A Sociology of Business Owners in Martinique

The 2009 movements in Martinique and Guadeloupe lead by the « Collectif du 5 février » and LKP put forward claims to raise wages in the private sector and blamed the role of local corporations and business owners for the high cost of living on the islands. On top of the clear class dimension of the protests lied a denunciation of the ethno-racial hierarchies that plagued both societies (with important differences between the two islands). In this paper, we would like to address the role of business-owners’ federations and interest groups in framing their role in the local economy in Martinique in the aftermath of the 2009 movement. How do they respond to those accusing the « Békés » (« Béké » is the term coined to designate the white descendants of the first European colonists in Martinique and Guadeloupe) to dominate the economy? At the other end of the spectrum, we would like to analyze the trajectories of small-business owners and the extent to which they confirm or challenge the way business-owners federations frame the role of businesses as well as ethno-racial hierarchies in the local economy.