Child Labor includes...which by your defn doesn't constitute exploitation...
-Using children as sexual workers - child prostitution
-Bonded labor ->kids in bonded labor incur more debts because their employers charge them for shelter/food. children are forced to stay and keep working, which only forces them into more debt.
-Making children work in hazardous occupations/circumstances
-Labor circumstances that jeopardize their right to education and health
Hazardous occupations include but not limited to...
# Chemical Factories
# Mining
# Mercenaries
# Pyrotechnic Factories
# Transportation
# Commercial Plantations
# Construction Work
# Prostitution
# Quarrying
and many more...
it's hazardous b/c kids are too young to be put in these circumstances and they cause harm to themselves and others.
well why is it exploitation? Use your common sense!, but if that doesn't work,
# High Incidence of Respiratory Diseases
# Poor Nutrition
# Susceptibility to Infectious Diseases
# Exposure to Sexually Transmitted Diseases
# Stunted Intellectual and Physical Development
# Underdeveloped Moral and Intellectual Faculties.
*estimated 2.8 million child victims of hazardous and exploitative labor.
consider this example,
suppose you had a 12 yr old girl working as a prostitute.
with your logic/train of thought, it's a voluntary exchange for wages agreed upon. So if you were to pay this child $x for her serivces, since nothing was forced, you would not consider this as child exploitation.
* The International Labour Organization estimates there are 246 million working children aged between five and 13
* 179 million are estimated to work in the worst forms of child labour -- one in every eight of the world's five to 13 years olds
* 111 million children under 15 are in hazardous work and should be "immediately withdrawn from this work"
* 8.4 million children are in slavery, trafficking, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour, forced recruitment for armed conflict, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities(child labor)
I mean this isn't really brain surgery, you need to at some point realize that there are some work env our children may not be ready to face only because they haven't developed the physical & mental aptitute to do it. It's a bad idea to whore our 12 yr olds, although it may seem like a fair exchange to some. I don't believe it's realistic/reasonable to take a boolean economic approach such as yours as they apply to children b/c economics doesn't capture the sociological/psychological (health haz) these kids are facing. How can strict valued - analysis of a transaction capture our moral duties/obligations to our children.
QUOTE
The reason I call you a Marxist/Socialist is because this is precisely the argument they use - voluntary associations are somehow translated as coercive.
consider these 2pts...
1.the moral core of the Marxist view of exploitation is not unique to Marxism.
2.what is unique to Marxism is its approach to measuring exploitation through calculations of surplus value which doesn't encapsulate the entire picture.
furthermore, Socialism entails a whole laundry list of implications that frankly I have not shared my opinion/preference with you about, so as I said earlier, quit calling me a socialist. I don't want to engage in a name calling session with you.
Edited by armjan, 05 April 2005 - 11:46 AM.
