Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1177/02685809221138462c
David Kurt Herold
informative, and accessible book with insights relevant for academics working in various disciplines – namely, history, political science, and sociology – as well as for politicians, practitioners, activists, veterans, veterans’ organizations, and the public. While the politics of veteran benefits of the twenty-first century may markedly differ from those of the twentieth century, the empirical and theoretical insights presented in this book will be informative and insightful for those who wish to understand or affect them.
{"title":"Shaohua Guo, The evolution of the Chinese internet: Creative visibility in the digital public","authors":"David Kurt Herold","doi":"10.1177/02685809221138462c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809221138462c","url":null,"abstract":"informative, and accessible book with insights relevant for academics working in various disciplines – namely, history, political science, and sociology – as well as for politicians, practitioners, activists, veterans, veterans’ organizations, and the public. While the politics of veteran benefits of the twenty-first century may markedly differ from those of the twentieth century, the empirical and theoretical insights presented in this book will be informative and insightful for those who wish to understand or affect them.","PeriodicalId":47662,"journal":{"name":"International Sociology","volume":"37 1","pages":"590 - 593"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44603346","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1177/02685809221138200
M. Reed
This review article analyses six texts within the sociology of organizations published in the early decades of the twenty-first century with a view to exploring what they tell us about the key issues and developmental trajectories the former will follow as this century unfolds. It suggests that the sociology of organizations is in good intellectual shape and continues to speak to issues which are central to our lives today and tomorrow. However, it also indicates that intellectual rejuvenation through contestation must be sustained within the field – particularly in the face of pressures towards intellectual closure and conformity – if it is to retain its relevance at a time when instability and uncertainty seem to be pervasive.
{"title":"Sociology of organizations in the twenty-first century","authors":"M. Reed","doi":"10.1177/02685809221138200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809221138200","url":null,"abstract":"This review article analyses six texts within the sociology of organizations published in the early decades of the twenty-first century with a view to exploring what they tell us about the key issues and developmental trajectories the former will follow as this century unfolds. It suggests that the sociology of organizations is in good intellectual shape and continues to speak to issues which are central to our lives today and tomorrow. However, it also indicates that intellectual rejuvenation through contestation must be sustained within the field – particularly in the face of pressures towards intellectual closure and conformity – if it is to retain its relevance at a time when instability and uncertainty seem to be pervasive.","PeriodicalId":47662,"journal":{"name":"International Sociology","volume":"37 1","pages":"545 - 556"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41618508","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1177/02685809221138462a
Maryam Ghasemnejad
The author maintains a strict attention by adhering to and reproducing the subject(s) in the book’s title. A dialogue between internationalization and indigenization leads the author to determine three interrelated ecological systems in the development of Tsinghua’s sociology: departmental, institutional, and national. While these systems inform Tsinghua’s ‘national’ mission and endeavor, they are not dislodged from global trends and remain responsive to global factors. Therefore, Tsinghua’s effort to achieve a ‘Sociology with Chinese Characteristics’ is oppressed by challenges chief of which is that the university, the sociology department and its scholars are all forces for internationalization. Xie describes such situation as ‘double shackles’ in which scholars have encountered institutional and cultural dilemmas in their struggles to balance global and national/local demands while constructing their discipline and international influence. Previous research has focused upon internationalization at the university level without going further to investigate a particular academic discipline, which makes this book significant. The details provided are too extensive to exhaustively embrace in this review. Immense effort, accurate analysis and substantial referencing makes this book an outstanding read overall.
