| |
| author |
João Pedro Martins Pinheiro
| | title |
On the Sociological Dynamics of Scandal and Their Consequences: The Case of Zara Brasil, 2011
| | abstract |
In this case study, I examine the 2011 scandal involving the fashion-retailer Zara when the
company was found exploiting workers under slavery-like conditions in three different
sweatshops in São Paulo, Brazil. Looking at the different scandal actors and their roles and three
scandal-related processes (convergence of discontent into a single target, publicization of norm-breach, and contagion of discontent to other organizations and areas of social life) helps
understand the potentials for social change enabled by corporate scandals as well as the
institutional stagnation which unfortunately often occur in their wake (Daudigeos, Roulet, and
Valiorgue 2018). The Zara scandal resulted in the signing of a Conduct Adjustment Agreement
between Zara lawyers and Brazilian labor prosecutors (which outlined the new labor auditing
and transparency guidelines and social services/philanthropic activities which Zara Brasil was to
undertake) and the creation of a Slave Labor Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (PIC) within the
state of São Paulo. In sum, the full force of the Brazilian anti-slavery apparatus was seen at work
here as the scandal news shocked the public, but these consequences had little-to-no net effect on
the robustness of the judicial, political, and economic systems which protect global trade and
multinational corporations from nation-states' sanctioning power. The scandal-related processes,
especially the contagion of public discontent from one economic sector (fashion-retailing) to
another (construction) through the Slave Labor PIC, offered promising results in the realm of
social change, but, again, nothing as concrete that it forced the company to cease disrespecting
labor rights.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2019)
|
| advisor |
Jonathan Reader
|
| committee |
Christopher Andrews
Jill Cermele
|
| full text | JPMPinheiro.pdf |
| |
