The Anti-Sweatshop Movement: Constructing Corporate Moral Agency in the Global Apparel Industry

2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca De Winter
Keyword(s):  
Moral Agency ◽  
Moral Agent ◽  
Apparel Industry ◽  
Transnational Advocacy ◽  
Corporate Rights ◽  
Advocacy Network ◽  
Corporate Moral Agency ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
Shared Understandings ◽  
The Impact

This essay examines the impact of activist mobilization within the anti-sweatshop movement on shared understandings of corporate moral agency. The anti-sweatshop movement represents a transnational advocacy network, which arose in response to the global restructuring of the apparel industry and is organizing to demand that apparel manufacturers be accountable to communities, workers, and consumers. The movement has been central in contesting received notions of corporate rights and responsibilities and in reconstituting the boundaries of the corporate moral agent. Underpinning this investigation is a discussion of the ascription of moral agency to collective actors. With the aid of a relational approach, it is argued that corporate moral agency is a construct emerging out of social historical interactions that reflect processes through which the boundaries of actors are drawn and justified. Through the use of rhetoric linking private economic transactions and international labor and human rights standards, the movement has successfully challenged corporate practices that were previously considered unremarkable.

Bringing Local Voices to the Global Negotiation Table: Norm Dissemination and Consensus Building on Tropical Forests and Climate Change

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria G. Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Kyoto Protocol ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Consensus Building ◽  
Transnational Advocacy ◽  
Transnational Advocacy Networks ◽  
Advocacy Network ◽  
The Impact

AbstractInitially rejected by the parties to the Kyoto Protocol, efforts to protect tropical forests are now an accepted strategy to mitigate the impact of climate change. Inspired by long-standing demands of Amazonia’s forests peoples, the notion of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) has been embraced in global arenas. What accounts for this shift in perceptions about the relation between forests and climate change? Answers lie in the efforts of a transnational advocacy network (TAN) at norm dissemination and consensus-building within Brazil and in the Kyoto Protocol. This study highlights the importance of domestic activism unfolding in democratizing societies to enhance the influence of transnational advocacy networks in norm dissemination and consensus building in global arenas. It enlarges the explanatory power of normative approaches by documenting a case in which the idea and set of values being globally propagated do not emanate from a Western liberal tradition.

Stimulating Flexible Citizenship: The Impact of Dutch and Indian Migration Policies on the Lives of Highly Skilled Indian Migrants in the Netherlands

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Katherine Kirk ◽  
Ellen Bal
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Transnational Migration ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Indian Diaspora ◽  
Migration Literature ◽  
Corporate Rights ◽  
Highly Skilled Migrants ◽  
Highly Skilled ◽  
Migration Theories ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis paper explores the relationship between migration and integration policies in the Netherlands, diaspora policies in India, and the transnational practices of Indian highly skilled migrants to the Netherlands. We employ anthropological transnational migration theories (e.g., Ong 1999; Levitt and Jaworsky 2007) to frame the dynamic interaction between a sending and a receiving country on the lives of migrants. This paper makes a unique contribution to migration literature by exploring the policies of both sending and receiving country in relation to ethnographic data on migrants. The international battle for brains has motivated states like the Netherlands and India to design flexible migration and citizenship policies for socially and economically desirable migrants. Flexible citizenship policies in the Netherlands are primarily concerned with individual and corporate rights and privileges, whereas Indian diaspora policies have been established around the premise of national identity.

Moral Responsibility, Socially Embedded

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Herzog
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
The Face ◽  
Moral Theorizing ◽  
The Impact

This chapter asks whether we can hold on to the picture of the morally responsible subject as we knew it in the face of evidence from social psychology about the impact of contexts on human behaviour. Some theorists have taken this to present a major challenge to moral theorizing. However, the chapter argues that, while we should acknowledge the malleability of human behaviour, we should not give up the notion of responsible agency. Rather, we need to broaden our theoretical horizon in order to include individuals’ co-responsibility for the contexts in which they act. This argument is a general one, but it is of particular relevance for organizations: it is our shared responsibility to turn them into contexts in which moral agency is supported rather than undermined.

A moral analysis of intelligent decision-support systems in diagnostics through the lens of Luciano Floridi’s information ethics

Human Affairs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-164
Author(s):  
Dmytro Mykhailov
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Medical Diagnosis ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Moral Agent ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Medical Diagnostics ◽  
Intelligent Decision ◽  
Luciano Floridi ◽  
Intelligent Decision Support

Abstract Contemporary medical diagnostics has a dynamic moral landscape, which includes a variety of agents, factors, and components. A significant part of this landscape is composed of information technologies that play a vital role in doctors’ decision-making. This paper focuses on the so-called Intelligent Decision-Support System that is widely implemented in the domain of contemporary medical diagnosis. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, I will show that the IDSS may be considered a moral agent in the practice of medicine today. To develop this idea I will introduce the approach to artificial agency provided by Luciano Floridi. Simultaneously, I will situate this approach in the context of contemporary discussions regarding the nature of artificial agency. It is argued here that the IDSS possesses a specific sort of agency, includes several agent features (e.g. autonomy, interactivity, adaptability), and hence, performs an autonomous behavior, which may have a substantial moral impact on the patient’s well-being. It follows that, through the technology of artificial neural networks combined with ‘deep learning’ mechanisms, the IDSS tool achieves a specific sort of independence (autonomy) and may possess a certain type of moral agency. Second, I will provide a conceptual framework for the ethical evaluation of the moral impact that the IDSS may have on the doctor’s decision-making and, consequently, on the patient’s wellbeing. This framework is the Object-Oriented Model of Moral Action developed by Luciano Floridi. Although this model appears in many contemporary discussions in the field of information and computer ethics, it has not yet been applied to the medical domain. This paper addresses this gap and seeks to reveal the hidden potentialities of the OOP model for the field of medical diagnosis.