{"title":"Ali L Ezzatyar, Iranian Immigration to Israel: History and Voices, in the Shadow of Kings","authors":"Maryam Ghasemnejad","doi":"10.1177/02685809221138462a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809221138462a","url":null,"abstract":"The author maintains a strict attention by adhering to and reproducing the subject(s) in the book’s title. A dialogue between internationalization and indigenization leads the author to determine three interrelated ecological systems in the development of Tsinghua’s sociology: departmental, institutional, and national. While these systems inform Tsinghua’s ‘national’ mission and endeavor, they are not dislodged from global trends and remain responsive to global factors. Therefore, Tsinghua’s effort to achieve a ‘Sociology with Chinese Characteristics’ is oppressed by challenges chief of which is that the university, the sociology department and its scholars are all forces for internationalization. Xie describes such situation as ‘double shackles’ in which scholars have encountered institutional and cultural dilemmas in their struggles to balance global and national/local demands while constructing their discipline and international influence. Previous research has focused upon internationalization at the university level without going further to investigate a particular academic discipline, which makes this book significant. The details provided are too extensive to exhaustively embrace in this review. Immense effort, accurate analysis and substantial referencing makes this book an outstanding read overall.","PeriodicalId":47662,"journal":{"name":"International Sociology","volume":"37 1","pages":"585 - 587"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41556215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1177/02685809221138462
Nath Aldalala’a
This book based on the author’s PhD thesis, read at the University of Hong Kong, is forwarded by the author’s academic supervisor, Professor Rui Yang, who maps out the book’s objectives. Yang explicates that the book attempts ‘to make a holistic exploration of the current state of development of the social sciences in China’s premier universities by taking Tsinghua University’s sociology as a case’ (viii). Yang’s ‘Forward’ is accurately reflected in the author’s comprehensive analysis; including presenting theoretical considerations on the development of social sciences in a global context of asymmetrical academic relations across knowledge systems. The book registers the historical trajectory of the disciplinary evolution of China’s social sciences under the influence of internationalization, and scrutinizes the complex academic relations between various forces during different historical periods (Forward). Tsinghua University is selected as a case study for various reasons. Justifying that ‘the Chinese higher education system is marked by a hierarchical structure that positions institutions “according to their function and goals”’ (p. 15). It is acknowledged that Tsinghua and Tsinghua’s Sociology fits this criterion. Besides, Tsinghua occupies a close historical and contemporary nexus with Western universities, which allows Tsinghua to cultivate research and talent ‘above those of the average Chinese university’ (p. 16). Tsinghua also is a unique case due to its distinct disciplinary development trajectory in the social sciences throughout the past century. Tsinghua’s sociology, the author argues, was ranked fourth in China (CDGDC, 2017). Additionally, from 2015 to 2018 it was consistently among the top 51–100 in the world, based on QS World University Rankings by Subject, despite having only 14 faculty members. 1138462 ISS0010.1177/02685809221138462International SociologyBook review research-article2022
{"title":"Meng Xie, Internationalizing the Social Sciences in China: The Disciplinary Development of Sociology at Tsinghua University","authors":"Nath Aldalala’a","doi":"10.1177/02685809221138462","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809221138462","url":null,"abstract":"This book based on the author’s PhD thesis, read at the University of Hong Kong, is forwarded by the author’s academic supervisor, Professor Rui Yang, who maps out the book’s objectives. Yang explicates that the book attempts ‘to make a holistic exploration of the current state of development of the social sciences in China’s premier universities by taking Tsinghua University’s sociology as a case’ (viii). Yang’s ‘Forward’ is accurately reflected in the author’s comprehensive analysis; including presenting theoretical considerations on the development of social sciences in a global context of asymmetrical academic relations across knowledge systems. The book registers the historical trajectory of the disciplinary evolution of China’s social sciences under the influence of internationalization, and scrutinizes the complex academic relations between various forces during different historical periods (Forward). Tsinghua University is selected as a case study for various reasons. Justifying that ‘the Chinese higher education system is marked by a hierarchical structure that positions institutions “according to their function and goals”’ (p. 15). It is acknowledged that Tsinghua and Tsinghua’s Sociology fits this criterion. Besides, Tsinghua occupies a close historical and contemporary nexus with Western universities, which allows Tsinghua to cultivate research and talent ‘above those of the average Chinese university’ (p. 16). Tsinghua also is a unique case due to its distinct disciplinary development trajectory in the social sciences throughout the past century. Tsinghua’s sociology, the author argues, was ranked fourth in China (CDGDC, 2017). Additionally, from 2015 to 2018 it was consistently among the top 51–100 in the world, based on QS World University Rankings by Subject, despite having only 14 faculty members. 1138462 ISS0010.1177/02685809221138462International SociologyBook review research-article2022","PeriodicalId":47662,"journal":{"name":"International Sociology","volume":"37 1","pages":"582 - 585"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44081697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-16DOI: 10.1177/02685809221115959
Romain Blancaneaux
This article deals with the notion of season, and illustrates an existing conflict, within organic agriculture, between symbolic and economic values. It takes the case of a polemic on the use of heating systems in greenhouse organic farming for tomato production. It asks and demonstrates how the organizations in and of market frame different seasonalities, either placing respect (symbolic value) for seasonality over economics, or vice versa. It identifies critical junctures that shaped the division in organic agriculture toward differing conception of seasonality, which oscillates between market logics in which its distinctiveness is (de)valued, symbolically and economically diminished or reasserted.
