ECONOMY AND LABOR COLLECTION

New and classic books in labor studies, economy, political science, development, structural inequality, social justice, globalization, and more.

ECONOMY AND LABOR COLLECTION

New and classic books with critical perspectives on the global economy and the ways it affects people in different regions, books on labor studies, economy, political science, development, structural inequality, social justice, globalization, and more. We are proud to present the Diverse Economies and Livable Worlds series, books about recent social movements, and ethnographies, philosophical takes, and close studies on a range of subjects including neoliberalism, fair housing, financial crisis impacts, fashion, capitalism, and human rights.

Books in this collection (print formats only) can be purchased here for 40% off using promo code MN90390. Offer expires Nov. 1, 2023.

Download a Diverse Economies and Livable Worlds series flyer.
Download flyers for two new books in the series: Cash, Clothes, and Construction: Rethinking Value in Bolivia's Pluri-economy by Kate Maclean and The Solidarity Economy by Jean-Louis Laville.

New on the University of Minnesota Press podcast: Marc Doussard (Justice at Work and Degraded Work) in conversation with David B. Reynolds about the mutually reinforcing roles of economic and racial justice organizing and policy entrepreneurship in building power and support for policy changes.

Listen at Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts, or others.

BROWSE COLLECTION:

Cash, Clothes, and Construction Rethinking Value in Bolivia’s Pluri-economy Kate Maclean 2023 Fall: A groundbreaking feminist perspective on Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) rule in Bolivia and the country’s radical transformation under Evo Morales
Strike! Twenty Days in 1970 When Minneapolis Teachers Broke the Law William D. Green 2023 Fall: The complex and dramatic history of an illegal teachers’ strike that forever altered labor relations and Minnesota politics
The Solidarity Economy Jean-Louis Laville 2023 Spring: Questioning the boundaries between politics and economics
Betting on Macau Casino Capitalism and China’s Consumer Revolution Tim Simpson 2023 Spring: A comprehensive look into how Macau’s recent decades of gambling-related growth produced one of the wealthiest territories on the planet
Castoffs of Capital Work and Love among Garment Workers in Bangladesh Lamia Karim 2022 Fall: Dispelling stereotypes about garment workers in the global apparel industry
Showroom City Real Estate and Resistance in the Furniture Capital of the World John Joe Schlichtman 2021 Fall: A unique and engaging account of local urban decision-making within the globalizing world
Justice at Work The Rise of Economic and Racial Justice Coalitions in Cities Marc Doussard and Greg Schrock 2022 Spring: A pathbreaking look at how progressive policy change for economic justice has swept U.S. cities
On the Rural Economy, Sociology, Geography Henri Lefebvre Stuart Elden and Adam David Morton, Editors 2022 Spring: A collection of previously untranslated writings by Henri Lefebvre on rural sociology, situating his research in relation to wider Marxist work
The Alienated Subject On the Capacity to Hurt James A. Tyner 2022 Spring: A timely and provocative discussion of alienation as an intersectional category of life under racial capitalism and white supremacy
A Monetary and Fiscal History of Latin America, 1960-2017 Timothy J. Kehoe and Juan Pablo Nicolini, Editors 2021 Spring: A major, new, and comprehensive look at six decades of macroeconomic policies across the region
The Digital Is Kid Stuff Making Creative Laborers for a Precarious Economy 2021 Fall: How popular debates about the so-called digital generation mediate anxieties about labor and life in twenty-first-century America
Practicing Cooperation Mutual Aid beyond Capitalism Andrew Zitcer 2021 Fall: A powerful new understanding of cooperation as an antidote to alienation and inequality
Profit over Privacy How Surveillance Advertising Conquered the Internet Matthew Crain 2021 Fall: A deep dive into the political roots of advertising on the internet
Media and Management Rutvica Andrijasevic, Julie Yujie Chen, Melissa Gregg and Marc Steinberg 2021 Spring: An essential account of how the media devices we use today inherit the management practices governing factory labor
The Global Shelter Imaginary IKEA Humanitarianism and Rightless Relief Daniel Bertrand Monk and Andrew Herscher 2021 Fall: Examines how the humanitarian order advances a message of moral triumph and care while abandoning the dispossessed
Private Metropolis The Eclipse of Local Democratic Governance Dennis R. Judd, Evan McKenzie and Alba Alexander, Editors 2021 Spring: Examines the complex ecology of quasi-public and privatized institutions that mobilize and administer many of the political, administrative, and fiscal resources of today’s metropolitan regions
