"Sweatshop Labor is Wrong Unless the Jeans are Cute—Motivated Moral Disengagement"

Although many U.S. consumers say they are concerned about moral issues such as the use of sweatshop labor, there is still only a very small demand and market for goods guaranteed to have used no sweatshop labor in their production. One explanation for this discrepancy is that consumers adopt 'moral disengagement tools' when confronted with products that may conflict with their moral standards. Two researchers at Harvard examined these phenomena and present their findings in the working paper, "Sweatshop labor is wrong unless the jeans are cute -- motivated moral disengagement". According to the researchers:

"....beliefs about sweatshop labor use moderates the impact of desirability on purchase intention, and moral disengagement mediates this process. Thus, moral disengagement can drive people to like products they believe to be made with sweatshop labor even more. Desire-driven moral disengagement is relevant in moral psychology, and may broadly contribute towards the tolerance of harm in our social and economic systems."

This work is an interesting commentary on the moral judgments we make on a daily basis and how we might justify harmful behavior.