Moral responsibility of consumers
January 29th, 2009 by Mollie
Image courtesy of cgfan’s photostream
This is a somewhat philosophical post that I have been wanting to write for awhile. We have moral obligations to not take advantage of injustice when at all possible. I began thinking about this in detail when I first started being aware of fair trade coffee and the rights of workers.
Coffee gave me something that was really easy for me to get my head around because there is no situation in which this would ever fall under the category of a need. Never, in any sort of seriousness, could I say that I needed coffee. It is a luxurious want. Because I view it as such, there would never be any circumstance in which I could justify supporting any company treating their workers badly and paying them an unlivable wage.
This is where people begin to object to this argument. Two common objections are:
- I am not supporting anyone. I am just buying coffee.
- It is better that “they” have this job that pays “them” very little than no job at all.
To the first objection I say this, we do not live in a world where we are just individual islands that have no positive or negative effect on each other. We are individuals who are connected–we affect and are affected by each other. We live, operate, and spend money in a market economy. If there is a demand for a good (coffee) by the consumer (us) then the seller will continue to sell the good that is being demanded so long as it is profitable.
The second objection presents a false dilemma. The options available to us are not support slave labor OR abandon those who are slaves to their current situation. Those are two options, but in addition to these there is at least one more: help change the harmful structures to which people are bound.