Making Sweatshops: The Globalization of the U.S. Apparel Industry

Book Description

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.

Customer Reviews:

A history book that matters.......2003-02-03

Ellen Israel Rosen's "Making Sweatshops" is a detailed but thoroughly readable history of the U.S. apparel industry in the post-WW II era. It holds important lessons for those who want to learn how conditions for millions of workers have deteriorated so rapidly and what we might consider in order to correct the situation. The author's meticulous documentation and professional writing should also make this book valued by other serious researchers for many years to come.

Ms. Rosen shows that power and ideology have played a large part in this story. The Asian apparel industry was allowed limited access to U.S. markets in order to contain the threat of Communist expansion in the early Cold War era. Later, neoliberal economists supported by the retail industry prevailed upon the Regan, Bush Sr. and Clinton administrations to promote apparel production in the Caribean and Mexico.

The author shows that workers' rights have consistently taken a back seat to these larger political and economic concerns. She demonstrates that the tightly-controlled system of globalized production and distribution does not much resemble the mutually-beneficial free trade model envisioned by Adam Smith and David Ricardo. Instead, mostly young and female workers are prevailed upon to produce at poor wages; they are viewed as mere inputs in a closed-loop system of finance and production. If these workers protest against the low value that has been pre-assigned to their labor, the corporation can easily replace these workers or move elsewhere to achieve its profit objectives.

Ms. Rosen's book helps us understand not only how the post-industrial era has come about but also how it has been such a boon to capitalist managers and financiers. On the other hand, the opening of markets to low-wage countries means that free trade has been a race to the bottom for the working class. She suggests that the future for apparel workers will be grim until disparities in wealth between rich and poor nations are narrowed and worker's and women's rights are acknowledged.

Ms. Rosen has written a history book that matters a great deal with respect to the quality of life we enjoy both in the U.S. and around the world, and I strongly urge you to read it.

Average customer rating:
Ellen Israel Rosen, Making Sweatshops: the Globalization of the U.S. Apparel Industry.(Book Review): An article from: Labour/Le Travail
Elisabeth Prugl
Manufacturer: Canadian Committee on Labour History
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B0008IQZ5I
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Labour/Le Travail, published by Canadian Committee on Labour History on September 22, 2003. The length of the article is 1166 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Ellen Israel Rosen, Making Sweatshops: the Globalization of the U.S. Apparel Industry.(Book Review)
Author: Elisabeth Prugl
Publication: Labour/Le Travail (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2003
Publisher: Canadian Committee on Labour History
Issue: 52 Page: 292(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate & Making Sweatshops: The Globalization of the U.S. Apparel Industry.(Book ... article from: Ethics & International Affairs

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Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate & Making Sweatshops: The Globalization of the U.S. Apparel Industry.(Book ... article from: Ethics & International Affairs
Rebecca DeWinter
Manufacturer: Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Ethics & International Affairs, published by Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs on April 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1500 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate & Making Sweatshops: The Globalization of the U.S. Apparel Industry.(Book Review)
Author: Rebecca DeWinter
Publication: Ethics & International Affairs (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2003
Publisher: Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs
Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Page: 166(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

