Between flexibility and precariousness: youth, work, and labor market fragmentation in Mexico's Bajío region

Abstract

This article examines the reconfiguration of the youth labor market in Mexico's Bajío region, highlighting the impact of labor flexibility and precariousness on young people. The central argument maintains that the low-cost production and consumption regime established in the region corresponds to what Burawoy calls “hegemonic despotism,” where an instrumental relationship with work predominates and political and productive arrangements weaken collective organization. Under this framework, the demands of employability, autonomy, and resilience generate critical attitudes among young people, but also cause disenchantment and, in many cases, resignation, especially in the face of fragile institutional support and feelings of isolation or collective disaffiliation.

Analysis of sociodemographic data and testimonies reveals that young people face high rates of informality and growing uncertainty, factors that increase their vulnerability to segregative practices and disciplinary mechanisms, such as wage violence. However, there is also a demand for a work ethic oriented toward the pursuit of autonomy and self-fulfillment, which promotes new demands for recognition and social justice in the workplace. These tensions open the debate on experiences of labor injustice and the challenges faced by new generations in overcoming the dominant logic in the region.