Abstract

MARTINEZ SILVA, Eleocadio. Employment, unemployment and identities of the Mexican steel workers made redundant system. Estud. sociol [online]. 2016, vol.34, n.101, pp.383-406. ISSN 2448-6442.

It has been more than twenty years since Mexican industry began its road to restructuring and modernization process. In this time, thousands of workers lost their jobs and indeed had very little chances to return to some related industrial job. After twenty years of this event of massive firing, in this essay it is presented a reflection about employment, unemployment and identities about a worker cohort who were dismissed from iron and steel industry. In this sense, a comparative research was done with three emblematical cases in Mexico: Fundidora de Monterrey (1986), Altos Hornos de México (1991-1992) and Siderúrgica Lázaro Cárdenas “Las Truchas” (1991-1992).

As long as industrial worker is out of work sooner than later in the context of Latin American economies, the proposal is taking a sociological perspective according to this geographical area. So it will be some crucial concepts: the meaning of firing and unemployment, identity crisis and alteration, and the meaning of restructuring and modernization in the typical big enterprise of Latin America, like are the three cases in this essay.

The sociological significance from this study is the comprehension enhancement about people who is involved in social alteration process; how is affected their everyday lives and the very more personal issues about their individual experiences.

Keywords : industrial restructuring; employment; unemployment and worker identity.

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