"This important book is based on a monumental study of the sales subsidiaries of a major multinational corporation which operates in 39 countries in the world. Since, in all countries, the respondents do the same work . . . and since the formal organization structure is the same everywhere, the important differences found in work attitudes and values can be ascribed to cultural differences among the countries. The author found four major dimensions for classifying cultures across the world: (i) power distance . . . (ii) uncertainty avoidance . . . (iii) individualism . . . (iv) masculinity. . . . The author also proposes some interesting theories to explain how cultures come to be as they are, which combine climate, economic development and historical process." --The Good Book Guide for Business "One of the most significant comparative organizational studies to date." --Industrial and Labor Relations Review "Important scientific books may be classified according to two types. . . . The second type includes those books which people like to have close at hand and consult for reference. There is little doubt that this book belongs to the second category." --Journal of Management Studies "What the author has done has been to analyze questionnaire results obtained in some 40 different countries, applied to employees of a large multinational American company, and to use the results for extracting dimensions along which to compare these different cultures, and then to evaluate and discuss the resulting groupings. . . . The book is full of interesting and important findings. . . . It should certainly be studied by anyone in the field." --New Society "Hofstede has produced an ingenious, careful, and richly stimulating book that will certainly be useful to all those concerned with managing multinational and multicultural organizations. . . . The book offers educators a new conceptual framework and a bank of data that will be highly useful in teaching." --Academy of Management Review "An important, sophisticated and complex monograph. . . . Both the theoretical analysis and the empirical findings constitute major contributions to cross-cultural value analysis and the cross-cultural study of work motivations and organizational dynamics. This book is also a valuable resource for anyone interested in a historical or anthropological approach to cross-cultural comparisons." --Personnel Psychology "One cannot help admiring the effort that went into this book and ending up more knowledgeable and wiser for having read it." --Contemporary Sociology "Should be read by every manager about to embark on an international or intercultural work assignment. To benefit most from his ideas requires great concentration on the part of the reader, but it is worth the effort. The manager should be able to substantially improve his (most international managers are men) effectiveness by applying his understanding of the culturally based differences in values among the firm's employees. In a classroom situation, this book would be appropriate for graduate students." --Reviews in Anthropology

Customer Reviews:

An International Manager's Must.......1999-05-28

If you need to learn about various cultures for different countries, this book is THE source. Hofstede's groundbreaking work is internationally recognized. Although the study was done in the late 1960's - early 1970's, the information is still relevant and interesting. For anyone who has to spend time in another country, they would be doing themselves a favor by getting a hold of this book. The only problem with this book is that it is not one of the easiest reads I've ever seen by far. To his credit however, he provides lots of tables and charts for the person who typically scans material. A must have for expatriates or those seeking an MBA.

His worldwide scope and rigorous method are fascinating........1998-02-10

I have never seen elsewhere a survey with such a well-constructed methodology and world-wide scope. If you can wade through (or bleep over) the methodology, you'll be impressed at the ways the cultures of the 40 countries covered resemble and differ from each other. One of my all-time favorites.

The seminal work on cross-cultural management........1996-08-15

The scope of Hofstede's study (more than 100,000 surveys in 60+ countries) has been called "vast" and "staggering": it certainly stands as the largest cross-cultural values survey in history.

More importantly, the book has changed the way that management and psychology researchers look at cross-cultural (or cross- national) comparisons. By providing four dimensions of culture (individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity) and numerical scores, he has both provided a theory for differences between national cultures and a way to cross-check those differences.

It is one of the most cited works in international management (1000+ citations according to Songergaard in a 1994 article in Organization Studies).

Those with a non-academic interests (i.e., those involved in international trade) may be better off with his more readable 1991 book, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind.

Book Description

The question of affect is central to critical theory, psychology, politics, and the entire range of the humanities; but no discipline, including psychoanalysis, has offered a theory of affect that would be rich enough to account for the delicacy and power, the evanescence and durability, the bodily rootedness and the cultural variability of human emotion.

Silvan Tomkins (1911–1991) was one of the most radical and imaginative psychologists of the twentieth century. In Affect, Imagery, Consciousness, a four-volume work published over the last thirty years of his life, Tomkins developed an ambitious theory of affect steeped in cybernetics and systems theory as well as in psychoanalysis, ethology, and neuroscience. The implications of his conceptually daring and phenomenologically suggestive theory are only now—in the context of postmodernism—beginning to be understood. With Shame and Its Sisters, editors Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and Adam Frank make available for the first time an engaging and accessible selection of Tomkins’s work.
Featuring intensive examination of several key affects, particularly shame and anger, this volume contains many of Tomkins’s most haunting, diagnostically incisive, and theoretically challenging discussions. An introductory essay by the editors places Tomkins’s work in the context of postwar information technologies and will prompt a reexamination of some of the underlying assumptions of recent critical work in cultural studies and other areas of the humanities. The text is also accompanied by a biographical sketch of Tomkins by noted psychologist Irving E. Alexander, Tomkins’s longtime friend and collaborator.

