Situations of Informal Economic Dependency in Forest Self-Employment in La Araucanía

Abstract

Despite of wage-earning processes and the increase of non-agricultural employment in the rural sector, small peasant agriculture subsists in some southern regions of Chile. In these production units, various forestry activities are carried out independently, including forest activities. Nonetheless, all the means and materials are not always available to produce and sell properly in autonomous fashion. Because of this, a relationship of dependency emerges between the production units and external agents possessing the resources demanded by the former. This article seeks to identify and describe situations of economic dependence in forest self-employment in La Araucanía. Through in-depth interviews with self-employed forest workers, this study observes a problem of economic dependency in a job declared as “independent”. In addition, this study addresses the question of motivation towards self-employment in these economic conditions.