New Books in Economics Ron Hayduk, "Untangling the Political Roots of Immigration and Inequality in the United States" (Routledge, 2026)
Feb 10, 2026
Ron Hayduk, political scientist at San Francisco State University who studies immigration, inequality, and political participation. He links mass migration and rising inequality to capitalist accumulation and imperialist interventionism. He revisits 1870–1925 and 1970–2025 to trace policy, labor segmentation, and radical responses. He closes with strategies for solidarity and structural change.
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Migration And Inequality Are Linked
- Mass migration and intensifying inequality are two sides of the same coin driven by capitalist accumulation and imperialist interventionism.
- Treating symptoms rather than root causes leads policymakers to fail at managing migration and inequality.
Capitalism Produces A Reserve Labor Army
- Marx's theory shows capital accumulation forces subsistence producers into wage labor and creates a reserve army of labor that fuels migration.
- This process both enriches elites and undermines worker solidarity via segmented labor markets.
Marx's Irish Example And U.S. Nativism
- Hayduk recounts Marx describing the Irish as the archetype of immigrant labor and how discrimination undercut solidarity.
- He parallels that history with 19th-century U.S. segmented labor markets and nativism that limited worker unity.
