#138 Labor and International Capital in the Making of a Peripheral Social Formation: Economic Transformation of Guatemala, 1850-1980
By Carol A. Smith
Abstract
This essay suggests an approach to analyzing the interaction of different forms of production with one another in particular social formations as they are influenced by the state of the global economy. It then applies the analysis to production systems in Guatemala between 1850 and 1980. It pays particular attention to the type of production known as petty commodity production, which changes form from classic artisanry to "informal" economy as it interacts with other ways of organizing labor in an economy. Rather than assuming a priori the dominance of one way of organizing labor over another, this essay suggests that political struggles among various groups within a social formation determine outcomes that do not necessarily meet the needs of either the general world economy or of capitalism. In the case under analysis, Guatemala, the persistence and spread of petty commnodity production has clearly affected the kind of capitalism extant there. It is commonplace to note the effect of capitalism on peripheral social formations; this essay argues that we must also consider the effect of social resistance to capitalism on the capitalism that eventually takes root in peripheral social formations.
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