Robert J. S. Ross (born 1943) is an American sociologist and activist known for his research on the global garment trade. He is a Research Professor in the Department of Sociology and at the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise at

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...

where he has taught since 1972. He is the former Director of the International Studies Stream (from 2000 to 2013) and was among the founders of the program in Urban Development and Social Change. He is a former Sociology Department Chair. He served as the elected Faculty Chair of Clark University from 2000 to 2006.

Early life

Ross was born and raised in the Bronx, NY and attended the renowned Bronx High School of Science. He grew up in a Jewish household imbued with social justice values and leftist politics. His stepfather, a cutter in the garment industry with a family history of union activism, and his mother, a teacher and social democrat, withdrew from politics out of fear of reprisals during the McCarthy era. Ross received a B.A. from the University of Michigan (1963) and an M.A. (1966) and a Ph.D. (1975) from the University of Chicago. During a fellowship year in London, after completing his undergraduate degree, he studied with the distinguished British sociologist and academic Marxist

Ralph Miliband Ralph Miliband (born Adolphe Miliband; 7 January 1924 – 21 May 1994) was a British sociologist. He has been described as "one of the best known academic Marxists of his generation", in this manner being compared with E. P. Thompson, Eric Ho ...

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ross became engaged with political activism on behalf of progressive causes and emerged as a student leader. Inspired by the

sit-in movement The sit-in movement, sit-in campaign or student sit-in movement, were a wave of sit-ins that followed the Greensboro sit-ins on February 1, 1960 in North Carolina. The sit-in movement employed the tactic of nonviolent direct action and was a p ...

against

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

that began in February 1960. Ross became part of the early leadership of

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...

(SDS). Ross attended the first SDS convention in June 1960 and became a founder of the Ann Arbor chapter. He helped enlist

Tom Hayden Thomas Emmet Hayden (December 11, 1939October 23, 2016) was an American social and political activist, author, and politician. Hayden was best known for his role as an anti-war, civil rights, and intellectual activist in the 1960s, authoring th ...

who became SDS President. At an SDS meeting held at Ann Arbor in 1961, a National Executive Committee (NEC) was elected with Ross as vice president. As a delegate at the 1962 annual convention, and a member of the "drafting committee", Ross participated in writing the

Port Huron Statement The Port Huron Statement is a 1962 political manifesto of the American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). It was written by SDS members, and completed on June 15, 1962, at a United Auto Workers (UAW) retreat outside ...

, which was adopted as the SDS political manifesto. His reading of

C. Wright Mills Charles Wright Mills (August 28, 1916 – March 20, 1962) was an American Sociology, sociologist, and a professor of sociology at Columbia University from 1946 until his death in 1962. Mills published widely in both popular and intellectual journ ...

' ''

The Power Elite ''The Power Elite'' is a 1956 book by sociologist C. Wright Mills, in which Mills calls attention to the interwoven interests of the leaders of the military, corporate, and political elements of society and suggests that the ordinary citizen in ...

'' shaped Ross' intellectual contributions to the document. His senior honors thesis examined the theoretical basis for Mill's work.

Scholarship

Ross has published widely on the globalization of capital and labor. In 1990, he co-authored ''Global Capitalism: the New Leviathan'' (SUNY Press). Ross is a leading scholar and activist on the resurgence of

sweatshop A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, o ...

s in the global apparel industry. Author of Sl''aves to Fashion: Poverty and Abuse in the New Sweatshops'' (University of Michigan Press), he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium and of the

International Labor Rights Forum The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., U.S., that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world." ILRF, formerly the "International La ...

. In 2015, on the second anniversary of the

Rana Plaza The 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse (also referred to as the 2013 Savar building collapse or the Collapse of Rana Plaza) was a structural failure that occurred on 24 April 2013 in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka District, Bangladesh, where an eigh ...

building collapse (killing 1,130 people and injuring 2,500) he traveled to

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

to commemorate the victims and assess the steps taken to advance worker safety.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Robert J. S. American sociologists 1943 births Living people University of Chicago alumni University of Michigan alumni