Citizenship at work in the Israeli periphery: : The case of Peri Ha�Galil

• Autores: Nir Cohen, Meirav Aharon-Gutman
• Localización: Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, ISSN-e 1472-3433, Vol. 32, Nº. 4, 2014, págs. 589-605
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In this paper we examine a struggle waged by production line workers at a formerly state-owned factory located in Israel�s northern periphery. Intially an attempt to prevent the closure of the privatized factory, it soon became an all-out struggle through which production line workers deployed their peripheral location and ethno-class identities to make claims for and enact their citizenship (at work). Drawing on two years of ethnographic research, we argue that despite�or perhaps because of�years of persistent labor market reforms traditional industrial factories remain critical spaces for the constitution of citizenship in Israel. In contrast to the past, in which state-sponsored industrial employment created a perfect congruence between labor market participation and citizenship (�I work therefore I am a citizen�), recent processes aimed at enhancing labor market flexibility have fundamentally altered these relations. Under constant threats of downsizing, precariatized industrial workers in privatized factories experience a restless citizenship, a ceaseless battle to secure their jobs through what might be called the work of citizenship.