scholarly journals Relationships, Authority, and Reasons: A Second-Personal Account of Corporate Moral Agency

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Alan D. Morrison ◽  
Rita Mota ◽  
William J. Wilhelm
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Moral Reasons ◽  
Corporate Communications ◽  
Personal Account ◽  
Moral Agents ◽  
Corporate Moral Agency ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
Corporate Punishment

We present a second-personal account of corporate moral agency. This approach is in contrast to the first-personal approach adopted in much of the existing literature, which concentrates on the corporation’s ability to identify moral reasons for itself. Our account treats relationships and communications as the fundamental building blocks of moral agency. The second-personal account rests on a framework developed by Darwall. Its central requirement is that corporations be capable of recognizing the authority relations that they have with other moral agents. We discuss the relevance of corporate affect, corporate communications, and corporate culture to the second-personal account. The second-personal account yields a new way to specify first-personal criteria for moral agency, and it generates fresh insights into the reasons those criteria matter. In addition, a second-personal analysis implies that moral agency is partly a matter of policy, and it provides a fresh perspective on corporate punishment.

scholarly journals Combating Modern Slavery: The Strategy of Indonesian Government to Protect Migrant Workers

Global Focus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
Irfa Puspitasari ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Migrant Worker ◽  
State Policies ◽  
Transnational Advocacy ◽  
National Boundary ◽  
Modern Slavery ◽  
Advocacy Network ◽  
Economic Migration ◽  
The Government ◽  
Economic Migrant

Economic migration create opportunities as well as humanitarian challenge. People travel across national boundary looking for work in the country destination. They would benefit their hosted as well as sending high amount of remittance for home. However, those dream were not applicable to all economic migrant when some of them fall victim into human trafficking. This research would investigate the strategy as well as challenges by Indonesia government and NGOs to promote protection of Indonesian migrant worker. It is imperative to evaluate state policies, state diplomacy, transnational advocacy network, and the nature of companies as agent of service provider. It would show how current practices and law has loopholes that create challenges for public private partnership to provide adequate support for Indonesian migrant worker. Investigation is conducted through interview, observation and literature review. The struggle to end modern slavery shall be one among priority in protecting civilian abroad, if the government is serious to minimize economic inequality and to change itself into welfare nation.

scholarly journals Public Morality as a Legitimate Aim to Limit Rights and Freedoms in the National and International Legal Order

2019 ◽  
pp. 10-20
Author(s):  
Anna Młynarska-Sobaczewska ◽  
Katarzyna Kubuj ◽  
Aleksandra Mężykowska
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
National Courts ◽  
European Court ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
International Legal Order ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
The Impact

Domestic legislation and international instruments designed for the protection of human rights provide for general clauses allowing limitations of rights and freedoms, e.g. public morals. A preliminary analysis of the case-law leads to the observation that both national courts and the European Court of Human Rights, when dealing with cases concerning sensitive moral issues, introduce varied argumentation methods allowing them to avoid making direct moral judgments and relying on the legitimate aim of protecting morality. In the article the Authors analyse selected judicial rulings in which moral issues may have played an important role. The scrutiny is done in order to identify and briefly discuss some examples of ways of argumentation used in the area under discussion by domestic and international courts. The identification of the courts’ methods of reasoning enables us in turn to make a preliminary assessment of the real role that the morality plays in the interpretation of human rights standards. It also constitutes a starting point for further consideration of the impact of ideological and cultural connotations on moral judgments, and on the establishment of a common moral standard to be applied in cases in which restriction on human rights and freedoms are considered.

Moral agents

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinit Haksar
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Moral Agent ◽  
Strong Version ◽  
Moral Law ◽  
Inner Life ◽  
Moral Understanding ◽  
Moral Agents ◽  
Concern For Others

Moral agents are those agents expected to meet the demands of morality. Not all agents are moral agents. Young children and animals, being capable of performing actions, may be agents in the way that stones, plants and cars are not. But though they are agents they are not automatically considered moral agents. For a moral agent must also be capable of conforming to at least some of the demands of morality. This requirement can be interpreted in different ways. On the weakest interpretation it will suffice if the agent has the capacity to conform to some of the external requirements of morality. So if certain agents can obey moral laws such as ‘Murder is wrong’ or ‘Stealing is wrong’, then they are moral agents, even if they respond only to prudential reasons such as fear of punishment and even if they are incapable of acting for the sake of moral considerations. According to the strong version, the Kantian version, it is also essential that the agents should have the capacity to rise above their feelings and passions and act for the sake of the moral law. There is also a position in between which claims that it will suffice if the agent can perform the relevant act out of altruistic impulses. Other suggested conditions of moral agency are that agents should have: an enduring self with free will and an inner life; understanding of the relevant facts as well as moral understanding; and moral sentiments, such as capacity for remorse and concern for others. Philosophers often disagree about which of these and other conditions are vital; the term moral agency is used with different degrees of stringency depending upon what one regards as its qualifying conditions. The Kantian sense is the most stringent. Since there are different senses of moral agency, answers to questions like ‘Are collectives moral agents?’ depend upon which sense is being used. From the Kantian standpoint, agents such as psychopaths, rational egoists, collectives and robots are at best only quasi-moral, for they do not fulfil some of the essential conditions of moral agency.

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