ABSTRACT
In his contribution to this volume, Martínez Veiga points us to the history of the capitalist class’ attempts to emancipate itself from the working class. My experience with the poultry industry in the USA and the five cases studies presented earlier provide evidence of this continued attempt. The case studies provide a valuable depiction of the emergence of the Mediterranean fresh fruit and vegetable commodity system based on flexible labour relations that serves EU and global markets. Commodity systems analysis (Friedland, 1984) is a research methodology informed by political economy that identifies the nexus of power relations within a particular commodity sector. It expands upon commodity chain perspectives to include the socio-historical context of the commodity system with particular attention to the interplay between state policies, corporate structure, labour relations and the scientific and technological environment. As a collection, these five chapters reveal the complex interplay of state, market and labour actors that facilitated the transformation of the Spanish province of Andalusia from a desert to the Orchard of Europe.
