Reconstructing Burawoy: Theorizing Migrant Labor, the Politics of Precarity, and Postcolonial/Racial Transformations

Abstract

Michael Burawoy’s writings lay a foundation for critical sociologies of immigration, social movements, race, and postcolonial society. To realize these promises, however, it will be necessary to reconstruct Burawoy, as he has done with the theories of so many others. In this piece, I trace my own engagements with Burawoy in three areas: migrant labor, the politics of economic precarity, and postcolonial and racial transformations. For each area, I show how Burawoy laid a foundation for subsequent analysis, which I sought to take forward in my own work. These reconstructions reveal just how valuable Burawoy’s theories are to the advancement of critical sociology.