Notably, human trafficking integrates the involuntary movement of individuals within one nation or from one country to another for the sexual, as well as physical labor exploitation. Human trafficking is a multibillion-dollar industry, which affects millions of people across the world. Researchers tend to highlight the United States as the most frequent destination nation for the exploitation of the victims. Critically, sociologists have focused on the use of sociological imagination as a tool to help explore different social problems in the world. The tool offers an opportunity to examine macro-and micro-sociological aspects in the assessment of human trafficking as a social problem.
From one point, human trafficking is a personal issue, particularly for the exploited people in the process, which takes away their freedom. The traffickers have the power to decide what to do with the lives of the enslaved against their freedom of choice or free will. Trafficked people, in the process, lose their social identity. On the other hand, the sociological imagination highlights human trafficking as a public issue. The implications of the trafficking for the victims, as well as their families and communities, remain diverse and severe (Davidson, 2010). For example, human trafficking relates to societal issues and problems such as poverty and deprivation of the opportunities, particularly for the children who experience limitations in obtaining an education. Teenagers, as well as women, also experience sexual and labor exploitation, limiting their chances for marriage and having children in several cases (Loseke, 2011). Besides, the trafficked men experience numerous years without the desired family life while working as laborers. Increased instances of human trafficking also contribute to different cases of discrimination.
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There are various risk factors, which endanger victims to human trafficking practices. Some of these risk factors include poverty, homelessness, and lack of personal safety, emotional distress, isolation, substance abuse, mental illness, and family dysfunction, among others (Fedina, Williamson, & Perdue, 2019). The used resources have been critical in transforming my perception of human trafficking as a standard-issue affecting millions of people in the society. Human trafficking disproportionately affects women and girls compared to their male counterparts in the community. One of the critical reasons for this is the inability of the women and girls to protect themselves against forced abduction. The majority of the men tend to be capable of defending themselves against other challenges, such as the identified forced abduction. Additionally, for the women and girls who have children to take care of, human trafficking is a gullible platform to subject them to exploitation from the sexual and physical perspective as they aim at realizing quality futures for their children. Besides, because of the marginalization of the women and girls in society, they tend to experience the severe implications of the risk factors contributing to the increased cases of human trafficking across the world.
Alternatively, economic globalization has been a viable contributor to the increased supply and demand for human trafficking. Economic globalization relates to the founding of the diverse global exchanges in the labor, technology, trade, and capital between nations. Economic globalization has been a critical factor in aiding economic development, reduction of the trade barriers, improved living standards, the spread of technology, management skills, and new economic chances for the different nations (Peerapeng, Chaitip, Chaiboonsri, Kovacs, & Balogh, 2013). Nonetheless, economic globalization tends to have negative implications, particularly on society, through increased human trafficking. For example, economic globalization continues to make it easier for the people to trade and communicate through the rapid development of travel and information economy (Brewer, 2009). Organized crime is taking advantage of these developments to facilitate the increased movement of the people from one nation to another leading to increased labor and sexual exploitation.
References
Brewer, D. (2009). Globalization and human trafficking. Topical Research Digest: Human rights and human trafficking , 2009 , 46-56.
Davidson, J. O. C. (2010). New slavery, old binaries: human trafficking and the borders of ‘freedom.’ Global Networks , 10 (2), 244-261.
Fedina, L., Williamson, C., & Perdue, T. (2019). Risk factors for domestic child sex trafficking in the United States. Journal of interpersonal violence , 34 (13), 2653-2673.
Loseke, D. R. (2011). Thinking about social problems: An introduction to constructionist perspectives . Transaction Publishers.
Peerapeng, S. R., Chaitip, P., Chaiboonsri, C., Kovacs, S., & Balogh, P. (2013). Impact of economic globalization on human trafficking in the Greater Mekong sub-region countries. APSTRACT: Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce , 6 (1033-2016-84180), 123-130.
