Stories of sweatshops periodically surface in the western consciousness, usually corresponding with an outcry towards the companies who enable such exploitation and dangerous work conditions. Articles, photos, and videos of some of the most despicable and inhumane conditions that workers for companies like Nike and Forever 21 have surfaced through the years. Consumers and the government have enabled by turning a blind eye to companies so they can exploit others.
Market Solutions
I have long believed that free-market capitalism is ineffective because of the nature of human behaviour. The average consumers’ ability to compartmentalize their morality and live in a fantasy world of ignorance makes it exceptionally challenging for the free market to yield the positive social change we hope for.
“Kahneman showed that people do not always act out of rational self-interest, as the economic theory of expected utility maximization would predict.”
Economists can sometimes overestimate the consumer as Daniel Kahneman proved in “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk“; it easy to think of consumers as perfect automatons who make unbiased and informed decisions about their purchases. In practice, the majority of consumers are exceptionally ignorant when it comes to the procurements of goods and services. This is not the fault of the purchaser because we are not capable of being experts on every topic in the world.
In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Plato posets that the masses may not be capable of making educated decisions that serve in their best interest. Although I choose to view fellow humanity in a more optimistic and self-sufficient light, there is merit to the idea no one will ever be as knowledgeable as they need to be educated enough to make a variety of decisions over a range of topics.
Average humans are never going to compare and contrast different company’s factory working environments before they buy a tee-shirt. It is time to provide the consumer with the tools to make educated and unbiased decisions about which companies and organizations that their money supports.
People’s discussions of the role of government in life can often devolve into bickering that yields limited positive dialogue, but I would claim that providing adequate oversight to inform the average consumer before they purchase anything is the government’s role.
Economic Incentives
In addition to a behavioural change of consumers, the government can help support the purchasers to make informed decisions about companies who value life.
In our current economy, the main driver of the majority of decisions is price. The example of clothing is a perfect microcosm for structural societal problems. You would see a negligible impact if the stoutest consumers the effort to research companies who didn’t utilize child labour. The change that would yield a substantial improvement in working conditions requires the average consumer to make a fundamental and radical change when making decisions about where to allocate their money. Instead of looking at a price to make decisions, consumers must make a calculation for the ethical practices that the company demonstrates.
We are a long way away from discussions about which company’s products are ethical to its workers. I can’t help but feel depressed about how the current societal incentives actively support the exploitation of children. Some problems as heinous as child labour and worker exploitation require radical change changing the fabric of society.
Fortunately, there is a creative solution that could avoid the slow-workings of a foundational mindset change. The solution could be similar to the carbon tax in principle. The rudimentary principle of a carbon tax is placing a monetary value for the damage that fossil fuel emissions burden the entirety of society. The idea of placing a tax on what can be deemed as damaging to society. You remove the burden of any requirements for calculations from the consumer. The largest challenge with this solution is the challenge to quantify the damage that one product leaves.
It is easy for me to shout orders down atop my ivory tower; it’s not challenging to become enamoured in my own self-righteousness:
“Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whilst, like a puff’d and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads
And recks not his own read.”-Shakespeare
The biggest problem with the consumerist culture is how pervasive it is in society. We live in a glass chamber where we don’t have to think about the labour that was required to make the shoes, sweatshirts, and tee shirts we buy. If we are going to make a change in the world we have to face our willful ignorance and start to make responsible decisions.
It is not okay to claim ignorance and innocence on issues like exploitation.
