Abstract
This paper analyzes how undocumented migrant farmworkers on New York dairies respond to workplace grievances. In the absence of meaningful recourse to formal labor protections, undocumented Mexican and Guatemalan farmworkers express their dissatisfaction on a moral terrain. Building on Hirschman’s “Exit, Voice, and Loyalty” framework, I argue that their responses reveal a gradation of agency, from entrapment on farms with unsupportive employers, constrained loyalty to paternalistic farmers, exit from farms and the dairy sector, to the private and public use of voice. Immigration enforcement pressures, farmer paternalism, and transnational economic obligations to their families at home limit the use of exit and voice. Nevertheless, some farmworkers are re-scaling their use of voice beyond the farm, calling on the public and policy-makers to implement systemic changes that improve their precarious conditions of work and life.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 311-325 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Citizenship Studies |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 3-4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 18 2016 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Political Science and International Relations
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Exit, voice, constrained loyalty, and entrapment : migrant farmworkers and the expression of discontent on New York dairy farms. / Sexsmith, Kathleen.
In: Citizenship Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3-4, 18.05.2016, p. 311-325.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Exit, voice, constrained loyalty, and entrapment
T2 - migrant farmworkers and the expression of discontent on New York dairy farms
AU - Sexsmith, Kathleen
PY - 2016/5/18
Y1 - 2016/5/18
N2 - This paper analyzes how undocumented migrant farmworkers on New York dairies respond to workplace grievances. In the absence of meaningful recourse to formal labor protections, undocumented Mexican and Guatemalan farmworkers express their dissatisfaction on a moral terrain. Building on Hirschman’s “Exit, Voice, and Loyalty” framework, I argue that their responses reveal a gradation of agency, from entrapment on farms with unsupportive employers, constrained loyalty to paternalistic farmers, exit from farms and the dairy sector, to the private and public use of voice. Immigration enforcement pressures, farmer paternalism, and transnational economic obligations to their families at home limit the use of exit and voice. Nevertheless, some farmworkers are re-scaling their use of voice beyond the farm, calling on the public and policy-makers to implement systemic changes that improve their precarious conditions of work and life.
AB - This paper analyzes how undocumented migrant farmworkers on New York dairies respond to workplace grievances. In the absence of meaningful recourse to formal labor protections, undocumented Mexican and Guatemalan farmworkers express their dissatisfaction on a moral terrain. Building on Hirschman’s “Exit, Voice, and Loyalty” framework, I argue that their responses reveal a gradation of agency, from entrapment on farms with unsupportive employers, constrained loyalty to paternalistic farmers, exit from farms and the dairy sector, to the private and public use of voice. Immigration enforcement pressures, farmer paternalism, and transnational economic obligations to their families at home limit the use of exit and voice. Nevertheless, some farmworkers are re-scaling their use of voice beyond the farm, calling on the public and policy-makers to implement systemic changes that improve their precarious conditions of work and life.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84961390975&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13621025.2016.1158354
DO - 10.1080/13621025.2016.1158354
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84961390975
VL - 20
SP - 311
EP - 325
JO - Citizenship Studies
JF - Citizenship Studies
SN - 1362-1025
IS - 3-4
ER -