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From Despair to Resistance: M aya Workers in the Maquilas of G uatemala
Author(s) -
Goldín Liliana
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
anthropology of work review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.151
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1548-1417
pISSN - 0883-024X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1548-1417.2012.01074.x
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , capitalism , resistance (ecology) , ethnography , demographic economics , sociology , political science , economics , biology , politics , social science , anthropology , ecology , law
Based on ethnographic research among industrial workers in the export processing plants of highland G uatemala, this article explores the meanings given to the high incidence of labor turnover. The sample is composed of mostly young workers between the ages of 16 and 25, the age of the majority of maquila workers. The study shows that turnover exemplifies worker agency, specifically in resistance to oppressive forms of production in global capitalism. Global processes in this study are illustrated through the eyes and words of local participants.