ALIENATION AMONG ASIAN AND LATINO IMMIGRANTS IN THE LOS ANGELES GARMENT INDUSTRY: THE NEED FOR NEW FORMS OF CLASS STRUGGLE IN THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY Available to Purchase

According to Marx, capitalism leads to the alienation of people from their work, from the product of their work, and from other people (Oilman, 1976:133–4). These characteristics of capitalism were obvious for all to see in the late nineteenth century, as capital and labor were increasingly polarized. But in the late twentieth century, class relations have become considerably more complicated. The emergence and growth of various forms of “middle class” (Walker, 1979; Wright, 1985) make the issue of who is exploiting whom, of who benefits from the alienation of workers, unclear. In turn, the confusion in class relations has an effect on the ability to wage class struggle, as the “enemy” of the working class is difficult to define, let alone target.