A book by Tim Bartley, professor of sociology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has won the Harold and Margaret Sprout Award for best book from the International Studies Association’s Environmental Studies Section.
Bartley’s book, “Rules without Rights: Land, Labor, and Private Authority in the Global Economy” (Oxford University Press, 2018), documents how activists are prodding large retailers, global brands and transnational corporations to adopt standards for fairness and sustainability.
As companies push these new rules through their global supply chains, more of their local factories, forests and farms are beginning to follow global best practices. Yet environmental damage and labor exploitation continue to be widespread in many global industries. Through a study of fair labor and sustainable forestry standards in Indonesia and China, Bartley’s book shows how the trends co-exist.
The award committee was impressed by the book’s “conceptual and empirical richness,” said Stacy D. VanDeveer, committee co-chair and professor of global governance and human security at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. “In short, this is an excellent book about profoundly important global challenges that impact individuals and communities around the globe.”
Bartley recently discussed the book in a video interview with a research institute at Erasmus University in The Netherlands. View excerpts or read a review on the London School of Economics blog.
