Child Labor The World's Biggest Perpetrators
Child Labor: The World’s Biggest Perpetrators Catherine Miller, Gabby Tomlinson, Becca Pineda, Pilar Garcia December 2014
Issues such as child labor can be considered social problems. Social problems are defined as “conditions that are evaluated as wrong, widespread, and changeable” (Loseke, 2003, p.7).
Social construction theory refers to the process of how social problems are made. First, social construction theories are presented to claimsmakers who deem the theories as a social problem or not. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the social problem of child labor made by international claimsmakers. How do news journalists in Sudan, Guatemala, Pakistan, and
Malawi, acting as claimsmakers, socially construct the global social problem of child labor? …show more content…
Methodology
The data exhibited in this project is taken from many different international newspapers.
These newspaper articles were found through the internet which then had to be translated to english. Each group member collected a minimum of five news articles concerning child labor from different countries. The countries chosen were Guatemala, Malawi, Pakistan and Sudan.
The data showed that each country was experiencing serious problems with child labor and that each country was attempting to find solutions. Findings
Table 1: Basis of Claim by Theoretical Framework for issues of Child Labor
Nation
Basis of Claim
Logical
Emotion
Both
Totals
Sudan
I (1)
III(3)
I (1)
20%
Malawi
IIIII (5)
IIIII (5)
0
50%
Pakistan
III (3)
IIII (4)
0
35%
Guatemala
I (1)
IIII (4)
0
25%
Total
50%
85%
5%
From this table, it is evident that child labor is a rapidly expanding social problem throughout the world. In carefully analyzing each article, it has shown that many of them had an emotional claim. An emotional claims are claims that “encourage audience members to feel sympathy for social problem victims and/or to feel hatred for social problem villains”(Loseke,
2003, p.27). The audience should feel bad about a current social problem,
“These children who grow up forget the pleasure of their childhood and are neglected by society. Instead of getting education, they tolerate rudeness and disrespect at work.
”
This quote shows some of the problems that are being brought upon children as they enter the workforce at such a young age.
Furthermore, these children are not only being pushed into the workforce at a young age, but are being tortured, “
A group with children between 3 and 17 years old, were forced to work 16 hours a day and were held in overcrowded taverns south of Guatemala City, where they slept in cardboard or newspapers and amid feces.”These children are unwillingly put into the workforce taking away their childhood in front of their eyes, but then burdened with long hours at work.
These claims encourage the audience to feel sympathy for the children who have to partake in child labor.
On the other hand, about 50% of the articles analyzed claimed to have a logic claim.
Loseke defines a logic claim as “a reason why audience members should define a particular condition as troublesome” ( p.27) This means that when things seems like they are not right, they are probably a big issue. “Approximately 1.4 million children are said to be in child labor in
Malawi”. After hearing this, much of the audience should define that child labor is definitely an issue in Malawi. In addition to Malawi having issues with child labor, Central America also has a significant numbers of child workers. “According to ILO estimate, Latin America and the
Caribbean there are 12.5 million child laborers, of whom 9.5 million in hazardous work” This quote shows the significant number of child workers and states that many of them are doing hazardous work. The issue should be defined as troublesome due to the fact that they are putting many of the childrens lives at risk.
The data from this table highlights the type of claims that each country uses to make the audience aware of the issues with child labor. Evidently, the most popular claim was the emotional claim. Emotional claims get the audience to feel sympathy for the victims which in this case are the children. The audience agrees that a child 's infancy should not be taken away in the blink of an eye. They should not be overworked and sleeping in cardboard boxes, children should have the opportunity to be educated. Logical claims were also popular because this showed the numbers of children that are being robbed their infancy. There is a significant amount of child workers. It is in the audiences hands to classify this as a problem that is truly troublesome and needs to be solved.
