THE NEW INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF LABOUR IN THE TEXTILE AND GARMENT INDUSTRY: HOW FAR DOES THE ‘BABBAGE PRINCIPLE’ EXPLAIN IT?

Abstract

The international division of employment in the clothing and textile industry has been changing in the last 20 years. Such employment has declined in developed market economies but increased in developing countries and centrally planned economies. It is a widely held view that this is a result of the internationalisation of the Babbage principle. This theory and other forces that may be operating are discussed and illustrated with a case study of the UK textile multinational, Tootal. The case of Tootal suggests a need for a more multidimensional analysis than is produced by relying on the Babbage principle. The company's contribution to the new international division of labour has been to shift its emphasis much more towards its circuits of money capital and commodity capital and to internationalise these circuits. Tootal is a better example of the international centralisation of capital through financial and marketing lines than of the international fragmentation of products.

Citation

Elson, D. (1986), "THE NEW INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF LABOUR IN THE TEXTILE AND GARMENT INDUSTRY: HOW FAR DOES THE ‘BABBAGE PRINCIPLE’ EXPLAIN IT?", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 45-54. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013007