The Digitally Disposed Racial Capitalism and the Informatics of Value Seb Franklin 2021 Spring: Locates the deep history of digitality in the development of racial capitalism
Batman Saves the Congo How Celebrities Disrupt the Politics of Development Alexandra Cosima Budabin and Lisa Ann Richey 2021 Spring: How celebrity strategic partnerships are disrupting humanitarian space
The Dispossessed Karl Marx's Debates on Wood Theft and the Right of the Poor Daniel Bensaïd 2021 Spring: Excavating Marx’s early writings to rethink the rights of the poor and the idea of the commons in an era of unprecedented privatization
Scammer’s Yard The Crime of Black Repair in Jamaica Jovan Scott Lewis 2020 Fall: Tells the story of Jamaican “scammers” who use crime to gain autonomy, opportunity, and repair
Black Food Matters Racial Justice in the Wake of Food Justice Hanna Garth and Ashanté M. Reese, Editors 2020 Fall: An in-depth look at Black food and the challenges it faces today
Urbanism without Guarantees The Everyday Life of a Gentrifying West Side Neighborhood Christian M. Anderson 2020 Spring: A unique more-than-capitalist take on urban dynamics
Clocking Out The Machinery of Life in 1960s Italian Cinema Karen Pinkus 2020 Spring: An original reflection on Italy’s postwar boom considers potentials for resistance in today’s neoliberal (dis)order
Fair Trade Rebels Coffee Production and Struggles for Autonomy in Chiapas Lindsay Naylor 2019 Fall: Reassessing interpretations of development with a new approach to fair trade
Wageless Life A Manifesto for a Future beyond Capitalism Ian G. R. Shaw and Marv Waterstone 2020 Spring: Drawing up alternate ways to “make a living” beyond capitalism
The Alchemy of Meth A Decomposition Jason Pine 2019 Fall: Meth cooks practice late industrial alchemy—transforming base materials, like lithium batteries and camping fuel, into gold
The Decorated Tenement How Immigrant Builders and Architects Transformed the Slum in the Gilded Age Zachary J. Violette 2019 Spring: A reexamination of working-class architecture in late nineteenth-century urban America
Reimagining Livelihoods Life beyond Economy, Society, and Environment Ethan Miller 2019 Spring: A provocative reassessment of the concepts underlying the struggle for sustainable development
Dead Labor Toward a Political Economy of Premature Death James Tyner 2019 Spring: A groundbreaking consideration of death from capitalism, from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century
The Platform Economy How Japan Transformed the Consumer Internet Marc Steinberg 2019 Spring: Offering a deeper understanding of today’s internet media and the management theory behind it
Markets Armin Beverungen, Philip Mirowski, Edward Nik-Khah and Jens Schröter 2019 Spring: A media theory of markets
Gringolandia Lifestyle Migration under Late Capitalism Matthew Hayes 2018 Fall: A telling look at today’s “reverse” migration of white, middle-class expats from north to south, through the lens of one South American city
99 Theses on the Revaluation of Value A Postcapitalist Manifesto Brian Massumi 2018 Fall: A speculative exploration of value, emphasizing practical experimentation in its future forms
Food Justice Now! Deepening the Roots of Social Struggle Joshua Sbicca 2018 Fall: A rallying cry to link the food justice movement to broader social justice debates
Renew Orleans? Globalized Development and Worker Resistance after Katrina Aaron Schneider 2018 Spring: Urban development after disaster, the fading of black political clout, and the onset of gentrification
Carving Out the Commons Tenant Organizing and Housing Cooperatives in Washington, D.C. Amanda Huron 2018 Spring: An investigation of the practice of “commoning” in urban housing and its necessity for challenging economic injustice in our rapidly gentrifying cities
Flames of Discontent The 1916 Minnesota Iron Ore Strike Gary Kaunonen 2017 Fall: A working-class history of a 1916 miners’ strike in northern Minnesota, one of the most important events in organized labor of the early twentieth century
When the Hills Are Gone Frac Sand Mining and the Struggle for Community Thomas W. Pearson 2017 Fall: An overlooked part of fracking’s environmental impact becomes a window into the activists and industrial interests fighting for the future of energy production—and the fate of rural communities
Beautiful Wasteland The Rise of Detroit as America’s Postindustrial Frontier Rebecca J. Kinney 2016 Fall: What is the “new Detroit” that everyone keeps talking about?
The Servant Class City Urban Revitalization versus the Working Poor in San Diego David J. Karjanen 2016 Fall: Exposes a dark side of the sunny city that has enticed workers and tourists for decades
Farm Worker Futurism Speculative Technologies of Resistance Curtis Márez 2016 Spring: How one of America’s key social movements led the way in using new media for justice
How Noise Matters to Finance N. Adriana Knouf 2016 Spring: The stock market is the background of how we begin to deal with the complex imbrication of humans, machines, and noise
