Life on the line : a sociological investigation of women working in a clothing factory in Malta [Book review]

Abstract

Angele Deguara provides us with a meticulously researched case study of power dynamics played out within and without a Maltese clothing factory. This research helps us recognize how gender and social class, together with the location of the Maltese Islands within the international capitalist market, impact on agency. The focus is on the division of labour on the global and the national level and how it plays out at the micro level. Although the study purports to investigate the life experiences of a group of female factory workers through a Marxist and feminist perspective, the focus is continually on the interplay of power relationships between owners, management, middle management, machine operators and union. [Excerpt]