Kathleen C. Schwartzman
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451164
- eISBN:
- 9780801468056
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451164.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
This book examines the impact of globalization—and of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in particular—on the North American poultry industry, focusing on the displacement of African ...
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This book examines the impact of globalization—and of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in particular—on the North American poultry industry, focusing on the displacement of African American workers in the southeast United States and workers in Mexico. The book documents how the transformation of U.S. poultry production in the 1980s increased its export capacity and changed the nature and consequences of labor conflict. It documents how globalization, and especially NAFTA, forced Mexico to open its commodity and capital markets, and eliminate state support of corporations and rural smallholders. As a consequence, many Mexicans were forced to abandon their no-longer-sustainable small farms, with some seeking work in industrialized poultry factories north of the border. By following this trail, the book breaks through the deadlocked immigration debate, highlighting the broader economic and political contexts of immigration flows. The narrative that undocumented workers take jobs that Americans don't want to do is too simplistic. The book argues instead that illegal immigration is better understood as a labor story in which the hiring of undocumented workers is part of a management response to the crises of profit making and labor-management conflict. The book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the implications of globalization for labor and how the externalities of free trade and neoliberalism become the social problems of nations and the tragedies of individuals.Less
This book examines the impact of globalization—and of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in particular—on the North American poultry industry, focusing on the displacement of African American workers in the southeast United States and workers in Mexico. The book documents how the transformation of U.S. poultry production in the 1980s increased its export capacity and changed the nature and consequences of labor conflict. It documents how globalization, and especially NAFTA, forced Mexico to open its commodity and capital markets, and eliminate state support of corporations and rural smallholders. As a consequence, many Mexicans were forced to abandon their no-longer-sustainable small farms, with some seeking work in industrialized poultry factories north of the border. By following this trail, the book breaks through the deadlocked immigration debate, highlighting the broader economic and political contexts of immigration flows. The narrative that undocumented workers take jobs that Americans don't want to do is too simplistic. The book argues instead that illegal immigration is better understood as a labor story in which the hiring of undocumented workers is part of a management response to the crises of profit making and labor-management conflict. The book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the implications of globalization for labor and how the externalities of free trade and neoliberalism become the social problems of nations and the tragedies of individuals.
Kathleen C. Schwartzman
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451164
- eISBN:
- 9780801468056
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451164.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
This chapter challenges the notions that ethnic succession was driven by “vacancy” and “shortage” and explains why both explanations are incomplete. It argues that such explanations do not address ...
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This chapter challenges the notions that ethnic succession was driven by “vacancy” and “shortage” and explains why both explanations are incomplete. It argues that such explanations do not address those nonmarket agents and elements that also led to perceived job vacancies or labor shortages. The chapter begins with an overview of the restructuring of the meat and poultry industries and the onset of mass production and goes on to discuss government support for the industry, including tax exemptions. It then examines Taylorism involving the reorganization of both production and labor in poultry factories, along with the emergence of a new labor-management conflict in the 1980s and early 1990s due in part to the rise of labor activity in the South. This conflict, it asserts, was the main reason for the ethnic succession in the poultry industry. It also considers the rise of new unions and social movements in the poultry industry.Less
This chapter challenges the notions that ethnic succession was driven by “vacancy” and “shortage” and explains why both explanations are incomplete. It argues that such explanations do not address those nonmarket agents and elements that also led to perceived job vacancies or labor shortages. The chapter begins with an overview of the restructuring of the meat and poultry industries and the onset of mass production and goes on to discuss government support for the industry, including tax exemptions. It then examines Taylorism involving the reorganization of both production and labor in poultry factories, along with the emergence of a new labor-management conflict in the 1980s and early 1990s due in part to the rise of labor activity in the South. This conflict, it asserts, was the main reason for the ethnic succession in the poultry industry. It also considers the rise of new unions and social movements in the poultry industry.
Ruth Milkman
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040320
- eISBN:
- 9780252098581
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040320.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This chapter examines the sexual division of labor in the automobile industry during World War II to find out whether job segregation by gender had been dismantled during the war. It begins with a ...
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This chapter examines the sexual division of labor in the automobile industry during World War II to find out whether job segregation by gender had been dismantled during the war. It begins with a discussion of “women's work” in the auto industry in the prewar period and goes on to explore how the idiom of sex-typing of occupations was implemented and readjusted in the face of a dramatic change in the economic constraints on the sexual division of labor, along with the ensuing political struggles over the redefinition of the boundaries between “women's work” and “men's work.” It then considers the ambiguity and labor–management conflict over “women's work,” the various exclusionary tactics employed by male auto workers against women, and the disputes over the question of equal pay in the industry during the war. It also discusses the process through which war factories reproduced new patterns of job segregation by sex in the industry, instead of eliminating it.Less
This chapter examines the sexual division of labor in the automobile industry during World War II to find out whether job segregation by gender had been dismantled during the war. It begins with a discussion of “women's work” in the auto industry in the prewar period and goes on to explore how the idiom of sex-typing of occupations was implemented and readjusted in the face of a dramatic change in the economic constraints on the sexual division of labor, along with the ensuing political struggles over the redefinition of the boundaries between “women's work” and “men's work.” It then considers the ambiguity and labor–management conflict over “women's work,” the various exclusionary tactics employed by male auto workers against women, and the disputes over the question of equal pay in the industry during the war. It also discusses the process through which war factories reproduced new patterns of job segregation by sex in the industry, instead of eliminating it.
