Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-2017

Publication Source

Journal of Working-Class Studies

Abstract

Unauthorized workers are foundational to neoliberal production regimes in the United States. The economic indispensability of such ‘disposable’ laborers in the era of flexible accumulation and the new energy they bring to labor activism promise to shape the emergence of the 21st century working class. This article explores the dynamics of labor discipline among undocumented workers, situating the current experiences of transnational migrants within a broader cultural history of the recruitment, disciplining, and exploitation of workers from vulnerable populations. Currently, conditions of illegality and deportability make transnational workers particularly vulnerable to labor rights violations and wage theft. The structure of immigration law, which frames and facilitates exploitation, serves the interests of capital and disciplines workers to perform their role as a subordinated class. Nonetheless, the confluence of labor militancy and immigrants’ rights activism over the past decade provides hope for social and political change based in solidarity and worker agency.

Inclusive pages

24-42

ISBN/ISSN

2475-4765

Document Version

Published Version

Comments

The document available for download is provided in compliance with the publisher's policy on self-archiving, whereby the author retains copyright. Permission documentation is on file.

To view this and other scholarly publications on the topic or to submit an article for publication, see the website of the Journal of Working-Class Studies.

Publisher

Working-Class Studies Association

Volume

2

Issue

1

Peer Reviewed

yes


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