Comparing bonding capital in New England groundfish and scallop fisheries: Differing effects of privatization

Abstract

Based on qualitative data analysis, this paper makes three contributions: (1) following recent privatization policies, social inequality emerged across New England's two most prominent fisheries—the scallop and groundfish fisheries. Given that inequality is not solely a financial phenomenon but also social, engrained in daily practices, the decline in bonding capital serves as an important indicator of this growing disparity between vessel owners and active crewmembers. (2) While the resulting class formation is characterized by differences in labor precarity in the scallop fishery, it is characterized by differences in labor inactivity in the groundfish fishery. Labor precarity refers to the disproportionate risk and vulnerability experienced by active scallop boat crewmembers as compared to vessel owners. Meanwhile labor inactivity describes both vessel owners' ability to earn money without fishing and fishermen's difficulty in finding employment, creating a sharp social divide between those who work and those who do not. The contraction of the active labor pool in the groundfish fishery coincides with stronger ties of kinship, which serve as a survival tactic under times of stress. (3) Although there is a wealth of literature on the privatization of the world's oceans and inequality, few studies have investigated the textured experience of class formation, which this analysis seeks to remediate.