American Agriculture and the Prophecy of Increasing Misery

A Marxian analysis of labor exploitation in American agriculture has indicated that the rate of exploitation has increased more than seven times from 1949 to 1968. Exploitation is defined in a relative sense as a declining of the income share of workers relative to that of capitalists. Labor is defined to include both hired and family workers. While exploitation of hired labor may appear as a familiar notion, the idea is advanced that family labor may have been exploited also.