Book contents
- The Cultural Value of Work
- The Cultural Value of Work
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figure
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Labor in Ethnohistorical Settings
- Part II Values of Forms of Labor
- 4 The Value of Reproductive Labor
- 5 Domestic Economics I
- 6 Domestic Economics II
- 7 Cultural Labor in the Migration Economy
- Part III Work and Labor in Economic and Anthropological Theory
- Appendix A A Note on the Qualifications of the Author
- References
- Index
4 - The Value of Reproductive Labor
from Part II - Values of Forms of Labor
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 July 2022
- The Cultural Value of Work
- The Cultural Value of Work
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figure
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Labor in Ethnohistorical Settings
- Part II Values of Forms of Labor
- 4 The Value of Reproductive Labor
- 5 Domestic Economics I
- 6 Domestic Economics II
- 7 Cultural Labor in the Migration Economy
- Part III Work and Labor in Economic and Anthropological Theory
- Appendix A A Note on the Qualifications of the Author
- References
- Index
Summary
Women and men who work as temporary foreign contract workers tend to leave their families for six to eight months per year, completely separated from the reproductive labor contexts of their households, families, and communities. The chapter opens with a woman struggling to maintain meaningful connections with her family at home while working abroad, a process involving balancing the realities of extreme labor control in seafood plants in the United States with the needs of children at home who are at risk of unwed pregnancies, drug abuse, and resentment of absent parents. It lists ten forms of labor found in six communities in Mexico and Guatemala, comparing reproductive labor and foreign contract labor in terms of their ability to generate satisfaction and happiness.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cultural Value of WorkLivelihoods and Migration in the World's Economies, pp. 79 - 102Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022