Table 2: Type of Solution by Unit of Analysis for Issue of Child Labor
Types of Solutions
Person Blame
System Blame
TOTAL
Symbolic punishment
0
0
0
Symbolic assistance
3
10
13 (65%)
Tough punishment
0
0
0
Quick benefits
0
7
7 (35%)
3 (15%)
17 (85%)
20 (100%)
TOTAL
UNIT OF ANALYSIS
In the table above, according to its data, it is apparent that child labor is a rapidly expanding social problem throughout the world today. After carefully analyzing each article,
85% of the articles claimed to have system blame approaches. The system blame approach, which is when social problems result from the social system, is another way that Loseke explains social problems. This means that the system needs to be fixed rather than the individual.
Bilawal
Bhutto Zadari, of Guatemala, said “children are future of our nation and every parent has the responsibility to save their children from falling into the trap of child labour. However, it is the responsibility of the state to protect the children and take strong and committed steps to ensure that every child is given adequate chance to education, health, leisure and basic freedoms”.
Zadari explains indeed it is the systems and governments job to provide children with the necessary services to succeed. However Zadari also points out that parents have the responsibility to their children to not have to work at such a young age in such vigorous conditions. According to Loseke, person blame approach is the assumption that social problems result from individuals. This means there is no blame on the system but its entirely on the individual. In an opinion article in the
Sudan Tribune
, Ngor Arol Garang expresses that, “these are the consequences or the results of our narrow definition of child labour. We have a generation that has been destroyed by the ‘love’ or rather ‘exaggerated’ love of their parents” (p.
2). By saying consequences, Garang means that children are being protected by their parents in the wrong way. He believes that parents are afraid of their children being forced into labor that they take care of their to an extreme measure.
Throughout the articles and from collecting data, the four countries mostly have either a symbolic assistance or quick benefits type of solution. An example of symbolic assistance would be the government offering more education programs. An example of quick benefits would be the government enforcing a new law. The countries are making moves towards helping children just not moves that are making a huge impact. Government systems and parents make changes to attempt to help now. Yet from the articles analyzed, there needs to be a plan of action to stop child labor and save the children.
Table 3: Comparison of nations by type of solutions proposed
Countries
Type of change
Pakistan
Sudan
Guatemala
Malawi
Total
New administrative laws
IIII(4)
(0)
I(1)
II(2)
35%
New social services IIII(4)
IIII(4)
IIII(4)
III(3)
75%
Evaluate as intolerable IIIII(5)
IIIII(5)
IIIII(5)
IIIII(5)
100%
Totals
65%(13)
45%(9)
50%(10)
50%(10)
From this table, it is evident that these articles all suggest that something should be changed (mentally or physically) about child labor. Clearly, all the articles agree that child labor should be evaluated from tolerable to intolerable behavior. Because the view on child labor needs to be changed, child labor can be considered a “social problem” in these countries. A
social problem is a condition evaluated as wrong, widespread, and changeable (Loseke, 2003,
p.7).
Furthermore, this table reveals that creating new social services are recommended to diminish the issue of child labor. “Save the Children in South Sudan implements programmes in eight out of the ten states of South Sudan, covering education, health and nutrition, food security and livelihoods, child protection and child rights governance projects.” This quote demonstrates a social service that was executed in South Sudan and is having very positive effects. “Children are receiving psychological care from a specialist and food in a hostel to restore a decent life, while specific education programs are created to prevent trafficking in the Central American
Country.” This quote also reinforces the positive effects of social services and how education programs are created to put a focus on education instead of working. “YECE Executive Director
Lucky Mbewe said the objectives of the strategy aims at increasing community level interventions and initiatives that respond to violence and abuse against children and increase uptake of quality and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information and services.”
Namaszunda, C. (2014, August 28). Once again, this quote supports the idea of social services.
In addition to social services, new administrative laws are also implemented to change the social problem of child labor. “Call for ban on child domestic labour: The Child Rights
Movement, Punjab, has demanded ban on child domestic labour below 18 years of age and expressed utmost displeasure over the government’s inefficiency in stopping the killings of children working as domestic servants.” This quote is geared towards a more governmental
approach. Administering a law would make child labor illegal and therefore change the view of child labor from tolerable to intolerable.
The data from this table highlights the type of change that each country uses to defeat the social problem of child labor. Obviously the most popular type of solution was to create new social services such as education and fostering services. These services help to set children on the a successful path that never intersects with child labor. Creating new administrative laws were also popular because more people are inclined to follow government rules and would view child labor as illegal. Lastly, each country strongly agreed that the view on child labor should be changed from tolerable to intolerable. In conclusion, each article proposed that the defeat of child labor will come through either communal or governmental services.
Analysis
All four of these countries are unique in many different ways, including the different parts of the world that they are located. They are all brought together on the common factor of high rates of child labor and the way journalists frames this social problem. News journalists can set up their articles the way in which they want their audiences to view and interpret their issue.
The way in which the government frames the social problem will also impact the way …show more content…
the journalist frames their story. This can affect the way in which the entire country views the social problem. This issue of child labor is seen as an emotional concept because children are seen as innocent and helpless, therefore the journalists do not have to frame their article emotionally, rather than using logic for this topic that does not have a lot of force behind it. The issue is also framed to blame the system or a person. 85% of the data shown in the articles blame the system, showing how big this issue. Rather than pushing this blame onto a small group it shows a greater
responsibility. Another common theme between the countries is that rather than laws getting put into place it is new social services, that shows that it is not necessarily the government getting involved but less powerful groups that are trying to fix the high rates of child labor. All of this data shows that the same social problem can be framed differently in all different parts of the world as well as the same country, even when there are general similarities between them all.
References
Arol Garang, H. (2013, June 13). The Discourse About Child Labour in South Sudan.
Sudan
Tribune
. Retrieved December 10, 2014
Chipanga, P. (2013, April 3). Malawi makes strides in child labor elimination. Retrieved
December 10, 2014.
Es posible erradicar el trabajo infantil en Guatemala: Alianza CCADEL. (2013, June 4).
Retrieved December 11, 2014.
Khadadad, S. (2013, August 23). Child labour in Pakistan. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
Loseke, D. R. (2003).
Thinking About Social Problems: An Introduction to Constructionist
Perspectives
. New York, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
Malawi President call for end to child labour in tobacco industry. (2012, March 26). Retrieved
December 1, 2014.
Malik, Z. (2014, June 12). Bilawal for eliminating child labour through social protection.
Retrieved December 10, 2014.
Mir Samad, B. (2013, November 28). Child Labour a Menace to Society ARY Blogs.
Retrieved December 10, 2014.
Munthali, D. (2014, July 23). Improving conditions in Malawi agricultural sector: Tackling child labour and related issues.
Retrieved December 1, 2014.
Namaszunda, C. (2014, August 28). Combating child labour key to achieving quality education in Malawi ILO. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
Niñez trabajadora, sometida a prostitución y a cometer actos ilícitos. (2014, June 16). Retrieved
December 11, 2014.
Países de América Latina firman declaración para erradicar trabajo infantil. (2014, October 14).
Retrieved December 11, 2014.
PAKISTAN: Childlabour risks rise across flood zone. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2014.
René Olivia, Ó. (2013, June 15). Rescate de 55 menores desnuda el negocio con la mendicidad en Guatemala. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
Sactic, W. (2013, December 16). Unos 10 mil niños elaboran cohetes. Retrieved December 11,
2014.
Save the Children in South Sudan Makes Transition to Save the Children International. (2013,
February 1).
Sudan Tribune
. Retrieved December 10, 2014
ShakilurRahman, M. (2013, June 12). Pakistan among countries with child labour issues.
Retrieved December 10, 2014.
Sudan: Child Alert Darfur. (2005, December 20).
Sudan Tribune
. Retrieved December 10, 2014
Sudan is Most Dangerous Place for Children. (2006, July 11).
Sudan Tribune
. Retrieved
December
10,2014
Tembo, D. (2013, August 23). ARISE Trains Communities In Child Labor Committees.
Retrieved December 1, 2014.
Wines, M. (2006, August 8). Africa Adds to Miserable Ranks of Child Workers.
The New York
Times
. Retrieved December 10, 2014
Issues such as child labor can be considered social problems. Social problems are defined as “conditions that are evaluated as wrong, widespread, and changeable” (Loseke, 2003, p.7).
Social construction theory refers to the process of how social problems are made. First, social construction theories are presented to claimsmakers who deem the theories as a social problem or not. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the social problem of child labor made by international claimsmakers. How do news journalists in Sudan, Guatemala, Pakistan, and
Malawi, acting as claimsmakers, socially construct the global social problem of child labor? …show more content…
Methodology
The data exhibited in this project is taken from many different international newspapers.
These newspaper articles were found through the internet which then had to be translated to english. Each group member collected a minimum of five news articles concerning child labor from different countries. The countries chosen were Guatemala, Malawi, Pakistan and Sudan.
The data showed that each country was experiencing serious problems with child labor and that each country was attempting to find solutions. Findings
Table 1: Basis of Claim by Theoretical Framework for issues of Child Labor
Nation
Basis of Claim
Logical
Emotion
Both
Totals
Sudan
I (1)
III(3)
I (1)
20%
Malawi
IIIII (5)
IIIII (5)
0
50%
Pakistan
III (3)
IIII (4)
0
35%
Guatemala
I (1)
IIII (4)
0
25%
Total
50%
85%
5%
From this table, it is evident that child labor is a rapidly expanding social problem throughout the world. In carefully analyzing each article, it has shown that many of them had an emotional claim. An emotional claims are claims that “encourage audience members to feel sympathy for social problem victims and/or to feel hatred for social problem villains”(Loseke,
2003, p.27). The audience should feel bad about a current social problem,
“These children who grow up forget the pleasure of their childhood and are neglected by society. Instead of getting education, they tolerate rudeness and disrespect at work.
”
This quote shows some of the problems that are being brought upon children as they enter the workforce at such a young age.
Furthermore, these children are not only being pushed into the workforce at a young age, but are being tortured, “
A group with children between 3 and 17 years old, were forced to work 16 hours a day and were held in overcrowded taverns south of Guatemala City, where they slept in cardboard or newspapers and amid feces.”These children are unwillingly put into the workforce taking away their childhood in front of their eyes, but then burdened with long hours at work.
These claims encourage the audience to feel sympathy for the children who have to partake in child labor.
On the other hand, about 50% of the articles analyzed claimed to have a logic claim.
Loseke defines a logic claim as “a reason why audience members should define a particular condition as troublesome” ( p.27) This means that when things seems like they are not right, they are probably a big issue. “Approximately 1.4 million children are said to be in child labor in
Malawi”. After hearing this, much of the audience should define that child labor is definitely an issue in Malawi. In addition to Malawi having issues with child labor, Central America also has a significant numbers of child workers. “According to ILO estimate, Latin America and the
Caribbean there are 12.5 million child laborers, of whom 9.5 million in hazardous work” This quote shows the significant number of child workers and states that many of them are doing hazardous work. The issue should be defined as troublesome due to the fact that they are putting many of the childrens lives at risk.
The data from this table highlights the type of claims that each country uses to make the audience aware of the issues with child labor. Evidently, the most popular claim was the emotional claim. Emotional claims get the audience to feel sympathy for the victims which in this case are the children. The audience agrees that a child 's infancy should not be taken away in the blink of an eye. They should not be overworked and sleeping in cardboard boxes, children should have the opportunity to be educated. Logical claims were also popular because this showed the numbers of children that are being robbed their infancy. There is a significant amount of child workers. It is in the audiences hands to classify this as a problem that is truly troublesome and needs to be solved.