{"title":"Seasonality as value(s) in organic farming: On the conflict on heating greenhouses in France","authors":"Romain Blancaneaux","doi":"10.1177/02685809221115959","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809221115959","url":null,"abstract":"This article deals with the notion of season, and illustrates an existing conflict, within organic agriculture, between symbolic and economic values. It takes the case of a polemic on the use of heating systems in greenhouse organic farming for tomato production. It asks and demonstrates how the organizations in and of market frame different seasonalities, either placing respect (symbolic value) for seasonality over economics, or vice versa. It identifies critical junctures that shaped the division in organic agriculture toward differing conception of seasonality, which oscillates between market logics in which its distinctiveness is (de)valued, symbolically and economically diminished or reasserted.","PeriodicalId":47662,"journal":{"name":"International Sociology","volume":"37 1","pages":"740 - 757"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47654489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-08DOI: 10.1177/02685809221115962
Miguel Ángel Sánchez-García, Andrés Pedreño Cánovas, Carlos de Castro Pericacho
The article analyzes how the Global G.A.P. standard has contributed to the construction of a link between nature and agriculture and to a form of nature valuation that has strong historical roots in the process of agricultural modernization of the Region of Murcia. It explores how Global G.A.P. has created an institutional and normative space in which the interactions of human and non-human elements (technology, norms, procedures, nature values, institutions, objects and materials, etc.) are stabilized and conceived within the sphere of profitability. Based on secondary sources and in-depth interviews, the article first provides a brief explanation of the relationship between standards, values, and nature. Second, it examines the organizational and technological modernization of the farming industry in the Region of Murcia. The article finishes with a detailed description of how water, soil and fertilizer management are designed and controlled.
{"title":"The nature of standards: How standards shape the value of nature","authors":"Miguel Ángel Sánchez-García, Andrés Pedreño Cánovas, Carlos de Castro Pericacho","doi":"10.1177/02685809221115962","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809221115962","url":null,"abstract":"The article analyzes how the Global G.A.P. standard has contributed to the construction of a link between nature and agriculture and to a form of nature valuation that has strong historical roots in the process of agricultural modernization of the Region of Murcia. It explores how Global G.A.P. has created an institutional and normative space in which the interactions of human and non-human elements (technology, norms, procedures, nature values, institutions, objects and materials, etc.) are stabilized and conceived within the sphere of profitability. Based on secondary sources and in-depth interviews, the article first provides a brief explanation of the relationship between standards, values, and nature. Second, it examines the organizational and technological modernization of the farming industry in the Region of Murcia. The article finishes with a detailed description of how water, soil and fertilizer management are designed and controlled.","PeriodicalId":47662,"journal":{"name":"International Sociology","volume":"37 1","pages":"612 - 629"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42852305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1177/02685809221111940
H. N. Feuer
The comprehensive uptake of geographical indication (GI) worldwide suggests that global trade is at the threshold of mainstreaming protections for heritage agri-food specialties. The European GI model is in ascendance thanks to a campaign of institutional entrepreneurship that engendered a powerful macro-organization leading the rapid diffusion of sui generis GI. Through its success in recruiting the intellectual property regimes of most East Asian countries into the European orbit of trade and cultural production, it has become hegemonic, with the potential for ‘crowding out’ useful pre-existing mechanisms of heritage food protection or displacing exchange in agri-food specialties still embedded in the moral economy. Although this new global standard is shaped by the process of integration into new milieux, this paper finds that latent post-colonial tendencies in the European GI model and its poor capacity at self-reflection in the face of inefficiency compromises its potentially unifying role in the heritage food world order.
