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Article

'You have to pick': Cotton and state-organized forced labour in Uzbekistan

Details

Citation

McGuire D & Laaser K (2021) 'You have to pick': Cotton and state-organized forced labour in Uzbekistan. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 42 (3), pp. 552-572. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X18789786

Abstract
This article explores state-organized forced labour in Uzbekistan¡¯s cotton industry, the labour management practices applied in the sector and the experience of labour exploitation associated with Uzbek cotton. To theorise this, we bring together Crane¡¯s (2013) slavery as a management practice theory with Sen¡¯s (1999) capabilities approach, offering an alternative to theories focusing on lead firm-supplier relations or Global Value Chains when investigating violations of working conditions. Based on analysis of monitoring data and reporting on Uzbekistan¡¯s cotton sector, we explore the characteristics and capabilities enabling forced labour and as well as the exploitation and insulation of human capabilities that follows.

Keywords
Forced labour; Cotton; Uzbekistan; Unfreedom; Agency; Sen; Crone

Journal
Economic and Industrial Democracy: Volume 42, Issue 3

StatusPublished
Publication date01/08/2021
Publication date online24/08/2018
Date accepted by journal06/06/2018
URL
ISSN0143-831X
eISSN1461-7099

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