1,720,991 research outputs found
What is deemed to be "fake"? The case of "fake agricultural workers" in South Eastern Sicily
No full textNel corso dell'articolo, l'autrice affronta il tema dell'economia morale nel mercato del lavoro informale, concentrandosi sul settore serricolo in provincia di Ragusa (Sicilia). L'esperienza etnografica da osservatrice partecipante in uno dei distretti più produttivi dell'agricoltura meridionale, ha aiutato a ricostruire le interazioni che emergono tra lo Stato, gli imprenditori e i lavoratori italiani e migranti, imbrigliati in questo sistema di produzione semi-informale. Il caso dei "falsi braccianti", ovvero di persone ingaggiate in maniera fittizia al fine di ricevere il sussidio di disoccupazione agricola, rappresenta un esempio interessante, poiché consente di indagare alcune categorie, di tipo sia cognitivo che normativo, che costituiscono "l'ordine morale" del mercato del lavoro agricolo locale. L'autrice, dunque, attraverso diversi esempi empirici, cerca di rispondere ad alcune domande rilevanti, come ad esempio cosa è ritenuto "legittimo" o "illegittimo" nell'ambito economico, cosa è costruito come "conveniente" o "valido", e in che modo l'etnicità gioca un ruolo nel definire le strategie d'azione più "appropriate".Throughout this article, the author deals with the topic of the moral economy of the informal labor market, focusing on the greenhouses' sector in the province of Ragusa (Sicily). The ethnographic experience as a participant observer in one of the richest districts of South Italian agriculture, helped to reconstruct the interplay emerging between the State, the entrepreneurs and the Italian and migrants laborers, harnessed in this quasi-informal system of production. The case of "fake agricultural workers", namely of people fictitiously hired in agriculture in order to receive the unemployment subsidy, represents an interesting example, since it allowed to scrutinize some of the categories, both cognitive and normative, that constitute the "moral order" of the agricultural local labor market. The author, thus, through several empirical examples, tried to rep to some relevant questions, like what is deem to be "legitimate" or "illegitimate" in the economic realm, what is constructed as "convenient" or "valuable" and how does ethnicity play a role in defining the "appropriateness" of individuals’ coping strategies
Subcontracted racial capitalism: the interrelationship of race and production in meat processing plants
Full text linkThe aim of this paper is to extend discussion on subcontracted labour by focussing on the
labour process and on the role of race and racialization within it. The existing literature
has so far analysed the factors that have encouraged employer decisions to outsource
labour, together with its effects on labour conditions and on industrial relations. Missing,
however, has been any detailed analysis of the role of race and racialization processes,
pivotal elements in the facilitation of subcontracting thereby accelerating the worsening
of labour conditions.
Based on qualitative empirical research on the meat industry in Northern Italy, this
article highlights how the processes of outsourcing and racialization intersect to support
the segmentation of labour within the workplace. In particular, we argue that, through
contracting out work to racialized groups of migrant workers, outsourcing has been both
facilitated and legitimized. Furthermore, the presence of in-plant contractors has fostered
the implementation of racializing practices, which in turn have bolstered workforce
fragmentation on racial lines.
Notwithstanding this, our findings show that race can be a factor in the mobilization
of subcontracted migrant labour through the production of pragmatic (racial) solidarities.
These informal ties are a key component in the development of the everyday struggles
and alliances that emerge within grass roots worker organisations as well as beyond their
boundaries through hybrid forms of collective organisation
Segmentazioni del lavoro e strategie sindacali nell’industria della carne
No full textThe paper aims to study the current transformations in trade union action by focusing on the meat processing industry in Italy, a sector characterized by a high share of atypical and subcontracted labour. Based on qualitative data collected inside two plants, the paper addresses the processes of labour force segmentation, according to axes such as employment contracts, workers’ nationality, skin colour and gender. Secondly, the paper analyses trade unions’ strategies to cope with these labour force fragmentations. By looking at the nexus between labour process and forms of organization, the paper singles out three approaches. These approaches, underpinned by unions’ understanding of labour market restructuring, epitomize different strategies to organize and mobilize labour. In conclusion, we argue that these conflicting approaches, although oriented towards enlarging unions’ membership and
representativeness, actually embed, and thus contribute to strengthen, labour force segmentations in workplaces
An emerging ‘camp labour regime’: refugees’ labour between production and reproduction
No full textUsing Italy as a case study, this paper extends the debate on refugees’ differential inclusion in the European labour market by considering their spaces for living and social reproduction. Departing from the notion of ‘labour regime’ and the definition of a Dormitory Labour Regime, the paper argues that we are assisting in the emergence of a Camp Labour Regime – a situation in which the form of accommodation (i.e. refugee reception facilities) plays a pivotal role in the organisation of production, representing a nodal point to foster labour concentration, wage reduction and labour intensification, thereby ‘fashioning’ refugee labour as both cheap and flexible, although at the same time constituting spaces of opportunity for refugee workers. Therefore, the paper illustrates the role played by the three main actors – the state, the companies and the refugees themselves – in coproducing and partaking in this emerging Camp Labour Regime
Che cos'è la giusta paga? Negoziazionisul prezzo del lavoro in una serra siciliana
No full textUsing an ethnographic approach, the present essay deals with the topic of salary formation within the informal labor market in the agricultural sector. Attention is therefore focused on the daily interaction and processes of negotiation that have at stake the definition of a «fair wage». Examining what is said to be a «fair» salary allows one to focus on the normative aspects of the economic action and permits the investigation of the concepts of «justice» and relative «justifications». The ethnographic account of an experience of covert participant observation, conducted in a greenhouse farm located in a transformed littoral belt in the province of Ragusa (Sicily), allows these phases of negotiation to be explored. The article aims to focus on the ways in which the value of labor is intersubjectively defined, according to a set of conventions that include gender, nationality and the concept of productivity
Abitare (ne)i luoghi di lavoro: Il caso dei braccianti rumeni nelle serre della provincia di Ragusa
No full textThis contribution deals with the overlapping between productive and reproductive spaces concerning the situation of Romanian citizens working and living in the Italian biggest greenhouses district, located in South-Eastern Sicily. In the last few years, Romanian farmworkers have been asked to reside within or nearby the agricultural companies, producing an arrangement that could be defined as a dormitory labor regime. This spacial location of the workforce allows the employers to shrink the labor costs, although forcing migrants into a condition of isolation and seclusion. Thanks to the data collected through an ethnographic research (participant observation, shadowing, semi-structured interviews), the article provides some reflection on these dynamics, analyzing mainly: (1) the implications of the recruitment strategies opting for couples of workers; (2) the processes of appropriation and re-signification of life and work spaces undertaken by migrant farmworkers
Wikistudents. Teaching consumption through production hands on with Wikipedia
Full text linkThis paper describes and reflects on a teaching experience developed as a complimentary workshops to MA
class on history, theory and politics of consumption. We used Wikipedia as a tool to consider the circuit of
knowledge production in the Web 2.0 era, where consumers are no longer passive audiences but producers
and consumers at the same time. We developed a collaborative team-work workshop aimed at the production
of Wikipedia entries on topics related to the class content. In this note we describe the structure of such
“Wikiworshops”, our teaching strategy on sources management, teamwork and group teaching, and elaborate
on students' reception of the workshop. Wikiworkhops proved to be an effective exercise in a collaborative
economy of knowledge, and an opportunity for young sociologists to be part of it, expressing their creativity
as well as becoming aware of the boundaries and limits inherent in the mechanism
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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