ILPC 2026

Migrant agricultural workers face periods of acute economic insecurity. Many travel long distances to isolated regions to work in crops in the U.S. heartland and might not receive a paycheck until several weeks into the season.  Prior research has documented the importance of social networks in determining what jobs migrants obtain and their subsequent earnings (e.g. Aguilera and Massey 2003), and the important intermediary role played by farm labor contractors, who generally recruit, transport, house and pay workers (Griffith and Kissam 1995, Rothenberg 1998). However, what role do social networks play in migrant agricultural workers’ survival while in regions of work? García (2008) and others identify social and physical isolation, distance from families, irregular and uncertain work hours and the fast pace and exhausting nature of work as significant situational factors impacting mostly unauthorized migrant agricultural workers in Pennsylvania. Similarly, Balderrama and Molina II (2009) find that the short-term nature of work, dependence on farm labor contractors for continued employment and housing, and unauthorized status together prevent the North Carolina workers in their study from developing meaningful horizontal ties for long-term solidarity and resource sharing. This subsequently thwarts workers from overcoming their depressed working conditions and social and cultural isolation. However, research has not investigated how the content and character of social networks might differ for long-term migrant workers with legal status, many of whom have been migrating seasonally to work in particular crops for years or decades.

This paper explores social networks of Texas-Mexico borderlands-based agricultural workers. Respondents work in corn detasseling in the U.S. Midwest and in other crops around the country. Using data from in-depth interviews and follow-up discussions with 20 male workers, all legal permanent residents or U.S. citizens, I find that workers use social networks at recruitment, in transit, and most significantly while residing in temporary lodging in work states. Workers report maintaining both short- and long-term connections with compañeros to determine what jobs to take and how to get there, in accordance with the existing literature. However, contrary to prior literature my data indicates that workers draw on horizontal ties in sustained ways while in states of employment. Respondents describe pooling resources and sharing household tasks for self-preservation in difficult situations. The data suggests that by forming and sustaining close horizontal ties with their colleagues, respondents fulfill both the practical and social functions of kinship while in states of employment. In the masculine social environment where workers temporarily dwell, men collectively shoulder the tasks of self-reproduction, often using creative methods to survive and satisfy their needs in the face of isolation and hardship. This research adds to the existing literature: first, it highlights the experiences of borderlands-based migrant workers with legal status, addressing a gap in the literature. Second, it illuminates how workers who shoulder risks embedded in the agricultural industry rely on social networks not just to obtain work, but to sustain themselves during the labor process, temporarily suspending gender norms in the process.  

Key words: social networks, labor, migrant workers, agriculture, rurality

Bibliography:

Aguilera, Michael B. and Douglas S. Massey. 2003. “Social Capital and the Wages of Mexican

Migrants: New Hypotheses and Tests.”  Social Forces 82(2): 671-701.

Balderrama, Rafael and Hilario Molina II. 2009. “How Good Are Networks for Migrant Job

Seekers? Ethnographic Evidence from North Carolina Farm Labor Camps. Sociological Inquiry 79: 190–218. 

García, Victor. 2008. “Problem Drinking among Transnational Mexican Migrants: Exploring

Migrant Status and Situational Factors.” Human Organization 67(1): 12-24.

Griffith, David, and Edward Kissam. 1995. Working Poor: Farmworkers in the United States.

Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Rothenberg, Daniel. 1998. With These Hands: The Hidden World of Migrant Farmworkers

Today. New York: Harcourt Brace.