APRIL 17, 2026
A Baseline of Decency: Social Capital, Symbolic Capital, and The Moral Economy of Alt-labor and Worker Centers
Abstract: The book discusses how worker centers—non-union community organizations that advocate for low-wage workers—advance labor protections despite having limited money and human capital for advocacy. Focusing on Arise Chicago, a worker center, the book shows how the organization helped enact local and state laws that secured wage theft protections, paid sick leave, domestic worker rights, and the creation of a new city enforcement agency, the Office of Labor Standards.

The book argues that these reforms contribute to a new moral economy rooted in egalitarian, equitable, dignitarian, and collaborative values. A similar moral economy is also surfacing in other cities and states where worker centers prevail. The book targets scholars and students in law and society, law and political economy, labor and alt-labor studies, sociology, and social movements along with policy makers, journalists, and others interested in contemporary labor rights and economic justice.

BIO: César F. Rosado Marzán is the Edward L. Carmody Professor of Law at the University of Iowa College of Law, and serves as Director of Graduate Programs and Visiting Scholars. He is an internationally acclaimed socio-legal scholar and award-winning author whose work bridges theory and practice. At Iowa Law, he teaches Contracts as well as a variety of labor and employment law courses and seminars. He has earned the Iowa Law Collegiate Teaching Award, a distinction granted by students in recognition of his exceptional teaching.

Rosado Marzán is coauthor of Labor Law in the Contemporary Workplace: Cases and Materials (4th ed., West) and the award-winning Principled Labor Law: U.S. Labor Law Through a Latin American Method (Oxford, 2019), which received the Simón Bolívar Prize for Best Juridical Work. His current socio-legal book project explores the moral economy of alt-labor, revealing how U.S. worker centers—despite limited resources—are reshaping workers’ rights. His articles have been featured in leading publications, including Law & Social Inquiry, University of Chicago Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, University of Chicago Legal Forum, Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, and many other contributions spanning the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. Learn more via faculty profile.

Related Links

• Faculty Profile
• Personal website