Plantations, especially sugar plantations, created slave societies and a racism that persisted well into post-slavery periods: so runs a familiar argument that has been used to explain the sweep of Caribbean history. Here one of the most eminent scholars of modern social theory applies this assertion to a comparative study of most of the Caribbean islands from the time of the American Revolution to the Spanish American War.

Arthur Stinchcombe uses insights from his own much admired Economic Sociology to show why sugar planters needed the help of repressive governments for recruiting disciplined labor. Demonstrating that island-to-island variations on this theme were a function of geography, local political economy, and the relation to outside powers, he scrutinizes Caribbean slavery and Caribbean emancipation movements in a world-historical context.