Non-Governmental Politics: The Consumer Dimension of Stakeholder Activism-- The Antisweatshop Movement in the United States

This chapter in Non-Governmental politics uses the example of the antisweatshop movement to speak to "ethical consumerism" (215), or the idea that the market can be a crucial weapon in fighting for social change. When governments are not powerful enough to keep corporations in line, the market can be an avenue that rallies the power of consumer choice to enact change. Until the state takes up the regulatory role, the market seems to be the best avenue. The markets are not without their challenges, however, and things like economic nationalism ("Buy American" [215]) are intertwined with social justice issues. Also, real change could require quite a drastic restructuring of factories. For example, factories could transition to "worker-owned cooperatives" (212) so that they are more democratically run.