Foreign labor and German industrial capitalism 1871–1978: the evolution of a migratory system

This article traces the historical development of Germany's use of foreign labor since the founding of the Reich in 1871. Contrary to official proclamations that intra‐European migration is a mutually beneficial exchange of regional resources, this study demonstrates — historically and ethnographically — that labor migration functions to feed growth in the European “core” while stimulating socioeconomic decay or maintenance of the status quo in the “periphery.” The social scientific “equilibrium model” of regional interaction is thus seriously questioned.