In the United States, the number of Latinos struggling in pursuit of the American Dream has never been greater. Millions work towards this ideal each year, only to find themselves trapped in a cycle of debt and labor. The need for a vivid, empirically grounded study on Latino politics, culture, and social issues is more essential now than ever before-- The Latino Question fulfills this gap, offering a cutting-edge overview and analysis of the transformative nature of Latino politics in the United States.   In a radical alternative to the dominant orthodoxy in Latino political studies, Armando Ibarra, Alfredo Carlos, and Rodolfo D. Torres emphasize the importance of political economy for understanding Latino politics, culture, and social issues. Written in an accessible style, the authors draw from extensive original research and several critical traditions--including Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, and Michel Foucault--to make crucial links between socio-economic and culture-based approaches for understanding the politics of race and ethnicity in capitalist society. Notably, they present front-line evidence of how some Mexican communities across America are not only resisting, but also reinventing and transforming the predominant economic ideas. The Latino Question will be essential for anyone hoping to understand the changes in Latino communities in America today.   “Provocative . . . . A timely intervention on Mexican American politics and labor.” -- Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva “Scholars of Mexican American politics have largely rendered invisible capitalism and the inequalities that flow from it. This is a remarkable analysis of Latino politics and labor in this period of market-driven madness and unruly democracy. . . The Latino Question is a compelling critique of our political economy.”  -- Rodolfo F. Acuña, Author of Occupied America “Studies of Latino politics in the past have largely failed to locate their discussions in the context of the American capitalist political economy and the class divisions that it fosters and that shape so much of the country's political and cultural struggles. The Latino Question provides a pathbreaking and extraordinary account of contemporary Latino politics.”   -- Mario Barrera, author of Race and Class in the Southwest 'A provocative book ... a timely intervention on Mexican American politics and labour' 'This is a remarkable analysis of Latino politics and labour in this period of market-driven madness and unruly democracy ... a compelling critique of our political economy as well as offering us democratic alternatives' 'Studies of Latino politics in the past have largely failed to locate their discussions in the context of the American capitalist political economy and the class divisions that it fosters and that shape so much of the country's political and cultural struggles. The Latino Question provides a pathbreaking and extraordinary account of contemporary Latino politics' 'This is a necessary book in these political times. Well researched and clearly written it exposes the problems and possibilities emergent when engaging and understanding the intersection of Latino politics in the American context. Rich in description and analysis the authors offer a lasting reminder that there is much and overlooked diversity amongst, across and within the matrix political category whose shorthand has too often been reduced to the word 'Latino' ' Armando Ibarra is associate professor in the School for Workers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is coeditor with Torres of Man of Fire: Selected Writings of Ernesto Galarza . Alfredo Carlos is a faculty member in political science and Chicano Latino studies at California State University, Long Beach as well as the executive director of the Foundation for Economic Democracy.  Rodolfo D. Torres  is professor of urban planning, political science, and Chicano and Latino studies, and director of the Latino Urban Theory Lab at the University of California, Irvine. The Latino Question Politics, Labouring Classes and the Next Left By Armando Ibarra, Alfredo Carlos, Rodolfo D. Torres Pluto Press Copyright © 2018 Armando Ibarra, Alfredo Carlos and Rodolfo D. Torres All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-7453-3524-7 Contents Figures and Tables, viii, Acknowledgments, ix, Foreword, xii, Introduction, 1, 1 Mexican Mass Labour Migration in a Not-So-Changing Political Economy, 16, 2 Hegemony, War of Position and Workplace Democracy, 38, 3 Poverty in the Valley of Plenty: Mexican Families and Migrant Work in California, 59, 4 Racism, Capitalist Inequality, and the Cooperative Mode of Production, 84, 5 Working but Poor in the City of Milwaukee: Life Stories, 128, 6 Latina/o Labour in Multicultural Los Angeles, 142, 7 Latino Futures? Cultural Political Economy and Alternative Futures, 156, Conclusion, 175, Notes, 185, Index, 212, CHAPTER 1 Mexican Mass Labour Migration in a Not-