Description
Book SynopsisFocusing on the role of labor in world economies, this book offers a range of case studies illustrating labor processes in both western and nonwestern societies. It includes sections with discussions on household labor, firms and corporations, and state and transnational conditions.
Trade ReviewOne of the key strengths of the book is the strong empirical thread that runs through it. Another is that the contributors present strong and well-reasoned arguments for their respective positions. Finally, the book is strengthened by the fact that the contributors, while raising important questions about mainstream economies, so not sing from the same page in the hymn book. This makes for the presentation of an engaging set of views on labor in cross-cultural perspective that is sure to promote considerable discussion in the field and will push the state of knowledge in economic anthropology a good distance from where it has been in the past decade. * Journal of Anthropological Research *
Table of ContentsPart 1 Preface Part 2 Introduction 3 1 Sewer Socialism and Labor: The Pragmatics of Running a Good City 3 2 Political-Economic Change, Cultural Traditions, and Household Organization in Rural Mali 4 PART I: HOUSEHOLDS 6 3 Labor Discipline, Debt and Effort in a Philippine Fishing Community 7 5 Baragining Wages and Controlling Performance: Harvest Labor in Coffee and Citrus 7 4 ¿Ayuda or Work? Labor History of Female Heads of Household from Oaxaca, Mexico 8 6 We're to Stand Side by Side: Household Production and Women's Work in Rural Mining Communities 8 PART II: FIRMS AND CORPORATE ENTITIES 9 7 The Emergence of Worker Cooperatives in Japan among Middle-Aged Middle-Class Housewives in the Late Twentieth Century 12 8 Proletarianization of Professional Work and Changed Workplace Relationships 12 9 Of Corvee and Slavery: Historical Intricacies of the Division of Labor and State Power in Northern Thailand 13 PART III: STATES: PREMODERN TO TRANSNATIONAL 13 10 Hilltowns and Valley Fields: Great Transformations, Labor, and Long-Term History in Ancient Oaxaca 14 11 A Political Economy from Increasing Marginal Returns to Labor: An Example from Viking Age Iceland 16 13 Crossing the Border From Jalisco, Mexico: Network-Mediated Entry into Micro-Labor Enclaves 17 12 Immigrant Labor in the New United States Economy: Anthropological Notes 19 14 Volunteer Labor: "Adding Value" to Local Culture
