Capitalism And Inequality In The Workplace

Although capitalism is praised for its growth and prosperity, bad capitalism drives sweatshops which ultimately put profits first and ends up enslaving its workers. Capitalism forces inequality between citizens and inequality in the workplace. In a capitalist market business and companies compete for profits, and an easy way to save money is to treat workers like animals.

“Capitalism is not a political system, but an economic one (Muhammed, Cedric).” A global economy has forced capitalism to value profits and the economy more than the citizens it is supposed to represent. People who live in a free market system will always desire to pay the cheapest price on a product they can (Sweatshops). The consumer’s aspiration to pay for cheap products drives the terrible sweatshops America has outlawed.
In a Capitalist economy companies compete with each other by raking in profits.
Companies and firms across the globe enforce unfair wages so companies can keep the workers from cutting into their earnings. It is also cheaper for companies to dismiss safety protocols in the workplace, which eventually leads to workers dying in fires, explosions, and building collapses. The 2013 Rana Plaza factory disaster killed 1,139 workers in a building collapse due to the employer’s neglect of safety protocols (Sweatshops). Less money spent on wages, factories, and general safety regulations equals more money going directly towards profits. Companies are willing to kill their workers just to save a few dollars.

Competition between enterprises ultimately keeps companies afloat. Companies survive and companies die, and that is business. Businesses need to make profits in order to survive. This drive for profits has lead to economization of the workplace. Economization leads to less money spent in the factories as well as replacing employees with cheaper workers (Wolff,
Richard).

All businesses care about is profits, so they will do whatever they can to obtain money. Businesses use sweatshops as an easy way to produce goods at a low cost. These sweatshops lack the common regulations Americans take for granted today. Firms in control of sweatshops purposely establish foreign operations with the intent to avoid domestic regulations (Kopf, Jerry). Ken Flora, a supporter of capitalism, admits there needs to be more helpful regulations to empower the employees in sweatshops. “Sweatshops are due to a lack of appropriate regulations or a lack of enforcing regulations. Sweatshops need regulations to prevent that (Flora).”
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Apple, the epitome of capitalism, has manufacturers and suppliers located in Asia. Foxconn, one of Apple’s leading suppliers, has developed a reputation of disregarding its workers. Employees are forced to work unpaid overtime while handling hazardous materials in deadly factories (Kopf, Jerry). Working conditions have become so depressing for Foxconn employees that Apple installed nets to stop the high amount of suicides at certain factories (Kopf, Jerry). Within a five month period, 13 workers attempted or committed suicide (Kopf, Jerry). Despite a 65.2 billion dollar revenue, Apple is not helping its employees that keep the company running (Kopf, Jerry).

Bad global capitalism forces businesses to cut corners and ignore its employees to save money. Although capitalism is praised for its growth and prosperity, bad capitalism drives sweatshops which ultimately put profits first and ends up enslaving its workers.