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Peasant Capitalist Industry examines the handmade brick industry that originated and is concentrated in a handful of communities near Oaxaca City including Santa Lucia del Camino and Santa Cruz Amilpas. Scott Cook provides a comprehensive analysis of the brick plants (ladrilleras) which are privately owned and operated by individuals in the manufacturing communities who also are engaged in agriculture, either directly or with hired workers. Brick plant owners may or may not actually work as brick makers but all of them are engaged in the business as employers of pieceworkers (destajistas or mileros), and also as sellers of brick. Peasant Capitalist Industry contains detailed information about all aspects of brick manufacturing and marketing in the Oaxaca Valley industry. It also includes case studies of pieceworker and owner-worker household enterprises.
About the author
Scott Cook received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh. He taught anthropology at Michigan State University (1968-1971), and at the University of Connecticut (1971-1997). At UConn he also directed the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (1987-1992) and the Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Institute (1996-2000). His most recent books are Handmade Brick for Texas: A Mexican Border Industry, Its Workers, and Its Business (Lexington Books, 2011) and Understanding Commodity Cultures: Explorations in Economic Anthropology with Case Studies from Mexico (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004).
