Global Production in a Romanian Village: Middle-Income Economy, Industrial Dislocation and the Reserve Army of Labor

Abstract

This article contributes to the discussion about the process of relocation of industrial production. The study focuses on a community in Eastern Europe which witnessed a cycle of events: from localization of a high-scale global factory in 2007 to its unexpected displacement in 2012. In this study is analyzed the process of the community’s inclusion in the production system, and it is argued that the challenge of production mobility is distinctively different in middle-income economies. Employing a cultural approach to the study of global production, the process of social reconstruction caused by the investment is chronologically outlined and its outcomes for the local labor market and host community are described.