Cultural Endowment, Disadvantaged Status and Economic Niche: The Development of an Ethnic Trade

Tsukashima, Ronald Tadao

doi:10.2307/2546291

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Residential maintenance gardening was pioneered in California in the early twentieth century by Japanese immigrant gardeners who found themselves racially excluded from owning property, which precluded them from continuing with independent agriculture and truck farming. 1 Spurred by racial discrimination, as well as finding residential gardening contiguous with culturally rooted skills and knowledge garnered from both peasant farming in Japan and agricultural work in California, Japanese American men discovered that with a modest investment, gardening could provide a viable income (Tsuchida 1984;Tsukashima 1991). Additionally, the job did not require high levels of education nor more than rudimentary English language skills, and social networks among family members facilitated entry into the job (Tsukashima 1995(Tsukashima /1996.…”

Section: From a Japanese To A Mexican Occupational Nichementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, unlike Japanese American gardeners who formed collective associations and rotating credit associations (Tsukashima 1991(Tsukashima , 1998, Mexican immigrant jardineros today prefer to help one another on a one-to-one basis, through family and village ties and compadrazgo (godparenthood). Although an organization called the Association of Latin American Gardeners of Los Angeles (ALAGLA) formed in the wake of the leaf blower crackdown in the mid-1990s, only five of our interviewees reported participating in this association.…”

Section: From a Japanese To A Mexican Occupational Nichementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Routeowner gardeners own their own trucks and tools, they bill their clients for services rendered, they strategize how to minimize risk, they enjoy a degree of autonomy in when and how they do their work, and most of them employ one or sometimes a few employees. During the twentieth century, Japanese American men established residential maintenance gardening as a skilled occupational and entrepreneurial niche, one that allowed them to capitalize on their background working in agriculture and to negotiate racial discrimination and exclusion (Tsuchida 1984;Tsukashima 1991). Gardening jobs afforded them and their families routes to upward socioeconomic mobility, and were pathways to their children's professions (Tsuchida 1984;Tsukashima 1991).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the twentieth century, Japanese American men established residential maintenance gardening as a skilled occupational and entrepreneurial niche, one that allowed them to capitalize on their background working in agriculture and to negotiate racial discrimination and exclusion (Tsuchida 1984;Tsukashima 1991). Gardening jobs afforded them and their families routes to upward socioeconomic mobility, and were pathways to their children's professions (Tsuchida 1984;Tsukashima 1991). Are Mexican immigrant men following in their footsteps?…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mexican Immigrant Gardeners: Entrepreneurs or Exploited Workers?

Ramírez¹,

Hondagneu‐Sotelo²

2009

Social Problems

103

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Suburban maintenance gardening is one service sector that has grown in the United States, and in many parts of the country it has become a gendered occupational niche for Mexican immigrant men. What is the social organization of this occupation and to what extent are Mexican immigrant gardeners following in the footsteps of Japanese gardeners, achieving socioeconomic mobility through gardening? Based on interviews conducted with 47 Mexican immigrant maintenance gardeners in Los Angeles, this article examines the occupational structure of this informal sector job, the social context in which it has developed, the mix of informal and formal economic transactions involved, and the strategic challenges that gardeners negotiate. The data show that there is occupational differentiation and mobility within the gardening occupation, and that mobility in the job remains dependent on combining both ethnic entrepreneurship and subjugated service work. Gendered social and human capital, together with financial and legal capital are necessary for occupational mobility. Jardineria, or suburban maintenance gardening, is analogous to the longstanding labor incorporation of female immigrant domestic workers into affluent households, but it is also indicative of a new trend: the proliferation of hybrid forms of entrepreneurship and service work and the incorporation of masculine "dirty work" service jobs into affluent households.

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Section: From a Japanese To A Mexican Occupational Nichementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: From a Japanese To A Mexican Occupational Nichementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mexican Immigrant Gardeners: Entrepreneurs or Exploited Workers?

Ramírez¹,

Hondagneu‐Sotelo²

2009

Social Problems

103

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“…In addition, I analyzed current and archival documentation to complement my field research. This included analyzing extant research on Japanese-American gardeners, who dominated this industry in California from the late 1800s through most of the 1900s (Hirahara 2000, Kobashigawa 1988, Tsuchida 1984, Tsukashima 1991,1995/1996.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Looking Beyond "Mow, Blow and Go": A Case Study of Mexican Immigrant Gardeners in Los Angeles

Huerta

2012

Planning Journal

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Recent research on Mexican immigrants focuses on the working conditions of farm workers, garment workers, janitors and day laborers. This coincides with successful efforts by organized labor and immigrant advocacy groups to organize these marginalized workforces. Little attention, however, has been given to Mexican paid gardeners. As part of the household service economy, paid gardeners represent a difficult labor sector to organize and research because they typically operate as independent contractors in the informal economy. This paper seeks to provide a more holistic picture of this dynamic workforce. Drawing primarily upon ethnographic techniques, the paper documents how this industry operates and its social organization. Based on research conducted in Los Angeles, the paper also demonstrates how a select group of self-employed, Mexican gardeners function as petty-entrepreneurs, benefiting in the informal economy by successfully utilizing their social capital and social networks.

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