Table 2: Type of Solution by Unit of Analysis for Issue of Child Labor
Types of Solutions
Person Blame
System Blame
TOTAL
Symbolic punishment
0
0
0
Symbolic assistance
3
10
13 (65%)
Tough punishment
0
0
0
Quick benefits
0
7
7 (35%)
3 (15%)
17 (85%)
20 (100%)
TOTAL
UNIT OF ANALYSIS
In the table above, according to its data, it is apparent that child labor is a rapidly expanding social problem throughout the world today. After carefully analyzing each article,
85% of the articles claimed to have system blame approaches. The system blame approach, which is when social problems result from the social system, is another way that Loseke explains social problems. This means that the system needs to be fixed rather than the individual.
Bilawal
Bhutto Zadari, of Guatemala, said “children are future of our nation and every parent has the responsibility to save their children from falling into the trap of child labour. However, it is the responsibility of the state to protect the children and take strong and committed steps to ensure that every child is given adequate chance to education, health, leisure and basic freedoms”.
Zadari explains indeed it is the systems and governments job to provide children with the necessary services to succeed. However Zadari also points out that parents have the responsibility to their children to not have to work at such a young age in such vigorous conditions. According to Loseke, person blame approach is the assumption that social problems result from individuals. This means there is no blame on the system but its entirely on the individual. In an opinion article in the
Sudan Tribune
, Ngor Arol Garang expresses that, “these are the consequences or the results of our narrow definition of child labour. We have a generation that has been destroyed by the ‘love’ or rather ‘exaggerated’ love of their parents” (p.
2). By saying consequences, Garang means that children are being protected by their parents in the wrong way. He believes that parents are afraid of their children being forced into labor that they take care of their to an extreme measure.
Throughout the articles and from collecting data, the four countries mostly have either a symbolic assistance or quick benefits type of solution. An example of symbolic assistance would be the government offering more education programs. An example of quick benefits would be the government enforcing a new law. The countries are making moves towards helping children just not moves that are making a huge impact. Government systems and parents make changes to attempt to help now. Yet from the articles analyzed, there needs to be a plan of action to stop child labor and save the children.
Table 3: Comparison of nations by type of solutions proposed
Countries
Type of change
Pakistan
Sudan
Guatemala
Malawi
Total
New administrative laws
IIII(4)
(0)
I(1)
II(2)
35%
New social services IIII(4)
IIII(4)
IIII(4)
III(3)
75%
Evaluate as intolerable IIIII(5)
IIIII(5)
IIIII(5)
IIIII(5)
100%
Totals
65%(13)
45%(9)
50%(10)
50%(10)
From this table, it is evident that these articles all suggest that something should be changed (mentally or physically) about child labor. Clearly, all the articles agree that child labor should be evaluated from tolerable to intolerable behavior. Because the view on child labor needs to be changed, child labor can be considered a “social problem” in these countries. A
social problem is a condition evaluated as wrong, widespread, and changeable (Loseke, 2003,
p.7).
Furthermore, this table reveals that creating new social services are recommended to diminish the issue of child labor. “Save the Children in South Sudan implements programmes in eight out of the ten states of South Sudan, covering education, health and nutrition, food security and livelihoods, child protection and child rights governance projects.” This quote demonstrates a social service that was executed in South Sudan and is having very positive effects. “Children are receiving psychological care from a specialist and food in a hostel to restore a decent life, while specific education programs are created to prevent trafficking in the Central American
Country.” This quote also reinforces the positive effects of social services and how education programs are created to put a focus on education instead of working. “YECE Executive Director
Lucky Mbewe said the objectives of the strategy aims at increasing community level interventions and initiatives that respond to violence and abuse against children and increase uptake of quality and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information and services.”
Namaszunda, C. (2014, August 28). Once again, this quote supports the idea of social services.
In addition to social services, new administrative laws are also implemented to change the social problem of child labor. “Call for ban on child domestic labour: The Child Rights
Movement, Punjab, has demanded ban on child domestic labour below 18 years of age and expressed utmost displeasure over the government’s inefficiency in stopping the killings of children working as domestic servants.” This quote is geared towards a more governmental
approach. Administering a law would make child labor illegal and therefore change the view of child labor from tolerable to intolerable.