DIY Detroit Making Do in a City without Services Kimberley Kinder 2016 Spring: When public services fail, neighbors step in to keep a city alive
Freegans Diving into the Wealth of Food Waste in America Alex V. Barnard 2016 Spring: Freegans, who try to live on what we throw away, reveal the limits of capitalism but also the limits of consumer activism in changing it
Last Project Standing Civics and Sympathy in Post-Welfare Chicago Catherine Fennell 2015 Fall: How the aftermath of public housing became an education in the rights and duties of belonging to the city
Coin-Operated Americans Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade Carly A. Kocurek 2015 Fall: How and why video gaming culture became the domain of young men and boys
Leverage of the Weak Labor and Environmental Movements in Taiwan and South Korea Hwa-Jen Liu 2015 Fall: Why do social movements appear at different times in a nation’s development?
Wastelanding Legacies of Uranium Mining in Navajo Country Traci Brynne Voyles 2015 Spring: What is “wasteland,” and who gets to decide?
Making Other Worlds Possible Performing Diverse Economies Gerda Roelvink, Kevin St. Martin and J. K. Gibson-Graham, Editors 2015 Spring: Rethinking economy to produce resilient communities
Life Support Biocapital and the New History of Outsourced Labor Kalindi Vora 2015 Spring: How global capitalism has turned human beings into a new form of biocapital
Oil Culture Ross Barrett and Daniel Worden, Editors 2014 Fall: The cultural life of oil—from aesthetics and politics to economy and ecology
Debt to Society Accounting for Life under Capitalism Miranda Joseph 2014 Fall: Reveals how credit, debt, and accounting shape and influence our lives
The Deadly Life of Logistics Mapping Violence in Global Trade Deborah Cowen 2014 Fall: A genealogy of logistics, tracing the link between markets and militaries, territory and government
More Than Shelter Activism and Community in San Francisco Public Housing Amy L. Howard 2014 Spring: Public housing projects in San Francisco reveal the power of community action
Negotiating Sex Work Unintended Consequences of Policy and Activism Carisa R. Showden and Samantha Majic, Editors 2014 Spring: Illustrates how the politics surrounding sex work shape individual and collective agency
Fires on the Border The Passionate Politics of Labor Organizing on the Mexican Frontera Rosemary Hennessy 2013 Fall: Examining the affective bonds of labor organizing and collective agency in northern Mexico
Answer the Call Virtual Migration in Indian Call Centers Aimee Carrillo Rowe, Sheena Malhotra and Kimberlee Pérez 2013 Fall: What are the personal and political consequences of being a “virtual American” in India?
Digital State The Story of Minnesota's Computing Industry Thomas J. Misa 2013 Fall: The rise of Minnesota computing after World War II—the country’s first fully realized hotbed of computer technology
Harriman vs. Hill Wall Street’s Great Railroad War Larry Haeg 2013 Fall: The two most powerful men in the nation’s dominant industry battle for control of the Northern Pacific Railway, forever changing the landscape of American business
Corporate Sovereignty Law and Government under Capitalism Joshua Barkan 2013 Fall: Corporate power to govern life is increasing not because regulation has failed but because it has succeeded
Lifeblood Oil, Freedom, and the Forces of Capital Matthew T. Huber 2013 Fall: Using oil to retell twentieth-century American political history
Degraded Work The Struggle at the Bottom of the Labor Market Marc Doussard 2013 Fall: Why service-sector jobs have gotten worse—and what can be done to improve pay and working conditions for low-wage workers
Take Back the Economy An Ethical Guide for Transforming Our Communities J. K. Gibson-Graham, Jenny Cameron and Stephen Healy 2013 Spring: An accessible guide to demystifying the economy and creating a more just and sustainable world
Hot Spotter’s Report Military Fables of Toxic Waste Shiloh R. Krupar 2013 Spring: How biopolitical militarism in the U.S. obscures the domestic remains of war
Value in Marx The Persistence of Value in a More-Than-Capitalist World George Henderson 2013 Spring: Why Marx’s multiple explorations of the theory of value continue to provide powerful ways of thinking about capitalism—and beyond
The Art of Making Do in Naples Jason Pine 2012 Fall: An American anthropologist traverses the contact zones between organized crime and everyday life in Naples
Families Apart Migrant Mothers and the Conflicts of Labor and Love Geraldine Pratt 2012 Spring: How temporary migration programs haunt the lives of families long after they have reunited
Filipino Crosscurrents Oceanographies of Seafaring, Masculinities, and Globalization Kale Bantigue Fajardo 2011 Fall: How migrant Filipino seamen navigate alternative masculinities in the global shipping industry
Mobile Urbanism Cities and Policymaking in the Global Age Eugene McCann and Kevin Ward, Editors 2011 Spring: How knowledge and power flow between places and impact cities worldwide
