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A Split Labor Market: Mexican Farm Workers in the Southwest *
Author(s) -
Howell Frances Baseden
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1982.tb01245.x
Subject(s) - farm workers , legislation , agriculture , labour economics , labor relations , scale (ratio) , economics , business , political science , geography , law , cartography , archaeology
Edna Bonacich's split‐labor‐market theory is used to explore the dynamics of agriculture in the southwest. This theory helps to explain the following developments: (1) importation of foreign contract workers; (2) passage of farm labor legislation; (3) development and implementation of mechanized equipment; (4) expansion of the “runaway shop”; and (5) a decrease in the number of independent farmers concurrent with an increase in large‐scale corporate farms. One additional factor having a major impact on the industry is (6) the farm worker movement, the United Farm Workers (UFW) and the Arizona Farm Workers (AFW) being two of the most familiar examples.