Organizing to Overcome Uneven Development: The Case of the U.S. South

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Abstract
A brief summary of the historical forces shaping the southern political economy points to convergence of production structures between the South and the rest of the U.S. without comparable convergence of consumption or distributional structures. An interpretation of these forces from the perspec tives of capital and labor is offered to better understand recent trends and future possibilities. Reasons are given to explain the relative attractiveness of the South to corporate investments. Continued growth of southern productive capacity relative to the rest of the U.S. is anticipated. Reasons why the South has again become a target of organized labor are cast in relation to past successes and fail ures. Barriers to organizing are not expected to prevent the spread of unioniza tion in the South. The interpretation suggests an intensification of struggle between labor and capital as southern organizing spreads and as transnational or other large-scale corporations depress wages and worker expectations outside of the South. The interpretation has important implications for spatial relations and class relations in the U.S. Eventual equalization of wage rates and profit rates will reduce the unevenness of regional development without necessarily increasing the labor share of total product within the U.S. The changing agendas of organized labor and corporate capital will affect the overall distribution of power in the U.S. political economy.

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