1. ¹Adelphi University
2. ²University of Connecticut

^*The authors thank Andrew Polsky and the anonymous reviewers of Polity for helpful comments on an earlier draft. We also gratefully acknowledge Betty Garcia-Mathewson for her critical insights on power.

Abstract

This paper explores contemporary labor rights advocacy among Latino farmworkers and their allies in New York state, drawing on data from participant observation and field interviews conducted over nearly a decade (from 2000 to 2008). The principal finding is that power inequalities within advocacy networks constrain the actions of "weaker" members, who, in turn, respond with unconventional tactics of resistance within the networks themselves. This paper employs key mechanisms from the literature on transnational advocacy to explain these domestic-level interactions, demonstrating their portability from one level of analysis to another.