Kantian Sweatshops

In this essay, I will briefly describe the conditions displayed in sweatshops. Then from the view of Kantian and Utilitarian, I will answer the questions of if manufacturers are wrong to contract from sweatshops and what we as consumers should do about sweatshops. Sweatshops are all around us. Companies like Adidas, victoria’s secret, and forever 21 use child labor and grossly underpay their workers in order to make the garments we wear every day. A sweatshop, by definition, is an establishment that breaks two or more labor laws. In other countries sweatshops are often harsher than those run in America or by American countries, however, the ones in this country still violate human principals and turn a blind eye to child labor laws and employee rights. Evidence shows that there are many conditions tied to sweatshops that could be easily fixed or helped. A raise in pay would not cost manufacturers more than a few cents per worker and would virtually not raise the cost for the consumer. Many sweatshops do …show more content…
A Utilitarian would say that companies that contract sweatshops would need to think about net output or overall happiness. The misery of the sweatshop workers would be weighed against the company that sells the goods and the consumer of the goods. We would also have to take into consideration that the sweatshop workers only chance of employment of supporting a family is through work in a sweatshop. This would mean a given amount of happiness for the sweatshop worker as well, adding to overall happiness. If there are more individuals being provided with happiness, or pleasure, through the creation of the goods through sweatshops rather than being harmed by the conditions of the job, a Utilitarian would say it is a just verification. A Utilitarian would say that if a fewer number of people are being harmed then there is nothing to be rationalized in