For Publishers
DiscoveryMetadataPeer reviewHostingPublishing
For Researchers
JoinPublishReviewCollect
Register
Blog
About
Search
Advanced search
My ScienceOpen
Search
For Publishers
For Researchers
Blog
About
1,786
views
0
references
 Top references
cited by
2
    
0 reviews
 Review
0
comments
 Comment
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
1 collections
    0
    shares
      54
      similar
       All similar

      If you have found this article useful and you think it is important that researchers across the world have access, please consider donating, to ensure that this valuable collection remains Open Access.

      The World Review of Political Economy is published by Pluto Journals, an Open Access publisher. This means that everyone has free and unlimited access to the full-text of all articles from our international collection of social science journals. Furthermore Pluto Journals authors don’t pay article processing charges (APCs).

       

       

      scite_

      World Review of Political Economy

      Volume 10, Issue 2
       
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Towards a Theoretical Framework for Understanding Capitalist Violence against Child Labor

      research-article
      Bookmark

            Abstract

            More than 150–200 million children work for a living in the world. A large number of them experience violence. The economic aspect of child labor has received much attention (as has the topic of violence against children as children), and rightly so. But the extra-economic aspect of child labor (i.e., the sheer violence against children as workers in the market-place and the workplace) has been relatively neglected. It is necessary to conduct empirical studies on the topic, which, however, require prior theoretical work. The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework on violence against child labor. Central to this framework are three inter-connected arguments: the fact that under certain circumstances, and contrary to a widely-prevalent standpoint, capitalism produces, and makes use of, a pool of workers who lack the freedom to enter and exit a labor contract; the universal logic of capitalist accumulation interacting with the context where some workers are children; and finally, the fact that violence against child labor is enabled by a specific cultural aspect of capitalist society, “childism.”

            Content

            Author and article information

            Journal
            Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50005553
            Journal ID (jcode): worlrevipoliecon
            Title: World Review of Political Economy
            Publisher: Pluto Journals
            ISSN: 2042-891X
            ISSN: 2042-8928
            Publication date (Print): 1 July 2019
            Volume: 10
            Issue: 2 ( doiID: 10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.10.issue-2 )
            Pages: 191-219
            Article
            Publisher ID: worlrevipoliecon.10.2.0191
            DOI: 10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.10.2.0191
            SO-VID: 5c98d29a-4a39-4c99-a467-27a3d4db0e5d
            Copyright © © 2019 World Association for Political Economy
            License:

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Custom metadata
            lang eng

            ScienceOpen disciplines: Political economics
            Keywords: child labor,capitalism,logic of accumulation,labor unfreedom,violence

            References

            1. ACHR (Asian Centre for Human Rights). 2013a. “India's Hell Holes: Child Sexual Assault in Juvenile

            2. Justice Homes.” http://www.achrweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/IndiasHellHoles2013.pdf.

            3. ACHR (Asian Centre for Human Rights). 2013b. “India's Child Soldiers: Government Defends Officially Designated Terror Groups' Record on the Recruitment of Child Soldiers Before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.” http://www.achrweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/JJ-IndiasChildSoldiers2013.pdf.

            4. Ambasta, P. 2014. “Brutalised Migrants of Western Odisha.” The Hindu, January 3. Accessed August 27, 2019. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/brutalised-migrants-of-western-odisha/article5532503.ece.

            5. Arendt, H. 1969. Reflections on Violence. New York: The New York Review of Books.

            6. Baas, L. 2009. “Child Labour on Sugar Cane Plantations in Bolivia: A Worst Form of Child Labour. A Study from the IREWOC Project ‘Rural Child Labour in Andean Countries’.” Accessed August 24, 2019. https://archive.crin.org/en/docs/Rural%20CL_Bolivia%20Zafra_Laura_final.pdf.

            7. Bajpai, A. 2006. Child Rights in India: Law, Policy, and Practice. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

            8. Bajpai, A. 2007. “Who Is a Child?” Infochange. Accessed August 24, 2019. http://infochangeindia.org/agenda-issues/child-rights-in-india/6472-who-is-a-child.

            9. Banaji, J. 2003. “The Fictions of Free Labour: Contract, Coercion, and So-Called Unfree Labour.” Historical Materialism 11 (3):69–95.

            10. Basu, K. 1998. Child Labor: Cause, Consequence, and Cure, the Responsibility with Remarks on International Labor Standards. Washington DC: The World Bank.