{"title":"Crowding out local initiative in the protection of heritage agri-food specialties: The growing hegemony of sui generis Geographical Indication in East Asia","authors":"H. N. Feuer","doi":"10.1177/02685809221111940","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809221111940","url":null,"abstract":"The comprehensive uptake of geographical indication (GI) worldwide suggests that global trade is at the threshold of mainstreaming protections for heritage agri-food specialties. The European GI model is in ascendance thanks to a campaign of institutional entrepreneurship that engendered a powerful macro-organization leading the rapid diffusion of sui generis GI. Through its success in recruiting the intellectual property regimes of most East Asian countries into the European orbit of trade and cultural production, it has become hegemonic, with the potential for ‘crowding out’ useful pre-existing mechanisms of heritage food protection or displacing exchange in agri-food specialties still embedded in the moral economy. Although this new global standard is shaped by the process of integration into new milieux, this paper finds that latent post-colonial tendencies in the European GI model and its poor capacity at self-reflection in the face of inefficiency compromises its potentially unifying role in the heritage food world order.","PeriodicalId":47662,"journal":{"name":"International Sociology","volume":"37 1","pages":"676 - 697"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43097836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-23DOI: 10.1177/02685809221103490
M. Schermer
The current shift of regulations for animal welfare from public to private standards allows dairies and retailers to improve their position on the market. However, for easy communication and control they tend to reduce the multifaceted societal demands for animal welfare to freedom of movement, that is, to free stalls with or without access to pasture. Taking a farmers perspective, this contribution examines the situation in Austria, where structure and practices of dairy farming differ greatly between more favourable, arable, and mountainous regions. The theoretical concept of farming styles uncovers fundamental positions grounded in different understandings of how farming practices are supposed to be organized. Private standards privilege rationalized, large-scale dairy farms in advantaged regions over family-owned traditional farms in mountain areas. This may have unintended negative consequences on farming structure, land use and cultural landscape.
{"title":"Private standards for animal welfare in Austrian dairy husbandry: Consequences for farmers in mountain regions","authors":"M. Schermer","doi":"10.1177/02685809221103490","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809221103490","url":null,"abstract":"The current shift of regulations for animal welfare from public to private standards allows dairies and retailers to improve their position on the market. However, for easy communication and control they tend to reduce the multifaceted societal demands for animal welfare to freedom of movement, that is, to free stalls with or without access to pasture. Taking a farmers perspective, this contribution examines the situation in Austria, where structure and practices of dairy farming differ greatly between more favourable, arable, and mountainous regions. The theoretical concept of farming styles uncovers fundamental positions grounded in different understandings of how farming practices are supposed to be organized. Private standards privilege rationalized, large-scale dairy farms in advantaged regions over family-owned traditional farms in mountain areas. This may have unintended negative consequences on farming structure, land use and cultural landscape.","PeriodicalId":47662,"journal":{"name":"International Sociology","volume":"37 1","pages":"630 - 647"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43858095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-23DOI: 10.1177/02685809221108623
K. Sekine
The Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems – established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2002 – is a certification expected to conserve traditional agro-ecosystems and associated biodiversity, natural resources, outstanding landscapes, and cultural heritages that are at risk of extinction in the current market system. Employing the Nishi-Awa Steep Slope Land Agriculture System in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, designated as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in 2018, as the case study, this research explores the potential and contradictions of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System to incorporate alternative values such as traditional knowledge, biodiversity, landscape, healthy diets, and cultural heritages into the dominant hierarchy of values that favor market competitiveness. Based on original field surveys, literature review, and qualitative analyses, the study demonstrates that while the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System certification is expected to bring considerable economic opportunity through an increase in international tourists and price appreciation of the local agri-food products certified by a local agri-food labeling system (established by the public and private actors in the designated area), this system does not explicitly guarantee the values claimed in Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System certification. Therefore, the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System scheme to conserve the claimed values in designated areas is faced with a contradictory situation in a market economy.
