Le travail, marchandise fictive ? 100 ans de marchandisation de la main d’œuvre mexicaine aux États-Unis

For Karl Polanyi, market society is impossible, since it supposes that work, land and money be treated as merchandise, which can only destroy society. On the basis of the analysis of the utilisation of Mexican labor by US firms over 100 years, this paper tries to show that merchandisation is quite p...

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Main Author: Yves-Marie Abraham
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association d'Economie Politique
Series:Revue Interventions Économiques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/interventionseconomiques/360
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author Yves-Marie Abraham
author_facet Yves-Marie Abraham
author_sort Yves-Marie Abraham
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description For Karl Polanyi, market society is impossible, since it supposes that work, land and money be treated as merchandise, which can only destroy society. On the basis of the analysis of the utilisation of Mexican labor by US firms over 100 years, this paper tries to show that merchandisation is quite possible as concerns work. It reduces the human being to his sole work force, while staying in the formal context of salaried work. In the case of Mexican workers, whether it be farm workers with temporary contracts in the US, or employees of maquiladoras on the Mexican soil, or illegal workers in the US, the territorial frontier between the two countries apears a particularly efficient way to accomplish this redcuction. The merchandisation of work is not necessarily the consequence of the establishment of autoregulating markets, contrarily to what is put forward by Polanyi.
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spelling doaj.art-d7ec6b8deb8946efa72d60d07281e1ca2024-02-15T12:53:24ZengAssociation d'Economie PolitiqueRevue Interventions Économiques0715-35701710-73773810.4000/interventionseconomiques.360Le travail, marchandise fictive ? 100 ans de marchandisation de la main d’œuvre mexicaine aux États-UnisYves-Marie AbrahamFor Karl Polanyi, market society is impossible, since it supposes that work, land and money be treated as merchandise, which can only destroy society. On the basis of the analysis of the utilisation of Mexican labor by US firms over 100 years, this paper tries to show that merchandisation is quite possible as concerns work. It reduces the human being to his sole work force, while staying in the formal context of salaried work. In the case of Mexican workers, whether it be farm workers with temporary contracts in the US, or employees of maquiladoras on the Mexican soil, or illegal workers in the US, the territorial frontier between the two countries apears a particularly efficient way to accomplish this redcuction. The merchandisation of work is not necessarily the consequence of the establishment of autoregulating markets, contrarily to what is put forward by Polanyi.https://journals.openedition.org/interventionseconomiques/360workmerchandisationMexicomarketsmexican labor
spellingShingle Yves-Marie Abraham
Le travail, marchandise fictive ? 100 ans de marchandisation de la main d’œuvre mexicaine aux États-Unis
Revue Interventions Économiques
work
merchandisation
Mexico
markets
mexican labor
title Le travail, marchandise fictive ? 100 ans de marchandisation de la main d’œuvre mexicaine aux États-Unis
title_full Le travail, marchandise fictive ? 100 ans de marchandisation de la main d’œuvre mexicaine aux États-Unis
title_fullStr Le travail, marchandise fictive ? 100 ans de marchandisation de la main d’œuvre mexicaine aux États-Unis
title_full_unstemmed Le travail, marchandise fictive ? 100 ans de marchandisation de la main d’œuvre mexicaine aux États-Unis
title_short Le travail, marchandise fictive ? 100 ans de marchandisation de la main d’œuvre mexicaine aux États-Unis
title_sort le travail marchandise fictive 100 ans de marchandisation de la main d oeuvre mexicaine aux etats unis
topic work
merchandisation
Mexico
markets
mexican labor
url https://journals.openedition.org/interventionseconomiques/360
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