Sweatshops In Developing Countries

Across the globe, the practice of implementing sweatshops in developing nations for companies from developed nations has been abundant. While not a new concept, many view this practice as immoral and unethical. However, that is the perspective of an individual in a modern, developed country. As well as, many do not understand that the alternatives to sweatshops are much more brutal and impoverished individuals gladly choose sweatshops over their other options such as sex work. That is the ugly reality of developing countries. To truly boost the lackluster economies of the third world and in turn increase quality of life, hard labor is needed. Sweatshops are the stepping stones to a brighter future for developing countries to achieve social …show more content…
The economic powerhouses of the world, some of which include Great Britain and the United States, started from the ground up. The majority of human history consisted of hard labor, whether it be major construction projects like the pyramids in ancient Egypt or the basic subsistence farming practiced even through to the modern day. However, the Industrial Revolution sparked a new age of labor. Following the invention of the flying shuttle, Spinning Jenny, and mechanic yarn spinner, factories resembling modern day sweatshops were born (Powell, ). The sweatshops in late 1700s Great Britain makes modern sweatshops look rather pleasant by comparison. Factories forced their laborers to work 16 hours a day, 6 days a week, and there was no say for the workers (Powell, ). Workers had limbs mutilated and breathed in dust from textile fibers that floated through the poorly ventilated rooms. Yet British cities were continually flooded by flocks of rural immigrants trying to work in these hazardous factories. Rural folk were attracted to the higher wages of these factories compared to the lower wages of every other job they could obtain. Ludwig von Mises, a theoretical Austrian School economist, defends the factory system of the Industrial Revolution: “The factory owners did not have the power to compel anybody to take a factory job. They could only hire people who were ready to work for the wages offered to them. Low as these wage rates were, they were nonetheless more than these paupers could earn in any other field open to them” (Mises, 1998). The people of Great Britain acknowledged that the wages were low, but also understood that this was the best option they