This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Clark, B. Articles by Foster, J. B. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Florence Kelley and the Struggle Against the Degradation of Life

An Introduction to a Selection from Modern Industry

John Bellamy Foster

University of Oregon

Florence Kelley illuminated how degraded environments stemmed from the social relations and operations of industrial capitalism. As a social reformer, she worked to document the various dangers that workers confronted. She presented how laborers were exposed to noxious gases, toxic substances, and poisonous chemicals and dyes. Dangerous materials, such as arsenic, were introduced into the production process without a concern for their health implications. Kelley's critique of industrial capitalism and its exploitation of workers, especially in the form of child labor, revealed how a productive process driven by the accumulation of capital threatened the health of all people and hindered social development. She fought to make the public aware of the dangerous materials and hazardous conditions that were involved in the production of items for market. Kelley worked to unite consumers and laborers in a campaign to improve industrial relations, recognizing that a radical transformation of social relations was necessary in order to stop the degradation of life.

Key Words: Florence Kelley • pollution • child labor • industrial capitalism • sweatshop • environmental degradation

Organization & Environment, Vol. 19, No. 2, 251-263 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1086026606288224


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. Clark and J. B. Foster The Environmental Conditions of the Working Class: An Introduction to Selections from Frederick Engels's The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 Organization Environment, September 1, 2006; 19(3): 375 - 388. [Abstract] [PDF]