Abstract

RAMIREZ BACCA, Renzo. Urban Working Class in Coffee Industry: Sorter Women, Threshers and Work Regime in Antioquia, Colombia from 1910 to 1942. Desarro. soc. [online]. 2010, n.66, pp. 115-143. ISSN 0120-3584.

The author analyses an urban working-class population linked to the coffee industry: the sorter women. He studies the group profile from different factors such as age, marital status, and literacy in the Medellín working class context; to go then to a deeper study on the Municipal Threshers of Concordia town (in Antioquia department) case. He observes its organization and work regime taking into account the different work agents -sorter women, directors, administrators and managers-, and the relationship between the company and the local public administration- representatives and municipal consultative council-. The author describes the company's present organizational structure, its relationship with the public establishment and the coffee trading agencies; following an exposition about the spreading and consolidation process of coffee culture in Antioquia, especially in Antioquia's southwest; and a concise assessment on historiography related to the zone and the subject matter.

Keywords : Sorter women; threshers; coffee; work; organization; Antioquia.