Microfinance and Its Discontents Women in Debt in Bangladesh Lamia Karim 2011 Spring: A feminist critique of the much-lauded microcredit process in Bangladesh
Brand Aid Shopping Well to Save the World Lisa Ann Richey and Stefano Ponte 2011 Spring: A critical account of the rise of celebrity-driven “compassionate consumption”
Service Economies Militarism, Sex Work, and Migrant Labor in South Korea Jin-kyung Lee 2010 Fall: A compelling alternative narrative of the modern ‘miracle’ of South Korea
A Return to Servitude Maya Migration and the Tourist Trade in Cancún M. Bianet Castellanos 2010 Fall: Tourism, consumption, migration, and the Maya in Cancún
Fighting for the Future of Food Activists versus Agribusiness in the Struggle over Biotechnology Rachel Schurman and William A. Munro 2010 Fall: How activists changed the trajectory of the new agricultural biotechnologies
Breaks in the Chain What Immigrant Workers Can Teach America about Democracy Paul Apostolidis 2010 Fall: How immigrants’ stories can transform social power
Hobos, Hustlers, and Backsliders Homeless in San Francisco Teresa Gowan 2010 Spring: A powerful ethnographic account of life on the streets in San Francisco
Mine Towns Buildings for Workers in Michigan’s Copper Country Alison K. Hoagland 2010 Spring: What company towns in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan reveal about life during America’s first mineral land rush
Seeking Spatial Justice Edward W. Soja 2010 Spring: An innovative new way of understanding and changing the unjust geographies in which we live
Migrants for Export How the Philippine State Brokers Labor to the World Robyn Magalit Rodriguez 2010 Spring: How the Philippines transformed itself into the world’s leading labor brokerage state
Games of Empire Global Capitalism and Video Games Nick Dyer-Witheford and Greig de Peuter 2009 Fall: Analyzes video games and their links with capitalism, militarism, and social control
Those Who Work, Those Who Don't Poverty, Morality, and Family in Rural America Jennifer Sherman 2009 Fall: Following the stories of economic collapse in a Northern California town and what they tell us about rural America
Shopping Our Way to Safety How We Changed from Protecting the Environment to Protecting Ourselves Andrew Szasz 2009 Spring: What could be wrong with bottled water and sunscreen?
Beaches, Ruins, Resorts The Politics of Tourism in the Arab World Waleed Hazbun 2008 Fall: How Arab states use tourism for their own ends
Everyone Had Cameras Photography and Farmworkers in California, 1850–2000 Richard Steven Street 2008 Fall: The relationship between California farmworkers and the photographers who have documented their lives
Whose Hunger? Concepts of Famine, Practices of Aid Jenny Edkins 2008 Fall: An analytical look at the ways we define and respond to famine.
Capital, Interrupted Agrarian Development and the Politics of Work in India Vinay Gidwani 2008 Spring: Challenges the most fundamental assumptions of capitalism
Money and Liberation The Micropolitics of Alternative Currency Movements Peter North 2007 Spring: A firsthand view of local currencies that are providing alternatives to global capital
Unraveling the Garment Industry Transnational Organizing and Women’s Work Ethel C. Brooks 2007 Spring: The consequences—both positive and negative—of consumer boycotts of sweatshop labor.
The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It) A Feminist Critique of Political Economy J. K. Gibson-Graham 2006 Spring: The classic text on representations of capitalism and their political effects—with a new introduction
A Postcapitalist Politics J. K. Gibson-Graham 2006 Spring: Presents compelling alternatives to capitalism—and strategies for achieving them
Mangos, Chiles, and Truckers The Business of Transnationalism Robert R. Alvarez Jr. 2005 Fall: Examines the effects of global capital on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border
Up Against the Sprawl Public Policy and the Making of Southern California Jennifer Wolch, Manuel Pastor Jr. and Peter Dreier, Editors 2004 Spring: Los Angeles's experience in managing urban growth and change
The Urban Revolution Henri Lefebvre 2003 Spring: The first English translation of Lefebvre’s groundbreaking work on the urban experience
New York, Chicago, Los Angeles America’s Global Cities Janet L. Abu-Lughod 2001 Spring: A renowned scholar compares America’s three global cities.
Class and Its Others J. K. Gibson-Graham, Stephen A. Resnick and Richard D. Wolff, Editors 2000 Fall: A surprising and innovative look at class that proposes new approaches to this important topic.
The Jobless Future Second Edition Stanley Aronowitz and William DiFazio 1995 Fall: Charting a major change in the nature of paid work in the United States
The Politics of Bitcoin Software as Right-Wing Extremism David Golumbia 2016 Fall: The first comprehensive account of Bitcoin’s underlying right-wing politics