Buy used: $24.69

Delivery Monday, June 5

Used: Like New | Details

Sold by DISCOUNTGOODSLLC

Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Add to List

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Authors

Richard P. Appelbaum

Edna Bonacich

Behind the Label: Inequality in the Los Angeles Apparel Industry First Edition

by Edna Bonacich (Author), Richard Appelbaum (Author)

4.1 6 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

—

$111.20

Paperback

"Please retry"

$24.69

$41.54

$2.08

In a study crucial to our understanding of American social inequality, Edna Bonacich and Richard Appelbaum investigate the return of sweatshops to the apparel industry, especially in Los Angeles. The "new" sweatshops, they say, need to be understood in terms of the decline in the American welfare state and its strong unions and the rise in global and flexible production. Apparel manufacturers now have the incentive to move production to wherever low-wage labor can be found, while maintaining arm's-length contractual relations that protect them from responsibility. The flight of the industry has led to a huge rise in apparel imports to the United States and to a decline in employment.

Los Angeles, however, remains a puzzling exception in that its industry employment has continued to grow, to the point where L.A. is the largest center of apparel production in the nation. Not only the availability of low-wage immigrant (often undocumented) workers but also the focus on moderately priced, fashion-sensitive women's wear makes this possible. Behind the Label examines the players in the L.A. apparel industry, including manufacturers, retailers, contractors, and workers, evaluating the maldistribution of wealth and power. The authors explore government and union efforts to eradicate sweatshops while limiting the flight to Mexico and elsewhere, and they conclude with a description of the growing antisweatshop movement.

Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of 2000

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"Behind the Label should become the definitive work on the apparel industry. . . a goldmine for researchers and for members of the public who want to know how this industry works."—Robert J. S. Ross, coauthor of Global Capitalism

“Bonacich, Appelbaum, and their collaborators have plunged deep into the labyrinth of the Los Angeles garment industry. They have returned both well-informed and appalled by what they have seen. Here they share observations, conclusions, and recommendations that will stir concern for the conditions of low-wage workers everywhere.”—Charles Tilly, author of Durable Inequality

About the Author

Edna Bonacich is Professor of Sociology and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside, and the author of many books including Global Production: The Apparel Industry in the Pacific Rim (1994). Richard Appelbaum, Professor of Sociology and Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is
the author of States and Development in the Asian Pacific Rim (1995).

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of California Press; First Edition (June 28, 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 413 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520225066
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520225060
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,254,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,177 in Labor & Industrial Relations (Books)
- #2,506 in Labor & Industrial Economic Relations (Books)
- #11,835 in Human Resources (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 6 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Richard P. Appelbaum
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
See more on the author's page
Edna Bonacich
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
See more on the author's page

Products related to this item
Sponsored

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5

6 global ratings

5 star

55%

4 star

0%

3 star

45%

2 star

0%

1 star

0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

D. Aziza

Excellent book --

Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2012

Verified Purchase

If you want to understand how apparel companies oppress the poor and get away with it, its all written down in Behind the Label.

Like AT&T hides behind turf vendors (Bechtel/ General Dynamics)TO SHEILD THEMSELVES FROM LIABILITY FROM OSHA VIOLATIONS; APPAREAL COMPANIES hire subcontractors to skirt labor laws.

I'm not in the apparel industry, and knew nothing about it, but found this book to be really interesting and another eye opener on how rich apparel companies use their power to exploit poor immigrants including asians and koreans (not just mexicans). We're talking about a sea of people who work before they clock in to avoid overtime,
often have to take work home, and have no recourse because turning in their boss also exposes their illegal status.

The irony is this is an industry that is dominated and run by liberal democrats and the anti-union forces are stronger than any republicans can ever dream about. Alot of ungodly reprobate Democrats run these apparel companies who rob the poor and then run out to their charity functions to be seen of men, all with money that is not their own, but robbed from the mexican single mothers and other poor immigrants. So, just crooks pretending to be generous. It's mercy at the expense of justice -- they understand mercy by giving, but not justice because they give what is not their own. It's pretty sickening picture of what's going on -- and it'll probably never change.

Somehow the subs need to unite under one banner, so, apparel companies in LA who want stuff "made in LA" which they do, have no other option. The subs need to become one imo. That's what corporate america does, they become one thru consolidation and shake down farmers who have no other buyer to resort to. CARGILL is nothing but the accumulation of thousands of companies. There has been like around 10,000 consolidations in teh food industry in last decade -- so, the potato farmer has one buyer for his crop, and its not a price where he can make money, and there are no other buyers. So, only option for potato guy is to join with the other potato farmers, and become one also. Mano a mano. Look at it this way, if you have an auction, and one guy shows up, he controls every bid. That is what Cargill does, that is what the apparel industry does, and that is how workers can fight back by becoming "one" company by consolidating all the subs together. Fight consolidation with consolidation.

Good thing for apparel execs Im not in charge of LA -- I'd turn you life upside down for being rotten crooks that you are.

Good book, some slow parts, but all in all very interesting. Glad I bought it and read it.

Sorry, there was a problem.