            11. Basu, K. 2017. “Notes on Child Labor and Education: A Personal Statement.” In Children and Sustainable Development: Ecological Education in a Globalized World, edited by A. M. Battro, P. Léna, M. S. Sorondo and J. von Braun, 31–35. Cham: Springer.

            12. Basu, K., and P. H. Van. 1998. “The Economics of Child Labor.” The American Economic Review 88 (3): 412–427.

            13. Benjamin, N. 2010. “Child Labour in History: A Study of Cotton Textile Industry of Bombay.” GIPE Journal—ArthaVijnana LII (4): 346–363.

            14. Bhukuth, A. 2008. “Defining Child Labour: A Controversial Debate.” Development and Practice 18 (3): 385–394.

            15. Bolin-Hort, P. 1989. Family and the State: Child Labour and the Organisation of Production in the British Cotton Industry, 1780–1920. Lund: Lund University Press.

            16. Bourdillon, M. 2006. Violence against Working Children. Stockholm: Save the Children Sweden.

            17. Brandon, P. 2018. “With the Name Changed, the Story Applies to You: Connections between Slavery and ‘Free Labor’ in the Writings of Marx.” In The Lifework of a Labor Historian: Essays in Honor of Marcel van der Linden, edited by U. Bosma and K. Hofmeester, 47–70. Leiden: Brill.

            18. Brass, T. 2011. Labour Regime Change in the Twenty-First Century. Leiden: Brill.

            19. Breman, J. 1996. Footloose Labour: Working in the Indian Informal Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

            20. Bromley, R. D. F., and P. K. Mackie. 2009. “Child Experiences as Street Traders in Peru: Contributing to a Reappraisal for Working Children.” Children's Geographies 7 (2): 141–158.

            21. Browne-Miller, A., ed. 2012. Violence and Abuse in Society: Understanding a Global Crisis, vol. 2. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

            22. Burra, N. 1995. Born to Work: Child Labour in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

            23. Chaiyanukij, C. 2004. “Violence against Women Migrant Workers in Thailand.” Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand 87 (3): S223–S226.

            24. Chen, A. 2013. “Placing Children in the Belly of Capitalism: A Historical-Geographical Materialist Investigation.” Master's Research Paper, York University, Toronto, Canada.

            25. Chwe, M. 1990. “Why Were Workers Whipped? Pain in a Principal-agent Model.” The Economic Journal 100 (403): 1109–1121.

            26. Cunningham, H. 1990. “The Employment and Unemployment of Children in England, 1680–1851.” Past and Present 126 (1): 115–150.

            27. Dalal, K. 2008. Causes and Consequences of Violence against Child Labour and Women in Developing Countries. Stockholm: Karolinska Institute. Accessed August 27, 2019. https://openarchive.ki.se/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10616/38727/thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.

            28. Das, R. 2012a. “Thinking/Writing Theoretically about Society.” Radical Notes. https://radicalnotes.org/2012/12/25/thinkingwriting-theoretically-about-society.

            29. Das, R. 2012b. “Why Must Social Science be Critical, and Why Must Doing Social Science Be Difficult?” Radical Notes. https://radicalnotes.org/2012/11/03/why-must-social-science-be-critical-and-why-must-doing-social-science-be-difficult.

            30. Das, R. 2013. “Capitalism and Regime Change in the (Globalising) World of Labour.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 43 (4): 709–723.

            31. Das, R. 2014. “Low-Wage Capitalism, Social Difference, and Nature-dependent Production: A Study of the Conditions of Workers in Shrimp Aquaculture.” Human Geography: A New Radical Journal 7 (1): 17–34.

            32. Das, R. 2015. A Contribution to the Critique of Contemporary Capitalism. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

            33. Das, R. 2017. Marxist Class Theory for a Skeptical World. Leiden: Brill.

            34. Das, R. 2018. “Anti-materialism, Capitalism, and Violence against the Human Body: Some Preliminary Comments.” Monthly Review Online. https://mronline.org/2018/04/20/anti-materialism-capitalism-and-violence-against-the-human-body-some-preliminary-comments/.

            35. Das, V., ed. 1990. Mirrors of Violence: Communities, Riots and Survivors in South Asia. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

            36. Delap, E. 2009. “Begging for Change.” Anti-slavery International. https://www.antislavery.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/beggingforchange09.pdf.

            37. Dorman, P. 2001. Child Labour in the Developed Economies. Geneva: ILO.

            38. Dreze, J., and A. Sen. 2002. India: Development and Participation. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

            39. Edmonds, E., and N. Pavcnik. 2005. “Child Labor in the Global Economy.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 19 (1):199–220.

