{"title":"So-called essential but treated as disposable: Northern California farmworkers working under COVID-19","authors":"Natalia Deeb-Sossa, Mónica Torreiro-Casal, Alvaro Medel-Herrero","doi":"10.1057/s41276-024-00482-2","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The workplace emerged as a primary site of infectious disease during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in occupations having little to no social distancing or potential for remote work. The pandemic had a huge impact on the physical and mental health of farmworkers, and it exposed the labor-market inequities in the United States, exacerbated by the lack of preventive measures to protect these vulnerable workers. In this paper, we use a social constructionist perspective to explore the meaning of “essential worker” by interviewing thirty farmworkers who during the pandemic came to work in a labor market shaped by exploitation and oppression and related unsafe working conditions. We argue that these workers, who are considered “essential” but treated as disposable, work under <i>structural racist capitalism</i>, and our findings contribute to a better understanding of how these Northern California farmworkers perceive being essential under these working conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":45728,"journal":{"name":"Latino Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Latino Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-024-00482-2","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"SOCIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The workplace emerged as a primary site of infectious disease during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in occupations having little to no social distancing or potential for remote work. The pandemic had a huge impact on the physical and mental health of farmworkers, and it exposed the labor-market inequities in the United States, exacerbated by the lack of preventive measures to protect these vulnerable workers. In this paper, we use a social constructionist perspective to explore the meaning of “essential worker” by interviewing thirty farmworkers who during the pandemic came to work in a labor market shaped by exploitation and oppression and related unsafe working conditions. We argue that these workers, who are considered “essential” but treated as disposable, work under structural racist capitalism, and our findings contribute to a better understanding of how these Northern California farmworkers perceive being essential under these working conditions.
期刊介绍：
Latino Studies has established itself as the leading, international peer-reviewed journal for advancing interdisciplinary scholarship about the lived experience and struggles of Latinas and Latinos for equality, representation, and social justice. Sustaining the tradition of activist scholarship of the founders of Chicana and Chicano Studies and Puerto Rican Studies, the journal critically engages the study of the local, national, transnational, and hemispheric realities that continue to influence the Latina and Latino presence in the United States. It is committed to developing a new transnational research agenda that bridges the academic and non-academic worlds and fosters mutual learning and collaboration among all the Latino national groups.
Latino Studies provides an intellectual forum for innovative explorations and theorization. We welcome submissions of original research articles of up to 8,000 words, from scholars and practitioners in the national and international research communities.
In addition to scholarly articles, we also invite other type of submissions. Vivencias or ''reports from the field'' are short personal essays between 2000-3000 words that describe and analyze significant local issues, struggles and debates affecting the lives of Latinas/os in different regions of the country. We also welcome interviews with Latinas/os who are contributing in their local communities or nationwide (e.g. authors, artists, community activists, union leaders, etc.). Our aim in publishing the ''reports'' is to inform readers about events that are sometimes over-looked by the national and regional media.The Reflexiones Pedagógicas section includes short essays between 2000-3000 words that address issues of pedagogy and curriculum. This section contributes toward the development and institutionalization of our field in the academy. Páginas Recuperadas are short essays between 2000-3000 words that seek to recover archival documents. These essays make visible, historically significant achievements by individuals, and pivotal events in the experience of Latinas/os in the United States. El Foro is an occasional section that provides a space for essays of approximately 6000 words, addressing current events, in an effort to further engage our readers in a dialogue on the pressing issues affecting Latina/o communities today.Book and media reviews are devoted to scholarship/media on the experience of Latinas/os in the United States. Reviews are no more than 1000 words.
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