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Part 2- When I think of child labor, I think of Charles Dickens -- Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and the other novels that showed how in the Victorian Era, only wealthy children had childhoods. And then, in America, I think of the factory mills of the north producing cotton, dangerous places to work, and mines that used children because it was easier for them to be in tunnels. However, in the modern world, I think of not only younger children working in factories, mostly in Asia to make American and Western European sporting outfits, tennis shoes, etc., but of the market for child slaves and prostitutes from Eastern Europe and Asia. As for causes of child labor, it seems to me that it is a function of capitalism and the market -- capitalism requires some sort of cheap labor for certain items that people want. Greed being what it is, there is a part of the world, particularly in overpopulated areas that have a lot of rural poor, in which life does not have the same meaning for some. So, the West wants tennis shoes, for instance, and the exchange dollar means children can be paid $.05/hour for work and will do it. The second reason is more philosophical, and has to do with the way people in other lands who are greedy can separate morality from themselves and then the "other." It will take organizations like the United Nations and the global cooperation of law enforcement...
While it is difficult to know exactly what these children are thinking, there is a hollow look in their eyes that seems to say they have given up hope already. These images are so powerful; they also seem to say that the child just wants some comfort and to be loved. Again, this is projection, but one can only imagine what these children would do if they had enough to eat and could actually play. Again, and again, we see large open eyes, blank looks, and a real lack of hope.
REFERENCES
Child Labor Public Education Project. (2012). University of Iowa. Retrieved from:
http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/cau ses.html
Brady, Fullerton and Cross, (2010). More than Just Nickels and Dimes: A Cross
-National Analysis of Working Poverty in Affluent Democracies. Social Problems. 57 (4): 559-85. Retrieved from: http://www.soc.duke.edu/~brady/web/Bradyetal2010.pdf
U.S. Department of Labor (2011, March). A Profile of the Working Poor, 2009.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved from: http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2009.pdf
