THE SPECIFICITY OF RECENT PROLETARIANIZATION PROCESSES IN ECUADORIAN HIGHLANDS

This article analyzes there cent modalities of proletarianization of rural workers in flower and broccoli agribusinesses in the province of Cotopaxi in the Ecuadorian highlands. This is a rural territory where capitalist modernization does not require the total expropriation of land resources. Therefore, it uses both landless workers located in the lowerpart, as well as indigenous peasants who still have plots located in the upper part. The strategies deployed by the businessmen to preserve their domination in the social field are being investigated, and they are seeking there production of clientelist relations, as well as the change of habitus among the workers of this territory. It also examines the limitations of rural workers in the organizational field and the current deployment of public policies that lead to a flexibilization of the labor market. This work is based on research conducted from 2012 to the present, using surveys of rural families and interviews with key actors in the territory.

Proletarianization; Agribusiness; Social Field; Flexibilization; Social Organization