Originally published in 1991, this volume discusses the urban working class, international migrants and the so-called lumpenproletariat. The book exhibits the fruitful interaction that has taken place between sociological theory, new views of the changing world economy and the empirical realities of working class experience and struggles. The dual theme of the book is the control which the state and employers seek to impose and maintain over labouring people, and the resistance put up by workers to these often new and unacceptable disciplines. With case studies – both historical and contemporary – drawn from North America, Britain and various parts of Africa, the author develops an interlocking theory of habituation and resistance. Against the background of profound changes in the global economy, Robin Cohen explores ways in which labouring people respond to the structural and managerial constrains on the development of their class consciousness and self-organisation.
This will be of interest to urban and industrial sociologists, as well as those concerned with comparative social theory and the relationship between developing world and industrialised societies.

- 200 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Original Title Page
- Original Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- 1 Theorising International Labour
- 2 Workers in Developing Societies
- 3 Work, Culture and the Dialectics of Proletarian Habituation
- 4 The Control and Habituation of Agricultural Workers in the US
- 5 Peasants to Workers and Peasant-Workers in Africa
- 6 Resistance and Hidden Forms of Consciousness amongst African Workers
- 7 The Revolutionary Potential of the ‘Lumpenproletariat’: A Sceptical View from Africa
- 8 The ‘New’ International Division of Labour: A Conceptual, Historical and Empmcal Critique
- 9 Citizens, Denizens and Helots: The Politics of International Migration Flows in the Post-war World
- References
- Index
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Yes, you can access Contested Domains by Robin Cohen in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Economics & Emigration & Immigration. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.