Bender, D. E. (2004). Sweated work, weak bodies: Anti-sweatshop campaigns and languages of labor. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press.
Project: Clothing size and taxonomy
Keywords: sweatshops, homework, garment industry, women, gender, immigration, ready-to-wear, New York, Industrial Revolution, labour reform
Format: Book
Abstract: "In the early 1900s, thousands of immigrants labored in New York's Lower East Side sweatshops, enduring work environments that came to be seen as among the worst examples of Progressive-Era American industrialization. Although reformers agreed that these unsafe workplaces must be abolished, their reasons have seldom been fully examined. Sweated Work, Weak Bodies is the first book on the origins of sweatshops, exploring how they came to represent the dangers of industrialization and the perils of immigration. It is an innovative study of the language used to define the sweatshop, how these definitions shaped the first anti-sweatshop campaign, and how they continue to influence our current understanding of the sweatshop."
Key points: Bender explores the relationship between gender and sweatshop labour, with an emphasis on the social pressures placed on woman workers to better themselves by getting married and staying in the home.
Key concepts: relationship between americanization and the abolition of the sweatshop, ideals of class and gentility, abuse of immigrants in Industrial America, categorization and stratefication of race
Entities: Unions (Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union; Cloakmakers' Union; American Federation of Labor; etc); journalists/news outlets (New York Times; Neue Post; etc); factory owners; legislators; consumers; courts; police/inspectors; workers; religion; community organizations; educators.
Date this entry was written: 25/May/2012
Updated: 17/August/2012 (added entities)
Project: Clothing size and taxonomy
Keywords: sweatshops, homework, garment industry, women, gender, immigration, ready-to-wear, New York, Industrial Revolution, labour reform
Format: Book
Abstract: "In the early 1900s, thousands of immigrants labored in New York's Lower East Side sweatshops, enduring work environments that came to be seen as among the worst examples of Progressive-Era American industrialization. Although reformers agreed that these unsafe workplaces must be abolished, their reasons have seldom been fully examined. Sweated Work, Weak Bodies is the first book on the origins of sweatshops, exploring how they came to represent the dangers of industrialization and the perils of immigration. It is an innovative study of the language used to define the sweatshop, how these definitions shaped the first anti-sweatshop campaign, and how they continue to influence our current understanding of the sweatshop."
Key points: Bender explores the relationship between gender and sweatshop labour, with an emphasis on the social pressures placed on woman workers to better themselves by getting married and staying in the home.
Key concepts: relationship between americanization and the abolition of the sweatshop, ideals of class and gentility, abuse of immigrants in Industrial America, categorization and stratefication of race
Entities: Unions (Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union; Cloakmakers' Union; American Federation of Labor; etc); journalists/news outlets (New York Times; Neue Post; etc); factory owners; legislators; consumers; courts; police/inspectors; workers; religion; community organizations; educators.
Date this entry was written: 25/May/2012
Updated: 17/August/2012 (added entities)