Customer Reviews:

Exquisite Insight.......2006-08-30

Although I found the introduction to be utterly useless and rather tendentious, the editors have assembled a wonderful collection of shorter passages from Tomkins' oeuvre.

I dare even the casual reader to walk away (excuse the pun) unaffected by Tomkin's exquisite -- even precious -- insight into our emotional life! I was moved by his subtlety and humanity; I felt vertigo at the sheer altitude of his conceptual perspective; I was compelled to reconsider all that I had been taught about emotion, expression and peace of mind.

This is the perfect entree into the work of Silvan Tomkins.

Silvan Tomkins Redux.......2000-03-28

The work of psychologist Silvan Tomkins may finally earn reappraisal, thanks to this collection. Editors Sedgwick and Frank have chosen wisely from Tomkins' four-volume investigation of affect, Affect,Imagery, and Consciousness, presenting in this collection an overview of Tomkins'groundbreaking work.

Silvan Tomkins outlines a way of thinking about affect that is part-science, part-poetry; his work on shame, in particular, offers insights not just for psychologists but for anyone interested in the mysterious and pervasive mechanisms of shame in social and intimate life. The brilliant introduction, "Shame in the Cybernetic Fold," relocates Tomkins' work for a contemporary and interdisciplinary audience. Fans of editor Sedgwick will be fascinated, I think, by her explorations in unfamiliar territory; equally, the introduction excites interest in newcomer Frank. I found this book enthralling, leading me straight to Tomkins' own collections.

Book Description

Emerging from the estimable Doctor Selman's own teaching experience, this book gives radiologic technologists and beginning radiology residents a clear, authoritative guide to the essentials of radiobiology. A short historical introduction precedes discussions of pertinent physics and cellular biology and of their interplay: modes of action of x and gamma rays, cell and tissue response, cellular radiosensitivity, and factors affecting cell response to ionizing radiation. A third of the book is devoted to the vital topic of radiation hazards. It covers whole body effects, hazards to embryo and fetus, late effects on tissues, genetic effects, and health physics. The text concludes with explanations of radiation oncology, available radiation modalities, and radiotherapy.

The radiobiology and economics of a plutonium economy (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics. Thesis. 1976. B.S)

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The radiobiology and economics of a plutonium economy (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics. Thesis. 1976. B.S)
Harry Clyde Mitchell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Recycling | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006WL9FW

Book Description

Tactical knives are the hottest things on the cutlery market right now. Everybody wants one. Now every hobbyist can have the skills to make his or her own custom tactical folding knife. Step-by-step instructions and outstanding photography guide the knifemaker from start to finish.

Knifemaker Bob Terzuola has been called the father of the tactical folding knife. This book details everything from the basic definition of a tactical folder to the final polishing as the knife is finished. There is also a chapter on timesaving tips all knifemakers can use.

-Step-by-step instructions.
-Outstanding photos to guide the knifemaker.
-The geometry of the locking system.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2006-07-03

Very good and informative book. I wish it had color photos instead of B&W

The best in-print book on this topic.......2000-06-16

Robert Terzuola's name will be instantly recognizable to knife collectors the world over as the veteran maker of some of the finest tactical knives available. In this excellent book, Terzuola shares his knowledge of the new 'hot' item among collectors - the tactical folding knife.

The book covers design, shaping, fitting and finishing tactical folders in a refreshingly readable style. Simple enough for even non-knife enthusiasts yet detailed enough for new makers looking to improve their work - a great combination. Accompanied by masterful advice, clear step-by-step photographs, and superb diagrams of the famous linerlock mechanism, this book is worth every cent for the information value alone. If you are a beginning maker or simply interested in how much craftsmanship goes into these tools, you need to look no further than this book.