The data from this table highlights the type of change that each country uses to defeat the social problem of child labor. Obviously the most popular type of solution was to create new social services such as education and fostering services. These services help to set children on the a successful path that never intersects with child labor. Creating new administrative laws were also popular because more people are inclined to follow government rules and would view child labor as illegal. Lastly, each country strongly agreed that the view on child labor should be changed from tolerable to intolerable. In conclusion, each article proposed that the defeat of child labor will come through either communal or governmental services.
Analysis
All four of these countries are unique in many different ways, including the different parts of the world that they are located. They are all brought together on the common factor of high rates of child labor and the way journalists frames this social problem. News journalists can set up their articles the way in which they want their audiences to view and interpret their issue.
The way in which the government frames the social problem will also impact the way …show more content…
the journalist frames their story. This can affect the way in which the entire country views the social problem. This issue of child labor is seen as an emotional concept because children are seen as innocent and helpless, therefore the journalists do not have to frame their article emotionally, rather than using logic for this topic that does not have a lot of force behind it. The issue is also framed to blame the system or a person. 85% of the data shown in the articles blame the system, showing how big this issue. Rather than pushing this blame onto a small group it shows a greater
responsibility. Another common theme between the countries is that rather than laws getting put into place it is new social services, that shows that it is not necessarily the government getting involved but less powerful groups that are trying to fix the high rates of child labor. All of this data shows that the same social problem can be framed differently in all different parts of the world as well as the same country, even when there are general similarities between them all.
References
Arol Garang, H. (2013, June 13). The Discourse About Child Labour in South Sudan.
Sudan
Tribune
. Retrieved December 10, 2014
Chipanga, P. (2013, April 3). Malawi makes strides in child labor elimination. Retrieved
December 10, 2014.
Es posible erradicar el trabajo infantil en Guatemala: Alianza CCADEL. (2013, June 4).
Retrieved December 11, 2014.
Khadadad, S. (2013, August 23). Child labour in Pakistan. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
Loseke, D. R. (2003).
Thinking About Social Problems: An Introduction to Constructionist
Perspectives
. New York, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
Malawi President call for end to child labour in tobacco industry. (2012, March 26). Retrieved
December 1, 2014.
Malik, Z. (2014, June 12). Bilawal for eliminating child labour through social protection.
Retrieved December 10, 2014.
Mir Samad, B. (2013, November 28). Child Labour a Menace to Society ARY Blogs.
Retrieved December 10, 2014.
Munthali, D. (2014, July 23). Improving conditions in Malawi agricultural sector: Tackling child labour and related issues.
Retrieved December 1, 2014.
Namaszunda, C. (2014, August 28). Combating child labour key to achieving quality education in Malawi ILO. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
Niñez trabajadora, sometida a prostitución y a cometer actos ilícitos. (2014, June 16). Retrieved
December 11, 2014.
Países de América Latina firman declaración para erradicar trabajo infantil. (2014, October 14).
Retrieved December 11, 2014.
PAKISTAN: Childlabour risks rise across flood zone. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2014.
René Olivia, Ó. (2013, June 15). Rescate de 55 menores desnuda el negocio con la mendicidad en Guatemala. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
Sactic, W. (2013, December 16). Unos 10 mil niños elaboran cohetes. Retrieved December 11,
2014.
Save the Children in South Sudan Makes Transition to Save the Children International. (2013,
February 1).
Sudan Tribune
. Retrieved December 10, 2014
ShakilurRahman, M. (2013, June 12). Pakistan among countries with child labour issues.
Retrieved December 10, 2014.
Sudan: Child Alert Darfur. (2005, December 20).
Sudan Tribune
. Retrieved December 10, 2014
Sudan is Most Dangerous Place for Children. (2006, July 11).
Sudan Tribune
. Retrieved
December
10,2014
Tembo, D. (2013, August 23). ARISE Trains Communities In Child Labor Committees.
Retrieved December 1, 2014.
Wines, M. (2006, August 8). Africa Adds to Miserable Ranks of Child Workers.
The New York
Times
. Retrieved December 10, 2014