Chapter 12: Conclusions: Labor between exploitation and resistance

The chapters constituting this volume provide a panorama of labor relations in agri-food under Neoliberal Globalization. While the complexity of the topic prevents an exhaustive review of its contemporary status, the rich geographically and analytically different contributions presented above offer salient elements that permit the theorization of its most relevant aspects. A common denominator found in the chapters presented is the deliberate attention paid to labor processes and labor relations in contemporary capitalism. This is a relevant aspect that represents a departure from the limited attention that the theme of labor has received in recent decades. As indicated in the introduction, the topic of labor was a key component of classical and more recent 20th century studies. Since the mid-1980s, however, it has lost visibility in the – nevertheless abundant – research produced by scholars of agri-food. The new and exploitative social relations defining the use and position of labor in agri-food¹ along with new forms and conditions of resistance illustrated in the chapters offer possible explanations for declining interest in the theme of labor in recent years.