The State-Market Nexus in Discourse and Labour Exploitation in Agrarian Capitalism: The Case of Sicily’s Tomato Sector
(2025) SIMZ11 20251Graduate School
- Abstract
- This thesis examines how labour exploitation in Sicily’s tomato sector is legitimised through both the Italian labour migration policy and agri-food industry discourse. It argues that exploitation is not the result of policy failure, but rather a structural feature of capitalist agriculture, normalised through public and private narratives that present inherently exploitative labour relations as economically necessary.
The thesis is based on the following research question:
How does discourse in Italian labour migration policy and agri-food industry narratives legitimise labour exploitation in the Sicilian tomato sector as a structural feature of capitalist agriculture?
In doing so, the study applies Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)... (More) - This thesis examines how labour exploitation in Sicily’s tomato sector is legitimised through both the Italian labour migration policy and agri-food industry discourse. It argues that exploitation is not the result of policy failure, but rather a structural feature of capitalist agriculture, normalised through public and private narratives that present inherently exploitative labour relations as economically necessary.
The thesis is based on the following research question:
How does discourse in Italian labour migration policy and agri-food industry narratives legitimise labour exploitation in the Sicilian tomato sector as a structural feature of capitalist agriculture?
In doing so, the study applies Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) through Marxist political economy and Gramsci’s theory of hegemony. It examines two key discursive means, the Italian Decreto Flussi, which regulates non-EU labour migration, and the promotional material from Food Innova’s Premio Nazionale Excellent Tomato, which reflects dominant narratives in agri-food capitalism within the tomato sector.
Findings show that both state and corporate discourse construct migrant labour as flexible and economically instrumental. This legal and discursive framing facilitates the ongoing use of precarious migrant labour while maintaining the appearance of formal regulation and economic modernity. Moreover, agri-food promotional discourse celebrates market success and sustainability while erasing the human labour behind it.
Empirical evidence from NGO reports and journalistic investigations illustrates the severe material consequences of this system, with long working hours, unsafe conditions, irregular wages and social isolation, among others. Here, migrant workers who work in the tomato greenhouses, often racialised and undocumented, are exposed to persistent vulnerability, with limited access to healthcare, education and legal protections.
Overall, the thesis demonstrates that discourse is constitutive of capitalist agricultural relations. The study of the Sicilian case contributes to debates in Marxist political economy, critical agrarian studies and CDA by showing how language works as a material means that legitimises capitalist labour relations. In doing so, it offers a critique of how the state-market nexus in discourse stabilises systems of exploitation under the appearance of legality, productivity and sustainability. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9212344
- author
- Genovese, Aurora LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SIMZ11 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9212344
- date added to LUP
- 2025-09-19 13:38:53
- date last changed
- 2025-09-19 13:38:53
@misc{9212344,
abstract = {{This thesis examines how labour exploitation in Sicily’s tomato sector is legitimised through both the Italian labour migration policy and agri-food industry discourse. It argues that exploitation is not the result of policy failure, but rather a structural feature of capitalist agriculture, normalised through public and private narratives that present inherently exploitative labour relations as economically necessary.
The thesis is based on the following research question:
How does discourse in Italian labour migration policy and agri-food industry narratives legitimise labour exploitation in the Sicilian tomato sector as a structural feature of capitalist agriculture?
In doing so, the study applies Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) through Marxist political economy and Gramsci’s theory of hegemony. It examines two key discursive means, the Italian Decreto Flussi, which regulates non-EU labour migration, and the promotional material from Food Innova’s Premio Nazionale Excellent Tomato, which reflects dominant narratives in agri-food capitalism within the tomato sector.
Findings show that both state and corporate discourse construct migrant labour as flexible and economically instrumental. This legal and discursive framing facilitates the ongoing use of precarious migrant labour while maintaining the appearance of formal regulation and economic modernity. Moreover, agri-food promotional discourse celebrates market success and sustainability while erasing the human labour behind it.
Empirical evidence from NGO reports and journalistic investigations illustrates the severe material consequences of this system, with long working hours, unsafe conditions, irregular wages and social isolation, among others. Here, migrant workers who work in the tomato greenhouses, often racialised and undocumented, are exposed to persistent vulnerability, with limited access to healthcare, education and legal protections.
Overall, the thesis demonstrates that discourse is constitutive of capitalist agricultural relations. The study of the Sicilian case contributes to debates in Marxist political economy, critical agrarian studies and CDA by showing how language works as a material means that legitimises capitalist labour relations. In doing so, it offers a critique of how the state-market nexus in discourse stabilises systems of exploitation under the appearance of legality, productivity and sustainability.}},
author = {{Genovese, Aurora}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The State-Market Nexus in Discourse and Labour Exploitation in Agrarian Capitalism: The Case of Sicily’s Tomato Sector}},
year = {{2025}},
}