{"product_id":"american-value-david-pedersen-9780226653402","title":"American Value: Migrants, Money, and Meaning in El Salvador and the United States","description":"Over the past half-century, El Salvador has transformed dramatically. Historically reliant on primary exports like coffee and cotton, the country emerged from a brutal civil war in 1992 to find much of its national income now coming from a massive emigrant workforce--over a quarter of its population--that earns money in the United States and sends it home. In American \u003ci\u003eValue\u003c\/i\u003e, David Pedersen examines this new way of life as it extends across two places: Intipucá, a Salvadoran town infamous for its remittance wealth, and the Washington, DC, metro area, home to the second largest population of Salvadorans in the United States. Pedersen charts El Salvador's change alongside American deindustrialization, viewing the Salvadoran migrant work abilities used in new lowwage American service jobs as a kind of primary export, and shows how the latest social conditions linking both countries are part of a longer history of disparity across the Americas. Drawing on the work of Charles S. Peirce, he demonstrates how the defining value forms--migrant work capacity, services, and remittances--act as signs, building a moral world by communicating their exchangeability while hiding the violence and exploitation on which this story rests. Theoretically sophisticated, ethnographically rich, and compellingly written, \u003ci\u003eAmerican Value\u003c\/i\u003e offers critical insights into practices that are increasingly common throughout the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e David Pedersen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0226653404\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226653402\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/14\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2013","brand":"David Pedersen","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48086421405951,"sku":"9780226653402","price":34.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_415f7c43-42c0-49ba-b894-0e181153f222.jpg?v=1769094578","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/american-value-david-pedersen-9780226653402","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}