            40. Feingold, E., and J. Wasser. 1994. “Walk-through Surveys for Child Labor.” American Journal of Industrial Medicine 26 (6): 803–807.

            41. Food Empowerment Project. 2015. “Child Labour and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry.” Accessed August 27, 2019. http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-chocolate/.

            42. Fracchia, J. 2008. “The Capitalist Labour-Process and the Body in Pain.” Historical Materialism 16 (4): 36–66.

            43. Grugel, J., and F. P. M. Ferreira. 2012. “Street Working Children, Children's Agency and the Challenge of Children's Rights: Evidence from Minas Gerais, Brazil.” Journal of International Development 24 (7): 828–840.

            44. Gulzar, S. A., S. Vertejee, and L. Pirani. 2009. “Child Labour: A Public Health Issue.” Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association 59 (11): 778–781.

            45. Gupta, R. 2016. “A Law That Allows Child Labour.” The Hindu. Accessed August 27, 2019. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/ruchira-gupta-child-labour-prohibition-and-regulation-amendment-act-2016-a-law-that-allows-child-labour/article8964940.ece.

            46. Hadi, A. 2000. “Child Abuse among Working Children in Rural Bangladesh: Prevalence and Determinants.” Public Health 114 (5): 380–384.

            47. Hochschild, A., and A. Machung. 1990. The Second Shift. New York: Avon Books.

            48. Human Rights Watch. 2001. “Easy Target Violence against Children Worldwide: Violence in the Workplace.” Accessed August 27, 2019. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/children/7.htm.

            49. Human Rights Watch. 2002. “HRW World Report 2002: Children's Rights.” Accessed August 27, 2019. http://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/crp/back0610.htm.

            50. ILO (International Labour Organization). 1998. “Avoiding a New ‘Tragedy’: Child Labour Is Growing in Africa.” World of Work: The Magazine of the ILO, no. 23: 9–12.

            51. ILO (International Labour Organization). 2012. “What Is Child Labour.” http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/lang–en/index.htm.

            52. ILO (International Labour Organization). 2017a. “Global Estimates of Child Labour: Results and Trends, 2012–2016.” http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_575499.pdf.

            53. ILO (International Labour Organization). 2017b. “Global Estimates of Modern Slavery.” https://www.alliance87.org/global_estimates_of_modern_slavery-forced_labour_and_forced_marriage.pdf.

            54. ILO (International Labour Organization). 2018. “World Day Against Child Labour 2018.” http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_IPEC_PUB_30079/lang–en/index.htm.

            55. LeBaron, G., and A. J. Ayers. 2013. “The Rise of a ‘New Slavery‘? Understanding African Unfree Labour through Neoliberalism.” Third World Quarterly 34 (5): 873–892.

            56. Marx, K. 1866. “Juvenile and Children's Labour (Both Sexes).” Marxists.org. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1866/08/instructions.htm#04.

            57. Marx, K. 1867. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, vol. 1. Marxists.org. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Capital-Volume-I.pdf.

            58. Marx, K., and F. Engels. 1848. Manifesto of the Communist Party. Marxists.org. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf.

            59. Mathews, R., C. Reis, and V. Iacopino. 2003. “Child Labor: A Matter of Health and Human Rights.” The Journal of Ambulatory Care Management 26 (2): 181–182.

            60. Mathur, K., R. Ghosh, and P. Bhargava. 2001. “Child Labour in the Gem-polishing Industry of Jaipur in the Wake of Legislation.” V. V. Giri National Labour Institute Noida. http://www.vvgnli.org/sites/default/files/publication_files/CL%20in%20Gem-polishing%20Industry%20of%20Jaipur.pdf.

            61. McDougall, D. 2007. “Child Sweatshop Shame Threatens Gap's Ethical Image.” The Guardian, October 28. Accessed August 27, 2019. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/oct/28/ethicalbusiness.india.

            62. Mitra, N. 1995. “The Dark World of Toiling Children in India.” Health Millions 21 (2): 4–5.

            63. Moser, C., and C. McIlwaine. 2006. “Latin American Urban Violence as a Development Concern: Towards a Framework for Violence Reduction.” World Development 34 (1): 89–112.

            64. Nafees, A. A., K. S. Khan, Z. Fatmi, and M. Aslam. 2012. “Situation Analysis of Child Labour in Karachi, Pakistan: A Qualitative Study.” Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association 62 (10): 1075–1082.

            65. Naidu, M., and K. Ramaiah. 2006. “Child Labour in India—An Overview.” Journal of Social Sciences 13 (3): 199–204.

            66. Nandy, D. 2012. “Child Rights Situation Analysis: Children of Families Engaged in Sugarcane Farming in Maharastra.” Save the Children. http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/sites/default/files/documents/childrights.pdf.

