Sociology of Work in Latin America

Abstract

Research on work in Latin America has in many ways followed the region's struggles with economic development. As countries deal with globalization pressures, switching from import substitution state-driven development to export policies sustained by privatization, much has changed in the workplace of Latin Americans. Recently, that has translated into a growing body of literature on work in the region, with much of it reflecting the efforts of a new generation of Latin American scholars. Unfortunately, most of their work is yet to be circulated among scholarly circles in the United States. This article is an effort to provide U.S. researchers in the area with an overview of what is being done in sociology of work in Latin America, especially the research lines that have developed in the past 20 years.

Street Vendors, Television Extras, Walmart Stockers, and More

“…At that moment, the examination of the world of work and the condition of workers in Latin America took on a renewed urgency and labor processes were considered with a keen eye to context, defined, at the time, by fragile and indeed imperiled democratic institutions, weak and co-opted labor unions, and the widespread prevalence of poverty and social exclusion. This research trajectory on the sociology of work in Latin America continued unabated for the next three decades (Abramo, 1998; Cavalcanti, 2002), and, as evidenced by Enrique de la Garza Toledo’s most recent compilation of studies on nontraditional workforms, remains as vibrant as ever.…”