Sweatshops Essay

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Sweatshops When buying clothes, consumers look at the tag inside to see how to care for the particular garment. To some, whether a shirt is “machine wash” or not is more important than where the shirt is made. Consumers are rarely swayed into buying a garment by where it is made, even though the “Made In” is the most important information on the tag. The tag’s “Made In-” is the determining factor whether a poor family in a developing country can survive by having work or not. Many garments made in third world countries are made in so-called “sweatshops” by young people who come from poor families. When most people think of sweatshops, a negative image of a dingy factory in a third world country comes to mind. and stable country. As America grew into a strong, independent country, the uses of sweatshops, used in the early 1900s, were not needed anymore. During the Industrial Revolution, America used children in factories that resemble what most Americans think of as sweatshops. Children were expected to work in tiny, cramped areas and were paid less than an adult. These factories became notorious for children losing their finger, limbs, or even their lives. Nonetheless, child labor helped improve America’s economy by allowing factories to prosper (Barker). Factories made huge monetary profits by paying children less for their work which helped build a stable economy. However, as America developed, laws were passed prohibiting child labor and improving working conditions. In turn, passing these laws improved factory conditions by forcing regulations to be enforced. Similar to America, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong are some of the nations that worked their way out of sweatshops into prosperity (Stossel). Yet, even though those countries do not need sweatshops anymore, sweatshops are still necessary for other third world countries in their search

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