ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the steady increase in the use of piece-rate contract labor instead of daily wages labor signals two major changes in the mode of employment. The first change is in the relationship between laborers and employers. The second change is in the relationship between laborers and their work: A subtle internalization of discipline is evident, suggesting that employers’ control of workers is manifested in workers’ self-discipline. This new work-discipline is both a sign of “modernity” in its impersonalized control of laborers and an indication of the growing vulnerability of laborers. As in most of rural India, there are three broad categories of casual labor contracts in Aruloor, namely, daily wages work, piece-rate work, and harvest work. Daily wages work, traditionally the commonest form of labor contract, means that the laborer is paid a fixed wage for a fixed number of hours of work.
