The New Helots: Migrants in the International Division of Labour

This book explores how capitals grow by deploying quasi-free workers at the periphery of regional political economies or as modern migrants in the service or manufacturing industry. It compares Southern Africa, the USA, and the circum-Caribbean, drawing original and uncomfortable analogies between countries previously thought to be different. Written for both undergraduate and professional readers, it covers history, sociology, economics, and migration patterns.

Format: Hardback
Length: 306 pages
Publication date: 01 December 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Originally published in 1987 and now reissued with a substantial introduction by Robin Cohen, this comprehensive work of comparative and historical sociology argues that a key driver of capital growth lies in its ability to find successive cohorts of quasi-free workers to deploy in the farms, mines, and factories of an expanding international division of labor. These workers, like the helots of ancient Greece, are found at the periphery of 'regional political economies or in the form of modern migrants, sucked into the vortex of metropolitan service or manufacturing industry. The regions of Southern Africa, the USA, and the circum-Caribbean; European and its colonial and southern hinterlands are systematically compared, yielding original and, in some cases, uncomfortable analogies between countries previously thought to be wholly different in terms of their political structures and guiding values. The New Helots has been written with both an undergraduate and professional readership in mind. Students of history, sociology, and economics, as well as those interested in patterns of migration and ethnic relations, will find it of interest.

Originally published in 1987 and now reissued with a substantial introduction by Robin Cohen, this comprehensive work of comparative and historical sociology argues that a key driver of capital growth lies in its ability to find successive cohorts of quasi-free workers to deploy in the farms, mines, and factories of an expanding international division of labor. These workers, like the helots of ancient Greece, are found at the periphery of 'regional political economies or in the form of modern migrants, sucked into the vortex of metropolitan service or manufacturing industry. The regions of Southern Africa, the USA, and the circum-Caribbean; European and its colonial and southern hinterlands are systematically compared, yielding original and, in some cases, uncomfortable analogies between countries previously thought to be wholly different in terms of their political structures and guiding values. The New Helots has been written with both an undergraduate and professional readership in mind. Students of history, sociology, and economics, as well as those interested in patterns of migration and ethnic relations, will find it of interest.

Dimension: 216 x 138 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032666129