State of the Union (eBook)

A Century of American Labor - Revised and Expanded Edition

Nelson Lichtenstein (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2013 | Revised and Expanded Edition
400 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4008-4814-0 (ISBN)

Infos

In a fresh and timely reinterpretation, Nelson Lichtenstein examines how trade unionism has waxed and waned in the nation's political and moral imagination, among both devoted partisans and intransigent foes. From the steel foundry to the burger-grill, from Woodrow Wilson to John Sweeney, from Homestead to Pittston, Lichtenstein weaves together a compelling matrix of ideas, stories, strikes, laws, and people in a streamlined narrative of work and labor in the twentieth century.The "e;labor question"e; became a burning issue during the Progressive Era because its solution seemed essential to the survival of American democracy itself. Beginning there, Lichtenstein takes us all the way to the organizing fever of contemporary Los Angeles, where the labor movement stands at the center of the effort to transform millions of new immigrants into alert citizen unionists. He offers an expansive survey of labor's upsurge during the 1930s, when the New Deal put a white, male version of industrial democracy at the heart of U.S. political culture. He debunks the myth of a postwar "e;management-labor accord"e; by showing that there was (at most) a limited, unstable truce.Lichtenstein argues that the ideas that had once sustained solidarity and citizenship in the world of work underwent a radical transformation when the rights-centered social movements of the 1960s and 1970s captured the nation's moral imagination. The labor movement was therefore tragically unprepared for the years of Reagan and Clinton: although technological change and a new era of global economics battered the unions, their real failure was one of ideas and political will. Throughout, Lichtenstein argues that labor's most important function, in theory if not always in practice, has been the vitalization of a democratic ethos, at work and in the larger society. To the extent that the unions fuse their purpose with that impulse, they can once again become central to the fate of the republic. State of the Union is an incisive history that tells the story of one of America's defining aspirations.This edition includes a new preface in which Lichtenstein engages with many of those who have offered commentary on State of the Union and evaluates the historical literature that has emerged in the decade since the book's initial publication. He also brings his narrative into the current moment with a final chapter, "e;Obama's America: Liberalism without Unions.?

Autor

Nelson Lichtenstein is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was the 2012 recipient of the Sol Stetin Award in Labor History and is the author of twelve books, including Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, Labor's War at Home, and The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 25.8.2013
• Reihe/Serie: Politics and Society in Modern America
• Reihe/Serie: Politics and Society in Modern America
• Zusatzinfo: 28 halftones.
• Verlagsort: Princeton
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► 20. Jahrhundert bis 1945
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918)
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Zeitgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Arbeits- / Sozialrecht ► Arbeitsrecht
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► EU / Internationales Recht
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft
• Schlagworte: activism • Affirmative Action • African Americans • American capitalism • American Federation of Labor • americans • arbitration • ballot box • blue-collar worker • Capitalism • Citizenship • Civil Rights Act of 1964 • collective bargaining • communism • Company union • Constitutionalism • Corporatism • Democracy • Employment • George Meany • Guaranteed minimum income • Harry Bridges • health insurance • hostility • Ideology • industrial democracy • Industrial relations • industrial unionism • Industrial Workers of the World • Institution • Insurgency • International Brotherhood of Teamsters • Jimmy Hoffa • John L. Lewis • Labor history (discipline) • Labor history of the United States • Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 • labor relations • labour law • Labour movement • Layoff • left-wing politics • Legislation • Legislator • Liberalism • Liberalism in the United States • living wage • middle class • Militant (Trotskyist group) • minimum wage • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People • National Labor Relations Act • National Labor Relations Board • New Deal coalition • new unionism • Payroll • Pension • Political culture • Political Economy • Politician • Politics • politics of the united states • Prerogative • private sector • Progressive Era • progressivism • Provision (contracting) • purchasing power • Racism • Referendum • Regime • REUTHER • right-wing politics • Ronald Reagan • seniority • Sidney Hillman • Social Democracy • Social Movement • Statute • Strike action • Strikebreaker • Supervisor • Tax • Teamster • Trade Union • Unemployment • union density • Union Movement • Union shop • United Automobile Workers • U.S. Steel • Voting • wage • Walter Reuther • welfare • Welfare State • Workforce • Working Class • workplace • World War II
• ISBN-10: 1-4008-4814-8 / 1400848148
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4008-4814-0 / 9781400848140