{"title":"Challenges to conserve world agricultural heritages in a market economy: Experiences in Nishi-Awa, Japan","authors":"K. Sekine","doi":"10.1177/02685809221108623","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809221108623","url":null,"abstract":"The Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems – established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2002 – is a certification expected to conserve traditional agro-ecosystems and associated biodiversity, natural resources, outstanding landscapes, and cultural heritages that are at risk of extinction in the current market system. Employing the Nishi-Awa Steep Slope Land Agriculture System in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, designated as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in 2018, as the case study, this research explores the potential and contradictions of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System to incorporate alternative values such as traditional knowledge, biodiversity, landscape, healthy diets, and cultural heritages into the dominant hierarchy of values that favor market competitiveness. Based on original field surveys, literature review, and qualitative analyses, the study demonstrates that while the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System certification is expected to bring considerable economic opportunity through an increase in international tourists and price appreciation of the local agri-food products certified by a local agri-food labeling system (established by the public and private actors in the designated area), this system does not explicitly guarantee the values claimed in Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System certification. Therefore, the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System scheme to conserve the claimed values in designated areas is faced with a contradictory situation in a market economy.","PeriodicalId":47662,"journal":{"name":"International Sociology","volume":"37 1","pages":"648 - 675"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48470710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-21DOI: 10.1177/02685809221103598
Laura T. Raynolds
This article analyzes the strategic potential and empirical challenges of private governance in promoting decent work in global agriculture by curtailing buyer power and fostering labor agency, drawing lessons from Fairtrade International-certified flower plantations in Ecuador. The study explains (1) Fairtrade’s logic in promoting ‘trade fairness’ and ‘worker empowerment’ and operationalization of these values via its certification standards, (2) the power relations shaping certification practices in global flower markets and Ecuadorian plantations, and (3) the grounded implications of participation for firms and workers. Important lessons emerge. First, while Fairtrade pursues a promising avenue for challenging the buyer control that erodes supplier and worker power, it has only marginally reduced floral buyer power due to retailer resistance, low-bar certification competition, and programmatic regulatory gaps. Second, although Fairtrade’s empowerment approach has strengthened labor agency within and beyond the workplace, bolstering individual empowerment has proved easier than fostering associational power. As I show, certification practices and outcomes are mediated by commodity-specific global market politics and localized enterprise, labor force, and legal contestations which explain why program aspirations are often not realized. Standard systems can reshape internal trade relations and organizations but cannot alone ensure global trade equity or robust labor representation.
{"title":"Can certification increase trade fairness and worker empowerment? Lessons from Fairtrade International-certified plantations in Ecuador","authors":"Laura T. Raynolds","doi":"10.1177/02685809221103598","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809221103598","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyzes the strategic potential and empirical challenges of private governance in promoting decent work in global agriculture by curtailing buyer power and fostering labor agency, drawing lessons from Fairtrade International-certified flower plantations in Ecuador. The study explains (1) Fairtrade’s logic in promoting ‘trade fairness’ and ‘worker empowerment’ and operationalization of these values via its certification standards, (2) the power relations shaping certification practices in global flower markets and Ecuadorian plantations, and (3) the grounded implications of participation for firms and workers. Important lessons emerge. First, while Fairtrade pursues a promising avenue for challenging the buyer control that erodes supplier and worker power, it has only marginally reduced floral buyer power due to retailer resistance, low-bar certification competition, and programmatic regulatory gaps. Second, although Fairtrade’s empowerment approach has strengthened labor agency within and beyond the workplace, bolstering individual empowerment has proved easier than fostering associational power. As I show, certification practices and outcomes are mediated by commodity-specific global market politics and localized enterprise, labor force, and legal contestations which explain why program aspirations are often not realized. Standard systems can reshape internal trade relations and organizations but cannot alone ensure global trade equity or robust labor representation.","PeriodicalId":47662,"journal":{"name":"International Sociology","volume":"37 1","pages":"716 - 739"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47284815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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