The Social Costs of Industrial Growth in Northern Mexico

Book excerpt: The foreign export-processing industry is a global phenomenon, with factories known as maquiladoras in Mexico and Central America. While maquiladoras have gone through second- and third-generation production models, with corresponding research literature from business perspectives, the social analyses of these models and 'Mature Maquilization's' effects on health, the environment, infrastructure, and gender inequalities have not yet been adequately addressed. Kathryn Kopinak's fine edited collection is a long-overdue, welcome addition to this gap in the literature. Drawing together a distinguished and committed group of scholars from North America, The Social Costs of Industrial Growth in Mexico provides careful and methodical knowledge on extensive third-generation social costs, with few benefits for workers' abilities to live healthy lives in which they enjoy fruits of their hard labor.