David Griffith is Associate Scientist at the Institute for Coastal and Marine Resources and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, East Carolina University.

"I like the way the author tied changes in the international division of labor to changes and growth in low wage labor in the United States, the way he related the anthropological literature on development in the Third World to theoretical considerations that pertain to 'marginal' employment in the United States, and the way he examined various dimensions (for example, household structure, the organization of work, economic development, physical/ecological constraints) to give a complete picture of changes in the labor process in the three cases examined."One of the most valuable insights the book offers is it shows how low wage labor in the United States was integrally related to changes in the international economy. The author makes a lucid and convincing argument that low wage labor is a central part of our 'advanced' economy, regardless of the predictions of ideologues about the bright future of our high technology economy. His careful analysis, however, paints no simple picture, and leaves the reader with a clear sense of the complexity of the problems addressed." — Max J. Pfeffer, Rutgers University"This is a superb book that combines good ethnography with interventions in several important theoretical debates. There are not very many good ethnographic treatments of the work of laboring classes, and this book will quickly take its place as a major addition to the handful that exist. It gives a feel for the experience of low waged work in the industries it describes, it shows the interconnectedness of workplace and family/community relations, it describes the implications of new immigration patterns and the 'unfree' forms of labor associated with their recruitment. The topic is extraordinarily significant and the author has done a wonderful job with it." — Jane Collins, University of Wisconsin, Madison

• Tables and Figures Acknowledgments Part I. Introduction 1. The Growth of Low-Wage Labor in the Production of Food Theoretical, Methodological, and Empirical Contributions of the Current WorkMethodological ConsiderationsSeafood Processing, Poultry Processing, and Agriculture Within the Culture and Political Economy of the Rural SouthConclusion 2. An Anthropology of Labor under Advanced Capitalism Theoretical Background: Relationships Between International and Domestic Labor ProcessesConclusion Part II. Industry Organization: A Comparative Overview 3. Seafood Processing in Eastern North Carolina: An Overview IntroductionGeneral Concerns of the IndustryPerceived Problems: Welfare, Low Wages, and the Labor SupplyInfluences of Levels of Regional Development on Seafood ProcessingDomestic Production and Labor Market DynamicsWork SettingsOrganization of WorkWork Organization, Recruitment, and Dependence on the Seafood IndustryConclusion 4. The Poultry Industry in the Southeast United States Changes in the Poultry Industry: The 1940s to TodayThe Influence of the Local Economy on the Poultry IndustryWages, Benefits, and Union Activity in the Four RegionsWork Organization in the IndustryConclusion: A Comparative Discussion of Seafood and Poultry Production Part III. Household and Community in Patterns of Labor Control 5. Shucking Shellfish, Picking Crab: A Profile of North Carolina Seafood Processing Workers Patterns of Work and Unemployment in Seafood Processing Workers' HouseholdsSkilled and Unskilled in Workers' Households: Comparisons of Ethnicity and SeasonalityRecruitmentHousehold ComplexityConclusion 6. Foundations of Divergence Within the Seafood Processing Labor Force The Seafood Processing Labor Force: An Exercise in ClassificationLabor Force Implications of Limited Entry and Coastal DevelopmentConclusion 7. Family, Community, and the Construction of Labor Markets in the U.S. Poultry Industry Sexual and Ethnic Compositions of Plant Work ForcesChanges in Labor Force Compositions Over TimeNetwork RecruitmentNorth Georgia and North Carolina Revisited: 1988 to 1989Conclusion 8. Swollen Hearts, Swollen Hands: Labor Relations in the U.S. Poultry Industry Occupational Injury as a Reflection of Labor RelationsInjury, Worker Productivity, and Labor ControlThe Developing Role of New Immigrants in Industry Labor Control StrategiesFormal Organizations, Worker Organization Among Immigrants, and the Overlap Between Agriculture and Processing Plant Labor MarketsNative Workers' Responses to New Immigrants in the PlantsConclusion Part IV. Conclusion: Case Studies in Theoretical Perspective 9. Towards a Theory of Low-Wage Labor Under Advanced Capitalism IntroductionBackground to the Development of Legal Imported LaborConclusion 10. Networks, Reproductive Labor, and the Manipulation of Community in the Formation of Low-Income Populations Theoretical Representations of LaborReconsidering Notions: An Anthropology of Low-Wage Labor Under Advanced CapitalismConclusion Appendix A Notes References Index