At the Margins of the Global Market

Phillip A. Hough is a Colombian-American sociologist who specializes in political economy, labour and agrarian movements, global commodity studies, comparative and world historical sociology, and Latin American development. His current research focuses on labour/agrarian struggles, state and paramilitary violence, class and state formations, and forced displacement and surplus populations.

• Introduction: The contradictions of Colombian development; 1. Towards a sociology of labor and development at the margins of the market; 2. The rise of Fedecafé hegemony in Viejo Caldas; 3: Fedecafé's labor regime in the arc of US world hegemony; 4. The world historical origins of despotism in Urabá; 5. Despotism, crisis, and the social contradictions of peripheral proletarianization in Urabá; 6. From despotism to counter-hegemony in the Caguán; 7. An uncertain future in the Caguán and beyond; Conclusion: Towards a labor-friendly development in an era of world systemic crisis.

'This book makes invaluable contributions to our understanding of labor regimes, commodity and value chains, and world historical sociology. Scholars interested in these fields, not to mention Colombian and Latin American historiography, will find a clearly argued, thoroughly researched, and theoretically sophisticated study. As the Trump administration attempts to dismantle what remains of postwar US hegemonic institutions, At the Margins of the Global Market offers insights into the kinds of developmental politics that could bring social welfare in a time of world systemic chaos.' César Bowley Castillo, The Journal of Development Studies