This pathbreaking study traces the rise--and subsequent fall--of the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA). Roger Horowitz emphasizes local leaders and meatpacking workers in Chicago, Kansas City, Sioux City, and Austin, Minnesota, and closely examines the unionizing of the workplace and the prominent role of black workers and women in UPWA.
In clear, anecdotal style, Horowitz shows how three major firms in U.S. meat production and distribution became dominant by virtually eliminating union power. The union's decline, he argues, reflected massive pressure by capital for lower labor costs and greater control over the work process. In the end, the victorious firms were those that had been most successful at increasing the rate of exploitation of their workers, who now labor in conditions as bad as those of a century ago.
"The definitive study of unionism in the meatpacking industry for the period since the 1920's." -- James R. Barrett, author of Work and Community in the Jungle: Chicago's Packinghouse Workers, 1894-1922
In clear, anecdotal style, Horowitz shows how three major firms in U.S. meat production and distribution became dominant by virtually eliminating union power. The union's decline, he argues, reflected massive pressure by capital for lower labor costs and greater control over the work process. In the end, the victorious firms were those that had been most successful at increasing the rate of exploitation of their workers, who now labor in conditions as bad as those of a century ago.
"The definitive study of unionism in the meatpacking industry for the period since the 1920's." -- James R. Barrett, author of Work and Community in the Jungle: Chicago's Packinghouse Workers, 1894-1922
The pathbreaking essays in His and Hers explore the history of consumption by synthesizing discrete historical literatures on consumer culture, gender, and the history of technology. Luxury hotels and the chocolate industry are among the diverse array of topics these authors use to demonstrate that consumption is both a material and a cultural process. Production and consumption become equally inextricable under close analysis. Tools from both the history of technology and gender studies illuminate how these categories intersect. Although broad social and technological trends influence the outcome of these stories, the authors emphasize the agaency of particular groups, including consumers, workers, manufacturers, and the "mediators" who communicate between producers and consumers. This volume will be of interest to historians in a wide range of fields.
Negotiating the divide between "respectable manhood" and "rough manhood" this book explores masculinity at work and at play through provocative essays on labor unions, railroads, vocational training programs, and NASCAR racing.
"Boys and Their Toys is another fine volume in the Hagley series and a valuable addition to the literature on masculinity. Those familiar with this rapidly developing area of research will find new insights about the interplay between gender and class identities, and the meanings of and elusive boundaries between work and play, and tools and toys." -- Ava Baron, editor of Work Engendered
"This sterling collection falls together like a kaleidoscopic pattern to reveal a rich and nuanced tale of life on the shop floor. Each essay reveals the shaping power of particular kinds of male behavior and of the images embedded in the male imagination. I remain astonished at what an illuminating experience this is." -- Alice Kessler-Harris, author of In Pursuit of Equity
"Boys and Their Toys? invites us to think about the making of men in a fresh new way -- masculinity is constructed not only through our relations with one another, but in the things we make, the places we make them, and the ways those places are organized. This collection gives an exciting solidity to our understanding of the historical construction of gender." -- Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America
"Boys and Their Toys? brings to life the worlds of male work and play, so often sanitized in our histories. Labor and social historians never again will be able to think about work and workers without taking into account gender, not only for women but for men and boys, too." -- Joshua B. Freeman, author of Working Class New York
"Boys and Their Toys is another fine volume in the Hagley series and a valuable addition to the literature on masculinity. Those familiar with this rapidly developing area of research will find new insights about the interplay between gender and class identities, and the meanings of and elusive boundaries between work and play, and tools and toys." -- Ava Baron, editor of Work Engendered
"This sterling collection falls together like a kaleidoscopic pattern to reveal a rich and nuanced tale of life on the shop floor. Each essay reveals the shaping power of particular kinds of male behavior and of the images embedded in the male imagination. I remain astonished at what an illuminating experience this is." -- Alice Kessler-Harris, author of In Pursuit of Equity
"Boys and Their Toys? invites us to think about the making of men in a fresh new way -- masculinity is constructed not only through our relations with one another, but in the things we make, the places we make them, and the ways those places are organized. This collection gives an exciting solidity to our understanding of the historical construction of gender." -- Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America
"Boys and Their Toys? brings to life the worlds of male work and play, so often sanitized in our histories. Labor and social historians never again will be able to think about work and workers without taking into account gender, not only for women but for men and boys, too." -- Joshua B. Freeman, author of Working Class New York
