
Subsidizing Capitalism
Brickmakers on the U.S.-Mexican Border
Tamar Diana Wilson(Author)
State University of New York Press
Published on 1. June 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
227 pages
978-0-7914-6508-0 (ISBN)
Description
Examines the economic activities of self-employed brickmakers and the unpaid family members and others who assist them in Mexico.
In Mexico, self-employed brickmakers support capitalist enterprise by providing bricks to build hotels, factories, office buildings, and shopping malls at costs lower than those based on profit-making principles. Combining Chayanovian and neo-Marxist approaches, Subsidizing Capitalism asserts that the economic activities of these self-employed brickmakers may be considered counterhegemonic because they avoid proletarianization in the formal sector. Tamar Diana Wilson discusses the similarities between peasants and brickmakers, the structural position of garbage pickers in relation to brickmakers, the trajectory from piece worker to petty commodity producer to petty capitalist, the economic value of women's and children's work as part of the family labor force, and how the neopatriarchal household is intrinsic to petty commodity production. Interspersed throughout are short stories and poems that offer the brickmakers' perspectives and provide a rarely seen look into their lives.
In Mexico, self-employed brickmakers support capitalist enterprise by providing bricks to build hotels, factories, office buildings, and shopping malls at costs lower than those based on profit-making principles. Combining Chayanovian and neo-Marxist approaches, Subsidizing Capitalism asserts that the economic activities of these self-employed brickmakers may be considered counterhegemonic because they avoid proletarianization in the formal sector. Tamar Diana Wilson discusses the similarities between peasants and brickmakers, the structural position of garbage pickers in relation to brickmakers, the trajectory from piece worker to petty commodity producer to petty capitalist, the economic value of women's and children's work as part of the family labor force, and how the neopatriarchal household is intrinsic to petty commodity production. Interspersed throughout are short stories and poems that offer the brickmakers' perspectives and provide a rarely seen look into their lives.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Albany, NY
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
322 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7914-6508-0 (9780791465080)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
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E-Book
02/2012
State University of New York Press
€36.49
Available for download
Person
Tamar Diana Wilson is Research Affiliate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Missouri at St. Louis.
Content
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. "The Ladrillera"
2. Approaches to the "Informal Sector" and to the Brickmakers of Mexicali
3. Petty Commodity Producers in the Informal Sector: The Peasant Adaptation of the Brickmakers in Popular, Mexicali
4. "The Old Brickmaker, 1993"
5. "Invisible" Women and Children Workers on the Mexicali Brickyards
6. "Mexicali Brickmaker's Wife"
7. Gender Considerations among the Brickmakers
8. "Brickmaker's Daughter, Brickmaker's Wife"
9. The Heterogeneity of Subsidies to the Capitalist System: The Case of the Garbage Pickers
10. Are the Brickmakers Counterhegemonic?
11. "Don Rafael's Desire"
Epilogue
Appendix: Scott Cook and I: Ambiguity and Ambivalence in Approaches to Brickmaking
Notes
References
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. "The Ladrillera"
2. Approaches to the "Informal Sector" and to the Brickmakers of Mexicali
3. Petty Commodity Producers in the Informal Sector: The Peasant Adaptation of the Brickmakers in Popular, Mexicali
4. "The Old Brickmaker, 1993"
5. "Invisible" Women and Children Workers on the Mexicali Brickyards
6. "Mexicali Brickmaker's Wife"
7. Gender Considerations among the Brickmakers
8. "Brickmaker's Daughter, Brickmaker's Wife"
9. The Heterogeneity of Subsidies to the Capitalist System: The Case of the Garbage Pickers
10. Are the Brickmakers Counterhegemonic?
11. "Don Rafael's Desire"
Epilogue
Appendix: Scott Cook and I: Ambiguity and Ambivalence in Approaches to Brickmaking
Notes
References
Index