The Demand for Immigrant Workers: Labor Scarcity or Social Control?
Open Access
- 1 December 1978
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in International Migration Review
- Vol. 12 (4) , 514-535
- https://doi.org/10.1177/019791837801200404
Abstract
Recent analyses of the economic role of immigrant workers from Mexico in U.S. labor markets have been advanced from two divergent interpretations—a labor scarcity argument and a social control thesis. This article analyzes the two perspectives, finding little evidence to support the labor scarcity argument. Immigrant workers are instead argued to be tied to social control functions in the peripheral sectors of the U.S. economy. Detail from the historical experience of farm workers in Southwestern agriculture are drawn upon to illustrate the argument.Keywords
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