Constructing debt: discursive and material strategies of labour coercion in the U.S. South, 1903-1964
Book chapter
Pizzolato, N. 2024. Constructing debt: discursive and material strategies of labour coercion in the U.S. South, 1903-1964. in: Batista, A., Müller, V. and Peres, C. (ed.) Coercion and Wage Labor: Exploring Work Relations through History and Art UCL Press. pp. 275-300
| Chapter title | Constructing debt: discursive and material strategies of labour coercion in the U.S. South, 1903-1964 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Pizzolato, N. |
| Abstract | In this chapter based on archival sources and contemporary accounts drawn from government files, political and civil rights association archives, newspaper articles and memoirs, I discuss how labour coercion was imbricated with conceptual notions and social practices of debt during the twentieth century. I will explore how planters and growers in the US South used debt to attempt to immobilise workers for the length of time that their labour was needed in the fields and to pay them cheaply, or not at all. As we will see, employers used monetary remuneration itself, often assumed to be one of the hallmarks of free labour, to entangle workers in coercive labour practices. The way this happened evolved along the chronology covered by this study, which spans from the first court cases of ‘peonage’ (being compelled to work to pay a debt) in 1903 to the end, in 1964, of the Programa Bracero, which brought to the US heavily indebted workers from Mexico. |
| Sustainable Development Goals | 8 Decent work and economic growth |
| Middlesex University Theme | Creativity, Culture & Enterprise |
| Page range | 275-300 |
| Book title | Coercion and Wage Labor: Exploring Work Relations through History and Art |
| Editors | Batista, A., Müller, V. and Peres, C. |
| Publisher | UCL Press |
| Series | Work Around the World |
| ISBN | |
| Electronic | 9781800085381 |
| Electronic | 9781800085411 |
| Hardcover | 9781800085404 |
| Paperback | 9781800085398 |
| Publication dates | |
| 25 Jan 2024 | |
| Publication process dates | |
| Deposited | 29 Mar 2023 |
| Accepted | 15 Jan 2023 |
| Output status | Published |
| Publisher's version | License File Access Level Open |
| Accepted author manuscript | File Access Level Restricted |
| Copyright Statement | This Book Chapter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) Coercion and Wage Labour © 2024 UCL Press |
| Web address (URL) | https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.4329861.18 |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.4329861.18 |
| Related Output | |
| Is part of | https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781800085381 |
| Is part of | https://uclpress.co.uk/book/coercion-and-wage-labour/ |
| Language | English |
Permalink -
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/8q529
Download files
Restricted files
Accepted author manuscript
Under embargo indefinitely
82
total views4
total downloads1
views this month0
downloads this month
Export as
Related outputs
The hidden labour of digital capitalism: changes, continuities, critical issues
Pizzolato, N. 2024. The hidden labour of digital capitalism: changes, continuities, critical issues. International Review of Social History. 69 (2), pp. 299-306. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859024000336EDI and postgraduate research: report on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion review of postgraduate research at Middlesex University
Pizzolato, N., Saini, R., Stumbitz, B. and Sotiropoulou, P. 2024. EDI and postgraduate research: report on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion review of postgraduate research at Middlesex University. Middlesex University. https://doi.org/10.60528/1qw7q5Introduction: Gender and work in twentieth-century Italy: new approaches
Bracke, M.A., Favretto, I. and Pizzolato, N. 2024. Introduction: Gender and work in twentieth-century Italy: new approaches. Modern Italy. https://doi.org/10.1017/mit.2024.7Reconceptualising the factory as plant-ation: Black radicalism and the politics of history in a Detroit automobile plant
