.S. anti-sweatshop discourse, analyzing how the sweatshop and the sweatshop worker are made into exceptional objects of inquiry, and considers what kinds of truths and subjects are garnered from them. This dissertation argues that U.S. anti-sweatshop discourse frames sweatshops as an inherently foreign problem, and that this framing contributes to U.S. exceptionalism and savior ideology. This framing positions U.S. subjects as the primary agents of change whose relation to sweatshops is crucial to their eradication, and renders causal blame upon the racialized poor within the U.S. I argue that this framing undergirds the proliferation of new ethical markets that reproduce dislocation, dispossession, and displacement within U.S. borders via retail gentrification. Ultimately, this dissertation asks what truths are made possible through a mobilizing discourse whose foundational premise is contingent on the imagery of the sweatshop and the sweatshop worker.

The 1990s have seen an extraordinary growth industry in books and articles about globalization. However, far too much of this material has reinforced the message that globalization is an unstoppable force sweeping away national sovereignty and inevitably creating a brave new world of borderless and boundless consumerism. This essay in view of political economics to realize globalization influence, especially for ¡¥Labour Rights¡¦. Because of neo-liberalism¡¦s globalization is expanding the disparity between the rich and the poor. For International Labour Organization(ILO) describes:¡uglobalization increasing unemployment rate ,a growing proportion of structural unemployment ,a growth of new jobs which for an important part are non-standard jobs(such as contract labour)¡v.The impact of globalization on labour and Trade Unions, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) argued that Trade Unions have declined. Besides, labour class has divided from ¡¥peripheral employees¡¦ and ¡¥core employees¡¦. The former to represent unskilled workers , their wage lower and job easy to replace by foreign labour. Globalization creating a crowd of migrant workers, their labour rights needs to protect. Foreign workers to leave their own country to earn a living, they are new industrial reserve army. Because their jobs belong to¡u3D¡v(dirty,dangerous,difficult). They replace peripheral employees by lower wages and bad work conditions. ILO argued must to protect. Foreign workers, because they are minimum labour standards. From this essay viewpoint, Globalization to influence global labour rights. The state, International Organization(ILO,ICFTU),transnational corporation (TNCs) are leading roles. The state to play a decisive role, because the state can use policy and laws to protect labour rights¡F ILO to play a core role from protect labour rights issue, specially its International Labour Standard (ILS,1998)¡FTNCs to play a free-will role, likes anti-sweatshop movement and corporation social responsibility (CSR). From the whole viewpoint, this essay focuses on globalization and labour rights. This article to believe globalization change labour rights, because labour migration increasing. And in the new times, leading roles will hold new influence. Taiwan in this wave of globalization wills how to suit, especially foreign workers issue.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Indiana University of Pennsylvania. / Includes bibliographical references.