Mario Barrera: Colonial Labor System - Research Paper

Introduction

According to Mario Barrera (1979), labor colonial system is an arrangement which occurs in a situation where the work dynamism is segmented based on ethnicity and racial divides. Along the segmented line, the groups involved is systematically preserved in a subservient point. These segmented groups of people were found in different parts of the world. For example, the recruiters traveled the whole Gulf of Guinea and purchased slaves in Liberia, Rio Muni, Cameroon, and Gabon (Enrique 103).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Aspects of Colonial Labor System

According to Barrera, there are five aspects of the colonial labor system. These aspects were independent and served to hold marginal populations in a framework that the employers were the only beneficiary since the employees provided them with a cheaper labor force. These five aspects include labor repression, occupational stratification, Chicanos, buffer role, and the dual wage system (Charles, 3).

Labor Repression

Barrera used the labor repression concept to give an example of what transpired in the mining companies of Arizona and ranches, businesses, and farms of wealthy Americans. A large number of Mexicans provided labor for the mines (Charles, 3). They were paid extremely low wages that pushed them into debt.

Occupational Stratification

Occupational stratification refers to the act of categorizing a given type of jobs as only reserved for minorities and others reserved for non-minorities (Charles, 4). Occupational stratification went high with the introduction of mechanization when initial positions were taken by machines leading to the creation of even more undesirable jobs.

Chicanos

According to Barrera, Chicanos was a term used to describe reserve labor. The employers would utilize this aspect because it provided elasticity during occasions when labor increases and the workforce need an expansion (Charles, 4). It also provided leverage to the employers to bargain and control existing workers especially during situations where the current workers wanted to strike by showing that they can be replaced.

Two Aspects of the Colonial Labor System

Buffer Role

Barrera used the phrase buffer role in illustrating the position of the minorities towards their employers. The minorities acted as buffers or cushions for the employers' businesses. The minorities were the last to be hired and the last to be fired (Charles, 4). They were powerless and unable to defend themselves making them a dispensable resource for the employers meaning that they are easily replaceable.

Dual Wage System

This refers to an occasion where the employer will pay a smaller wage to a minority worker and another wage which is higher than the initial wage to a non-minority worker who does the same job. This term is called cheap labor and is still in use to date. For example, in the 1870s, employers in Arizona mines would pay Mexican miners 12 dollars to 1 dollar per day depending on the nature of the job with an addition of a week's ration of flour (Charles, 6). The Americans would be paid 30 to 70 dollars for the same job.

Works Cited

Martino, Enrique. "Touts and Despots: Recruiting Assemblages of Contract Labor in Fernando Po and the Gulf of Guinea." (2018): 1858-1979

Pinderhughes, Charles. "Internal Colonialism." The WileyBlackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2017): 1-3.