Pizzolato, N. 2024. Reconceptualising the factory as plant-ation: Black radicalism and the politics of history in a Detroit automobile plant. Historical Materialism: Research in Critical Marxist Theory. https://doi.org/10.1163/1569206x-bja10062Il lavoro attraverso lo sguardo femminile: la fotografia delle donne in Italia tra ricerca artistica e critica sociale
Di Trapani, M., Favretto, I., Pizzolato, N. and Betti, E. 2022. Il lavoro attraverso lo sguardo femminile: la fotografia delle donne in Italia tra ricerca artistica e critica sociale. Sociologia del lavoro. https://doi.org/10.3280/SL2022-163014Through the female gaze: women and work in Italy since the 1950s
Di Trapani, M., Favretto, I. and Pizzolato, N. 2021. Through the female gaze: women and work in Italy since the 1950s.Amanda Ciafone. Counter-Cola: A Multinational History of the Global Corporation. [Book review]
Pizzolato, N. 2020. Amanda Ciafone. Counter-Cola: A Multinational History of the Global Corporation. [Book review]. American Historical Review. 125 (2), pp. 626-627. https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhz1197"Once we owned slaves". Labour and coercion in 20th century American plantations
Pizzolato, N. 2020. "Once we owned slaves". Labour and coercion in 20th century American plantations. Contemporanea: Rivista di storia dell'800 e del '900. XXIII (1), pp. 25-51. https://doi.org/10.1409/96379Back to the factory: the continuing salience of industrial workplace history
Akgöz, G., Croucher, R. and Pizzolato, N. 2020. Back to the factory: the continuing salience of industrial workplace history. Labor History. 61 (1), pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2019.1681632The antinomies of Fordism
Pizzolato, N. 2017. The antinomies of Fordism. Storica. 23 (69), pp. 159-173. https://doi.org/10.23744/1794Scioperi al ritmo dei tamburi: Black Power nel “1968” americano
Pizzolato, N. 2018. Scioperi al ritmo dei tamburi: Black Power nel “1968” americano. Scienza e Politica. 30 (59), pp. 61-78. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1825-9618/8902The Influence of professional doctorates on practice and the workplace
Boud, D., Fillery-Travis, A., Pizzolato, N. and Sutton, B. 2018. The Influence of professional doctorates on practice and the workplace. Studies in Higher Education. 43 (5), pp. 914-926. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1438121Tactics of refusal: idioms of protest and political subjectivities in Italy's "1968 years"
Pizzolato, N. 2018. Tactics of refusal: idioms of protest and political subjectivities in Italy's "1968 years". American Historical Review. 123 (3), pp. 758-763. https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/123.3.758Harvests of shame: enduring unfree labour in twentieth century United States, 1933-1964
Pizzolato, N. 2018. Harvests of shame: enduring unfree labour in twentieth century United States, 1933-1964. Labor History. 59 (4), pp. 472-490. https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2018.1467259Transdisciplinary qualities in practice doctorates
Costley, C. and Pizzolato, N. 2018. Transdisciplinary qualities in practice doctorates. Studies in Continuing Education. 40 (1), pp. 30-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2017.1394287A new revolutionary practice: operaisti and the 'refusal of work' in 1970's Italy
Pizzolato, N. 2017. A new revolutionary practice: operaisti and the 'refusal of work' in 1970's Italy. Estudos Historicos (Rio de Janeiro). 30 (61), pp. 449-464. https://doi.org/10.1590/s2178-14942017000200008Antonio Gramsci: a pedagogy to change the world
Pizzolato, N. and Holst, J. 2017. Antonio Gramsci: a pedagogy to change the world. London Springer, Cham.The IWW in Turin: ‘Militant history’, workers’ struggle and the crisis of Fordism in 1970s Italy
Pizzolato, N. 2017. The IWW in Turin: ‘Militant history’, workers’ struggle and the crisis of Fordism in 1970s Italy. International Labor and Working Class History. 91, pp. 109-126. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0147547916000314Gramsci, politics and pedagogy: an interpretative framework
Pizzolato, N. and Holst, J. 2017. Gramsci, politics and pedagogy: an interpretative framework. in: Pizzolato, N. and Holst, J. (ed.) Antonio Gramsci: A Pedagogy To Change the World Springer. pp. 1-32Il compito rivoluzionario dell’auto-organizzazione: una nota su Grace Lee Boggs
Pizzolato, N. 2016. Il compito rivoluzionario dell’auto-organizzazione: una nota su Grace Lee Boggs. Commonware.