A wonderful resource for fledgling knife makers.......2000-05-24

Robert Terzuola's many years of experience as a custom knife maker are thoughtfully distilled into this handy and interesting book. "The Tactical Folding Knife" details and explains the many aspects of the design and construction of a modern folding knife. This book presupposes a certain level of technical proficiency regarding the use of the industrial tools needed to produce a folding knife of this type, but this fact does not detract from its accessibility for both the experienced machinist and the curious enthusiast. This book is broken down into chapters that illustrate not only the basic design and construction of a locking liner folding knife, but also includes chapters describing the characteristics of different component materials, helpful tips regarding specialized tools and a section on the care and maintenence of a finished knife. Although I don't think I will rush out and buy a lathe, I do feel that this book illuminates the subject in a way that can be appreciated by the layman as well as the experienced machinist

Customer Reviews:

Presenting Your Findings: A Practical Guide for Creating Tables .......2007-09-08

It's a great and fantastic textbook hhelping me start my profssional research in International Education.
I love it very very much.

You can create any table by using this book as a guideline.......2007-01-12

No matter how complex your table will be, if you use this book as your guideline, you will be able to create it. The reviewer who claimed this is not true probably wanted them to give him the exact table. Their book would have been 1,000+ pages long to give an example of every combination of every table.

What this book gives you is the foundation upon which to build tables. Whenever you aren't sure how to build your table, just take a quick gander through the appropriate section(s) of this book, and follow their guidelines -- do NOT try to copy. Your result will be an excellent, easy-to-follow table.

Maybe for the APA style..........2003-05-03

I was deeply disappointed with the book. The tables look as done with a typewriter, good for those missing that 70's thesis. Apparently nobody told the authors that p-values are no longer to be reported as p <0.05, but with their full value. And finally, there is no "clever" solution to more complex tables, but just tons of tables with pretty standard results. What is reported in the tables is not widely applicable too. In my area - epidemiology - we do not report standard errors, we report confidence intervals. We also do not report mean squares, f-values, or t-values, or chi-squared-values and so on - we report only the full p-values. If you're not into APA, look elsewhere.

No more puzzling over tables!.......2002-02-19

This is an invaluable resource for anyone who needs to present their research results in APA style. This is not a statistics text but rather a manual for generating tables. Each chapter focuses on a different statistic and includes a "play it safe" comprehensive table as well as several variations. Well-organized, practical, and concise.

A Must for Students and Professionals Using APA Style.......2000-04-28

This book has been needed for twenty years. Students and professional researchers who write dissertations and manuscripts using APA style have desperately needed this very helpful resource. The book illustrates standard presentation tables for more than twenty types of standard statistical tests. The concept of "Play It Safe" tables will save researchers hundreds of hours of time. The table illustrations are clear and precise depending on the focus of the data to be presented. The few words that are written prior to presenting a table are helpful in clarifying the data contained in the tables. One small problem is noted. It would have been helpful to include how APA style recommends reporting statistical data in paragraph form in this book also. Despite this omission, I still give this book 5 stars.

Average customer rating:

Moving Towards Christmas

The 25 Days of Christmas: Family Readings and Scriptures for the Advent Season
Greg Johnson
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Devotionals | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Christmas | Holidays | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0849918359

Book Description

This classic and timeless Christmas devotional brings together stories, devotional readings, scripture passages and prayers in a delightfully illustrated format that is perfect for family time together during the holiday season.

Customer Reviews:

Moving Towards Christmas.......2007-01-10

Every advent season our family reads through some kind of daily readings book. We were not overly impressed with this book. It was "OK" according to our 10 year old. Other Christmases we've read CS Lewis and Arnold Ytreeide so the bar is set pretty high. We didn't always agree with what the daily readings were saying but it lead to some good discussions amongst the four of us. In short, this collection of readings is OK, not great. There are other books I'd recommend before this one.

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