            67. Nardinelli, C. 1982. “Corporal Punishment and Children's Wages in Nineteenth Century Britain.” Explorations in Economic History 19 (3): 283–295.

            68. Nardinelli, C. 1990. Child Labour and the Industrial Revolution. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

            69. Nieuwenhuys, O. 1996. “The Paradox of Child Labor and Anthropology.” Annual Review of Anthropology, no. 25: 237–251.

            70. Oncu, E., A. O. Kurt, F. I. Esenay, and F. Ozer. 2013. “Abuse of Working Children and Influencing Factors in Turkey.” Child Abuse & Neglect 37 (5): 283–291.

            71. Pereznieto, P., A. Montes, S. Routier, and L. Langston. 2014. “The Cost and Economic Impact of Violence against Children.” Child Fund Alliance. Accessed August 25, 2019. http://childfundalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ODI-Policy-Brief.-The-cost-and-economic-impact-of-violence-against-children.pdf.

            72. Phillips, N., R. Bhaskaran, D. Nathan, and C. Upendranadh. 2011. “Child Labour in Global Production Networks: Poverty, Vulnerability and ‘Adverse Incorporation’ in the Delhi Garments Sector.” Working paper, no. 177, Chronic Poverty Research Centre. https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:103085&datastreamId=FULL-TEXT.PDF.

            73. Pinheiro, P. S. 2006. World Report on Violence against Children. New York: United Nations Children's Fund.

            74. Pinzon-Rondon, A. M., J. C. Botero, L. Benson, L. Briceno-Ayala, and M. Kanamori. 2010. “Workplace Abuse and Economic Exploitation of Children Working in the Streets of Latin American Cities.” International Journal of Occupation and Environmental Health 16 (2): 162–169.

            75. Prasad, K. K. 2014. “The Gruesome Incident of Cutting Off of Right Hands of Two Bonded Labourers in Odisha.” Counter Currents. http://www.countercurrents.org/kkprasad060114.htm.

            76. Sartre, J-P. 1961. “Preface to Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth.” In Wretched of the Earth, edited by F. Fanon, 5–30. New York: Grove Press.

            77. Schlemmer, B. 2000. “General Introduction.” In The Exploited Child, edited by B. Schlemmer, 1–18. London: Zed Books.

            78. Sidel, J. T. 1998. “The Underside of Progress: Land, Labor, and Violence in Two Philippine Growth Zones, 1985–1995.” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 30 (1): 3–12.

            79. Singh, A. N. 1990. Child Labour in India: Socio-Economic Perspectives. Delhi: Shipra Publications.

            80. Singhi, P., A. G. Saini, and P. Malhi. 2013. “Child Maltreatment in India.” Paediatrics and International Child Health 33 (4): 292–300.

            81. Spencer, J. 2003. “Collective Violence.” In The Oxford India Companion to Sociology and Social Anthropology, edited by V. Das, 1564–1580. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

            82. Tang, C., L. Zhao, and Z. Zhao. 2018. “Child Labour in China.” China Economic Review 51: 149–166.

            83. Toor, S. 2001. “Child Labor in Pakistan: Coming of Age in the New World Order.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, no. 575: 194–224.

            84. Tseng, A. 2014a. “Death of 15-year-old Exposes Growing Use of Child Labour by Canadian Employers.” WSWS. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/11/26/alta-n26.html.

            85. Tseng, A. 2014b. “Child Labour: A Global Scourge.” WSWS. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/ 2014/06/26/chil-j26.html.

            86. UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund). 2002. “Alarming Child UNICEF Labour Statistics Require Immediate Attention at Highest Levels.” https://www.unicef.org/newsline/02pr38labour.htm.

            87. UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund). 2011. “The Right of the Child to Freedom from All Forms of Violence: Evidence Policy Children's Rights.” http://www.unicef-irc.org/portfolios/general_comments/CRC.C.GC.13_en.doc.html.

            88. UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund). 2015. “Children from All Walks of Life Endure Violence, and Millions More Are at Risk.” http://data.unicef.org/child-protection/violence#sthash.75Uiwhvn.dpuf.

            89. Weiner, M. 1991. The Child and the State in India: Child Labour and Education Policy in Comparative Perspective. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

            90. WHO (World Health Organization). 2002. World Report on Violence and Health. Geneva: World Health Organization.

            91. Young-Bruehl, E. 2012. Childism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

            Comments

            Comment on this article