Making Sweatshops: The Globalization Of The U.s. Apparel Industry Project Muse Upcc Books

The only comprehensive historical analysis of the globalization of the U.S. apparel industry, this book focuses on the reemergence of sweatshops in the United States and the growth of new ones abroad. Ellen Israel Rosen, who has spent more than a decade investigating the problems of America's domestic apparel workers, now probes the shifts in trade policy and global economics that have spawned momentous changes in the international apparel and textile trade. Making Sweatshops asks whether the process of globalization can be promoted in ways that blend industrialization and economic development in both poor and rich countries with concerns for social and economic justice--especially for the women who toil in the industry's low-wage sites around the world.Rosen looks closely at the role trade policy has played in globalization in this industry. She traces the history of current policies toward the textile and apparel trade to cold war politics and the reconstruction of the Pacific Rim economies after World War II. Her narrative takes us through the rise of protectionism and the subsequent dismantling of trade protection during the Reagan era to the passage of NAFTA and the continued push for trade accords through the WTO. Going beyond purely economic factors, this valuable study elaborates the full historical and political context in which the globalization of textiles and apparel has taken place. Rosen takes a critical look at the promises of prosperity, both in the U.S. and in developing countries, made by advocates for the global expansion of these industries. She offers evidence to suggest that this process may inevitably create new and more extreme forms of poverty.

"Making Sweatshops reveals the inexorable movement towards an open trading system, the shifting alignments of actors pushing for or opposing openness, and, most centrally, how trade policy promotes the globalization of apparel production, filling a gap in our understanding of these dynamics."—Richard P. Appelbaum, coauthor of Behind the Label:
Inequality in the Los Angeles Apparel
Industry

"A detailed examination of the role that trade policy plays in the process of globalization. Rosen provides a meticulous historical analysis of the textile/apparel industry, one of the world's most globalized industries and one of its most hot-button issues."—Stephen Cullenberg, coauthor of Transition and Development in
India

"Rosen shows how politics have always shaped the trade agenda from beginning to end, and she presents a most compelling case that if trade and the global economy are to foster justice and equality for the people of our world, we will need to rewrite the existing rules of global trade."—Charles Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee

"This book delves deep into the industry's trade journals, congressional testimony, newspaper accounts, and economic and political scholarship of the last fifty-five years to tell the story of U.S. trade policy and the decline of labor standards in the apparel industry. This patient and voluminous examination systematically reveals, for the first time, how the U.S. sacrificed its apparel workers on the altar, first of the anti-Communist crusade, and then of free trade ideology."—Robert J.S. Ross, PhD, Professor of Sociology and Director,
International Studies Stream, Clark University

"Making Sweatshops is, in part, a history of the apparel and textile industries in the U.S. and the world. But it is much more than that. It is also about power and globalization. Rosen explains how the former shapes the latter, and how workers around the world suffer because of it. Activists, policy makers, consumers—anyone interested in understanding why sweatshops exist—should read this book."—Bruce Raynor, President, Union of Needletrades,
Industrial and Textile Employees (Unite)

"Rosen convincingly demonstrates that it is the transnational corporations rather than the consumers, and certainly rather than the workers, who benefit from trade liberalization, whose rules the lobbyists for these very coporations more or less write for supine politicians. This is a book in the great tradition of solid scholarship allied with deep commitment to the cause of global economic justice."—Leslie Sklair, author of Globalization: Capitalism and its Alternatives

Richard P. Appelbaum

Making Sweatshops reveals the inexorable movement towards an open trading system, the shifting alignments of actors pushing for or opposing openness, and, most centrally, how trade policy promotes the globalization of apparel production, filling a gap in our understanding of these dynamics.

