Labor, Class, and the International System

by Alejandro Portes, John Walton

Labor, Class, and the International System explores the interface between the labor process, class structure, and the global requirements of accumulation as a necessary complement to the analysis of capital and dominant institutions and focus on this interaction to clarify some of the apparent contradictions and bring the general models in line with empirical reality.The book provides analysis of concepts and hypotheses derived from general theory with available empirical knowledge on each particular topic. Each chapter addresses problem areas namely, international migration; pre-capitalist modes of production and the reproduction of the urban labor force; and dominant ideologies of inequality and class structure.Sociologists, political scientists, economists, researchers, and students of international studies will find the book very interesting and insightful.

230 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[KT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent study applying theories of dependency to international migration
I found the chapter on the conditions for the mobilisation and use of migrant labour under world capitalism particularly illuminating and interesting, which outlines how the circulation of labour affects the social relations of production and internal divisions within the working class. For example where structural imbalances leading to emigration that occur when labour demand is weak for workers trained in externally induced modes of practice e.g. Filipino nurses emigrating to the USA