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Jazz Glastra Thesis Full.pdf (2.24 MB)

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Inequality in Farmworker Wages: Race, Space, and Legal Status

Glastra, Jazz
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1461228244

Abstract Details

2016, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Environment and Natural Resources.
In recent years, alternative agrifood movements have called for a wide range of reforms to the “industrial” food system. Although some agrifood movements focus on social justice, most activists have not targeted their reforms to farmworkers. In addition, little research has been done in recent years on hired farm labor. While existing studies have catalogued the low wages, poor working conditions, and poor health of farmworkers, little is known about stratification within the farm labor sector. This thesis brings to light previously understudied inequities among farmworkers and demonstrates that farmworker wages are stratified by race/ethnicity, immigrant legal status, and region. I frame my research largely using the group threat hypothesis, which argues that minority groups face greater discrimination (and therefore lower wages) in regions where they are a larger percentage of the population. While the group threat hypothesis appears to account for racial and immigrant pay degradation among workers in all occupations at the regional level, it does not consistently explain pay penalties for minorities in regional farm labor markets. I find that blacks earn the lowest wages in the East and Southeast and that Latinos do not earn significantly lower wages than whites in four out of the six regions. These results provide mixed support for preexisting theories and raise new questions about whether and how farmwork is similar to other occupations and industries.
Linda Lobao, PhD (Advisor)
Jeff Sharp, PhD (Committee Member)
Kristi Lekies, PhD (Committee Member)
165 p.
Sociology
farm labor; farmworker; agriculture; wages; stratification; group threat; wage inequality

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Glastra, J. (2016). Inequality in Farmworker Wages: Race, Space, and Legal Status [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1461228244

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Glastra, Jazz. Inequality in Farmworker Wages: Race, Space, and Legal Status. 2016. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1461228244.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Glastra, Jazz. "Inequality in Farmworker Wages: Race, Space, and Legal Status." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1461228244

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1461228244
1,297
© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.