The only comprehensive historical analysis of the globalization of the U.S. apparel industry, this book focuses on the reemergence of sweatshops in the United States and the growth of new ones abroad. Ellen Israel Rosen, who has spent more than a decade investigating the problems of America's domestic apparel workers, now probes the shifts in trade policy and global economics that have spawned momentous changes in the international apparel and textile trade. Making Sweatshops asks whether the process of globalization can be promoted in ways that blend industrialization and economic development in both poor and rich countries with concerns for social and economic justiceespecially for the women who toil in the industry's low-wage sites around the world. Rosen looks closely at the role trade policy has played in globalization in this industry. She traces the history of current policies toward the textile and apparel trade to cold war politics and the reconstruction of the Pacific Rim economies after World War II. Her narrative takes us through the rise of protectionism and the subsequent dismantling of trade protection during the Reagan era to the passage of NAFTA and the continued push for trade accords through the WTO. Going beyond purely economic factors, this valuable study elaborates the full historical and political context in which the globalization of textiles and apparel has taken place. Rosen takes a critical look at the promises of prosperity, both in the U.S. and in developing countries, made by advocates for the global expansion of these industries. She offers evidence to suggest that this process may inevitably create new and more extreme forms of poverty. The Only Comprehensive Historical Analysis Of The Globalization Of The U.s. Apparel Industry, This Book Focuses On The Reemergence Of Sweatshops In The United States And The Growth Of New Ones Abroad. Ellen Israel Rosen, Who Has Spent More Than A Decade Investigating The Problems Of America's Domestic Apparel Workers, Now Probes The Shifts In Trade Policy And Global Economics That Have Spawned Momentous Changes In The International Apparel And Textile Trade. Making Sweatshops Asks Whether The Process Of Globalization Can Be Promoted In Ways That Blend Industrialization And Economic Development In Both Poor And Rich Countries With Concerns For Social And Economic Justice--especially For The Women Who Toil In The Industry's Low-wage Sites Around The World. Free Trade, Neoclassical Economics, And Women Workers In The Global Apparel Industry -- Roots Of The Postwar Textile And Apparel Trade: The Reconstruction Of The Asian-pacific Rim Textile Industry -- Emergence Of Trade Protection For The Textile And Apparel Industries -- U.s. Textile Industry: Responses To Free Trade -- U.s. Apparel Industry: Responses To Capital Flight -- 1980s: The Demise Of Protection -- Reagan Revolution: The Caribbean Basin Initiative -- Trade Liberalization For Textiles And Apparel: The Impact Of Nafta -- Apparel Retailing In The United States: From Mom-and-pop Shop To Transnational Corporation -- Finally Free Trade: The Future Of The Global Apparel Industry -- New Global Apparel Trade: Who Wins, Who Loses? Ellen Israel Rosen. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 253-309) And Index. Figures and Tables......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 1 Introduction......Page 14 2 Free Trade, Neoclassical Economics, and Women Workers in the Global Apparel Industry......Page 26 3 Roots of the Postwar Textile and Apparel Trade: The Reconstruction of the Asian–Paci•c Rim Textile Industry......Page 40 4 The Emergence of Trade Protection for the Textile and Apparel Industries......Page 68 5 The U.S. Textile Industry: Responses to Free Trade......Page 90 6 The U.S. Apparel Industry: Responses to Capital Flight......Page 109 7 The 1980s: The Demise of Protection......Page 132 8 The Reagan Revolution: The Caribbean Basin Initiative......Page 142 9 Trade Liberalization for Textiles and Apparel: The Impact of NAFTA......Page 166 10 Apparel Retailing in the United States: From Mom-and-Pop Shop to Transnational Corporation......Page 190 11 Finally Free Trade: The Future of the Global Apparel Industry......Page 215 12 The New Global Apparel Trade: Who Wins, Who Loses?......Page 233 Notes......Page 266 Index......Page 324 "The only comprehensive historical analysis of the globalization of the U.S. apparel industry, this book focuses on the reemergence of sweatshops in the United States and the growth of new ones abroad. The author, who has spent more than a decade investigating the problems of America's domestic apparel workers, now probes the shifts in trade policy and global economics that have spawned momentous changes in the international apparel and textile trade A comprehensive historical analysis of the globalization of the US apparel industry, this book focuses on the re-emergence of sweatshops in the United States and the growth of the phenomenon abroad The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City in 1911 called attention to the sweatshop conditions under which women worked stitching clothes.