This book presents an analysis of contemporary Central American from a social perspective and, more specifically, from that of one of its main components: the world of labor. Despite undeniable changes, this world is still made up of three basic logics. Labor markets reflect an inability to generate sufficient employment. Labor relations remain precarious. And labor subjects and actors solid enough for their voice to be heard have not managed to establish themselves. The result is that the world of labor in Central America is still marked by vulnerability. }The oligarchic crises in Central America has provoked a variety of responses at different levels during the last decades. The development of new agroexports in the 1950s, the import substitution industrialization of the 1960s, and the current opening up of trade along with the development of new tradables sectors under the influence of globalization, represent attempts to modernize the regions economies. The same has occurred at the political level with the current democratization processes that have meant competitive elections taking place in all the countries. It is at the social level that responses have been most weak and levels of poverty remain extremely high. This book presents an analysis of contemporary Central American history from a social perspective and, more specifically, from that of one of its main components: the world of labor. Despite undeniable changes, this world is still made up of three basic logics. Labor markets reflect an inability to generate sufficient employment. Labor relations remain precarious. And labor subjects and actors solid enough for their voice to be heard have not managed to establish themselves. The result is that the world of labor in Central America is still marked by vulnerability. }

On the basis of systematic research and personal experience, For We Are Sold, I and My People uncovers some of the social costs of modern production. Maria Patricia Fernandez-Kelly peels off the labels--"Made in Taiwan," "Assembled in Mexico"--and the trade names--RCA, Sony, General Motors, United Technologies, General Electric, Mattel, Chrysler, American Hospital Supply--to reveal the hidden human dimensions of present-day multinational manufacturing procedures. Focusing on Cuidad Juarez, located at the United States-Mexican border, Fernandez-Kelly examines the reality of maquiladoras, the hundreds of assembly plants that since the 1960s have been used by the Mexican government as part of its development strategy. Most maquiladoras function as subsidiaries of large U.S.-based corporations and a majority of the employees are women. Drawing from current knowledge in political economy and anthropology, this study focuses on one common denominator of the international division of labor--a growing proletariat of Third World women exploited by what some experts are calling "the global assembly line."

Published originally as La flor mas bella de la maquiladora, this book is based on interviews the author conducted with more than fifty Mexican women who work in the assembly plants along the U.S.-Mexico border. A descriptive analytic study conducted in the late 1970s, the book uses compelling testimonials to detail the struggles these women face.