This book explores the relationship between poverty, underdevelopment, and economic exploitation. Using a model based on economic exploitation, the author provides an alternative to modernization theories of Central Appalachian. The study presents a history of exploitation which contends that Appalachian poverty is not due to a lack of integration into the world economy but rather to the conditions under which the region was integrated into the world economy

This history is complemented by a comparison of rates of manufacturing surplus value for Central Appalachia, the South, the Northeast, and the U.S. as a whole from 1963 to 1982. It shows that Central Appalachia has a rate of economic exploitation well above the U.S. average. However, labor throughout the U.S. experienced increased exploitation from 1963 to 1982, creating an "Appalachianizing of America." The rate of surplus value for manufacturing in Central Appalachia is related to historical events including social movements and fluctuations in the coal market

Finally, models of economic exploitation for all 50 states and the District of Columbia are developed. These models indicate a link between labor market characteristics and the rate of surplus value. Through these models, a direct link is drawn between poverty and exploitation throughout the United States

(Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State University, 1992; revised with new preface and index)