Gearing Up for the Next Industrial Revolution: 3d Printing, Home-Based Factories, and Modes of Social Control

35 Pages Posted: 14 Mar 2016

See all articles by Elizabeth Kennedy

Elizabeth Kennedy

Loyola University Maryland, Sellinger School of Business and Managment; Loyola University Maryland

Andrea Giampetro-Meyer

Loyola University Maryland

Date Written: 2015

Abstract

While former industrial factories are being converted into modern living spaces in cities across the country, residential homes are being converted into modern factories thanks to advances in three-dimensional (“3D”) printing technology, an emerging “Maker Movement,” and the rise of online marketplaces like Etsy.

Despite growing environmental, child-labor, and safety concerns, these “homebased factories” are largely unregulated. In the absence of traditional workplace protections, how can we gear up for the “next industrial revolution” while guarding against the sweatshop conditions of the last? How can we harness the Maker Movement’s commitment to do-it-yourself democracy in order to combat abuses by potential “corporate makers”?

This Article analyzes the effectiveness of individual and collective “modes of social control” (e.g., law, ethical precepts, self regulation, affinity groups, vigilant and effective media, and direct action) in creating and sustaining just workplaces in an age of 3D printing and home-based factories.

Keywords: 3D printing, labor regulation, modes of social control, CSR, corporate social responsibility, DIY, sweatshops

Suggested Citation

Kennedy, Elizabeth J. and Giampetro-Meyer, Andrea, Gearing Up for the Next Industrial Revolution: 3d Printing, Home-Based Factories, and Modes of Social Control (2015). Loyola University Chicago Law Journal, Vol. 46, No. 4, 2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2747228

Elizabeth J. Kennedy (Contact Author)

Loyola University Maryland, Sellinger School of Business and Managment ( email )

Sellinger Hall 410, Loyola University Maryland
4501 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
United States
12063793397 (Phone)

Loyola University Maryland ( email )

4501 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210-2699
United States

Andrea Giampetro-Meyer

Loyola University Maryland

4501 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210-2699
United States

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