La race du patron

Abstract

In the United States, day laborers recruited on the street mobilize ethnic and racial categories when identifying their potential employers. Based on ethnographic research conducted in the city of Oakland, this article analyzes this process of ethno-racial identification “from below” – by day laborers towards the people who employ them. We show why these precarious workers come to rely on ethno-racial categorizations as attempts to avoid “bad bosses”. What we call here “practical ethnicization” of employers is part of the few available strategies mobilized to obtain employment all while attempting to avoid the risks linked to this type of labor. The article shows that workers’ distinctions between “good” and “bad bosses” reflect the existing ethno-racial hierarchy that structures the construction industry. Street recruitment creates a particular relationship to space and race in a segregated city like Oakland that also come to influence how they perceive their employers. Additionally, theses perceptions of race and ethnicity can potentially evolve throughout their professional trajectories.

Keywords

• ethnicity
• informal labor
• United States
• immigrant labor
• ethnography