Normalisation of Wage and Benefit Theft in the Bangladeshi Garment Industry

Wage and benefit theft is a systemic feature of capitalist organisations, yet it remains critically under-theorised in sociology. Drawing on an in-depth case study of the Bangladeshi garment industry, this article identifies three interrelated mechanisms of wage and benefit theft—denial of the monthly attendance bonus, alternative calculations of maternity allowance and maintenance of two service books—normalised through the interplay of micro-level practices and macro-structural imperatives. This article makes two key contributions. First, it challenges discourses framing such theft as aberrant misconduct by deviant employers, exposing it instead as a routinised, industry-wide exploitation strategy. Second, it advances the theorisation of normalisation by showing how macro-structural conditions foster environments that embed exploitative micro-level practices with impunity. The systematic erosion of meso-level institutions under authoritarian regimes intensifies this normalisation. This article calls for collective resistance to empower trade unions and civil society in confronting the normalisation of wage and benefit theft.