In this essay consisting of five pages the principle argument presented in 'Port work selves and entitlement 'attitudes' in peripheral postindustrial Puerto Rico' by Maria M. Lopez is presented with the argument that American cultural facts have been overlooked. There are three sources cited in the bibliography.
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To criticism leveled against Puerto Ricans that these Hispanics are "dependent," Lopez argues that "Puerto Ricans are not dependent but rather have a different notion of citizenship" (111).
Rather than seeing Puerto Ricans as welfare sponges, Lopez sees them as living on the cutting edge of a new cultural development; one that is "post-work." At the
conclusion of her rambling article, Lopez argues vehemently in favor of extending the social wage; a concept of citizenship that is not "antagonistic to the proposals put forth by the
politics of identity;" and the concept of a guaranteed income (Lopez 114). Rather than a redistribution of wealth, per se, Lopez imagines a redistribution of leisure. Likewise, Stanley Aronowitz and
Jonathan Cutler feature essays in their test Post-work, the Wages of Cybernation, that reflect the same mindset voiced by Lopez. The socialist dissection of the current state of
the American economy and job market dramatically highlights the multiple problems that capitalism has not addressed. In essence, the essays featured in this anthology are in agreement with Lopez that
conditions for a guaranteed income and a redistribution of leisure are within reach. However, there are multiple obstacles to the future that pictured in both texts. In her article,
Lopez outlines the political situations that have led to the economic and cultural conditions of the present day in Puerto Rico. She also explores competing economic visions of the future.
For example, Lopez describes 2004: A Strategy, which was developed in 1987, as moving from a politics of redistribution of federal funds to a politics of "equal" economic opportunities
for everyone. Lopez expects that such economic programs can be expected to further burden the working class, "erode public services, freeze salaries, increase privatization, reduce jobs in the public sector