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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Sociology

Portland State University

Series

2016

Free trade -- Law and legislation

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Who’S The Fairest Of Them All? The Fractured Landscape Of U.S. Fair Trade Certification, Daniel Jaffee, Philip H. Howard Dec 2016

Who’S The Fairest Of Them All? The Fractured Landscape Of U.S. Fair Trade Certification, Daniel Jaffee, Philip H. Howard

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, consumers in the United States have been confronted by no fewer than four competing fair-trade labels, each grounded in a separate certification system and widely differing standards. This fracturing is partly a response to the recent split by the U.S. certifier Fair Trade USA from the international fair trade system, but also illustrates longstanding divisions within the fair trade movement. This article explores the dynamics of competition among nonstate standards through content analyses of fair trade standards documents from the four U.S. fair-trade certifications for agrifood products (Fair Trade USA, Fairtrade America, Fair for Life, and the …