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.
