‘A virtuous industry’: the agrarian work-family ethic in US rulemaking on child agricultural labour

ABSTRACT

US rules on child agricultural labour have remained largely unchanged since the 1960s. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Labour (DOL) announced a rulemaking proposal to limit child farm labour, especially for migrant children. Yet by 2012, the DOL abandoned its proposed changes following heavy opposition. Based on a random sample and grounded thematic analysis of public submissions to the 2011 rulemaking proposal, our research explores how meanings of work and family surfaced in submissions from rural constituents. Linking Kathi Weeks’ feminist critique of the work and family ethic to the agrarian geographical imaginary, we identify how family farm operations were conceived as a locus for the making of ‘good’ American workers and national (white, settler) citizens. Our analysis explores the ideological function of these ‘regressive solidarities’ – internalized expressions and experiences of the agrarian work-family ethic – in relation to historical and contemporary unfreedoms embedded in North American food systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Labour
• agriculture
• regulation
• work ethic
• social reproduction
• family

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The claim that Hispanic children make up most child farmworkers is statistically questionable (i.e., the data from the NCCRAHS Factsheets suggest they encompass roughly a quarter of U.S. children working on farms). However, the argument that Hispanic children are a sizable demographic with especially vulnerable status is undoubtedly valid.

2 Available at: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=WHD-2011-0001-0001

3 4-H is a volunteer-based youth development organization, often involving agricultural projects.

 

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Notes on contributors

Emily Reid-Musson

Emily Reid-Musson is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Memorial University of Newfoundland in the Department of Geography.

Kendra Strauss

Kendra Strauss is Associate Professor and Director of the Labour Studies Program and The Morgan Centre for Labour Research, and Associate Member of the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University.

Meaghan Mechler

Meaghan Mechler is a PhD Candidate in Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph.