The Big Rig
The Big Rig

Author: Steve Viscelli

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2016-04-12

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 0520962710

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Long-haul trucks have been described as sweatshops on wheels. The typical long-haul trucker works the equivalent of two full-time jobs, often for little more than minimum wage. But it wasn’t always this way. Trucking used to be one of the best working-class jobs in the United States. The Big Rig explains how this massive degradation in the quality of work has occurred, and how companies achieve a compliant and dedicated workforce despite it. Drawing on more than 100 in-depth interviews and years of extensive observation, including six months training and working as a long-haul trucker, Viscelli explains in detail how labor is recruited, trained, and used in the industry. He then shows how inexperienced workers are convinced to lease a truck and to work as independent contractors. He explains how deregulation and collective action by employers transformed trucking’s labor markets--once dominated by the largest and most powerful union in US history--into an important example of the costs of contemporary labor markets for workers and the general public.

Working Class
Working Class

Author: Jeff Torlina

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781588267566

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Jeff Torlina challenges the conventional wisdom about the attitudes of blue-collar men toward their work. Torlina highlights the voices of pipe fitters, welders, carpenters, painters, locomotive assemblers, and factory workers to reveal the complexities, and advantages, of working-class life. These men see blue-collar labor as a desirable alternative to white-collar occupations; their work involves integrity, character, pride, and a connection with being a real man; values that they perceive as lost in white-collar office jobs. The result is a penetrating critique of many commonly held assumptions, and a compelling case for a new understanding of our social class system. -- Book Description.

Sociology of Work
Sociology of Work

Author: Vicki Smith

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2013-05-16

Total Pages: 1183

ISBN-13: 1506320937

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The simple act of going to work every day is an integral part of all societies across the globe. It is an ingrained social contract: we all work to survive. But it goes beyond physical survival. Psychologists have equated losing a job with the trauma of divorce or a family death, and enormous issues arise, from financial panic to sinking self-esteem. Through work, we build our self-identity, our lifestyle, and our aspirations. How did it come about that work dominates so many parts of our lives and our psyche? This multi-disciplinary encyclopedia covers curricular subjects that seek to address that question, ranging from business and management to anthropology, sociology, social history, psychology, politics, economics, and health. Features & Benefits: International and comparative coverage. 335 signed entries, A-to-Z, fill 2 volumes in print and electronic formats. Cross-References and Suggestions for Further Readings guide readers to additional resources. A Chronology provides students with historical perspective of the sociology of work. In the electronic version, the comprehensive Index combines with the Cross-References and thematic Reader′s Guide themes to provide robust search-and-browse capabilities.

Sociology
Sociology

Author: Anthony Giddens

Publisher: Polity

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 1121

ISBN-13: 074563379X

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This updated edition provides an ideal teaching text for first-year university and college courses.

The Sociology of Industry
The Sociology of Industry

Author: Richard Brown

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-08-02

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1134999364

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This book provides an excellent introduction to the sociology of industry. It comprises of three sections, which in turn address: the relation between industry and other sub-systems or institutions in society; the internal structure of industry and the roles people play within that structure; the social actions of individuals and groups within an organisational structure. It is an excellent resource for students of sociology who have an interest in its application to the ‘world of work’.

America's Working Man
America's Working Man

Author: David Halle

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2014-12-10

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 022622936X

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“An unusually deep and wide-ranging study” by a sociologist who spent years listening to and living among workers at a New Jersey chemical plant (Journal of American Studies). Over a period of six years during the late 1970s, at factory and warehouse, at the tavern across the road, in their homes and union meetings, on fishing trips and social outings, David Halle talked and listened to workers of an automated chemical plant in New Jersey’s industrial heartland—white, male, and mostly Catholic. He has emerged with an unusually comprehensive and convincingly realistic picture of blue-collar life in America during this era. Throughout the book, Halle illustrates his analysis with excerpts of workers’ views on everything from strikes, class consciousness, politics, job security, and toxic chemicals to marriage, betting on horses, God, home-ownership, drinking, adultery, the Super Bowl, and life after death. Halle challenges the stereotypes of the blue-collar mentality and provides a detailed, in-depth portrait of one community of workers at a time when it was relatively affluent and secure. “Absorbing reading.”—Business Week

Blue-Collar Stratification
Blue-Collar Stratification

Author: William Humbert Form

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-03-08

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 1400868459

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In studying the impact of industry on class organization, social scientists have assumed that the effects of technological advance increase with time and that, as technology molds, dehumanizes, and alienates workers, the pressure mounts to change the system through political action. William H. Form tests these assumptions in his study. The author considers whether workers have more to do with one another as societies industrialize, whether they become more involved in organizations, and whether these involvements become distinctively similar, creating an organizational basis for a solidary working-class movement. To examine these questions, he chooses four countries (India, Argentina, Italy, and the U.S.) that vary in the extent of their industrial development. He then compares samples of skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled workers in order to ascertain how specific technologies to which they have been exposed affect their behavior in systems such as the work group, union, party, neighborhood, and nation. Originally published in 1976. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.