New Working-class Studies (ILR Press Book)

by JohnRusso (Editor), SherryLeeLinkon (Editor)

New
Illustrated
2005
$57.34

We put the working class, in all its varieties, at the center of our work. The new working-class studies is not only about the labor movement, or about workers of any particular kind, or workers in any particular place-even in the workplace. Instead, we ask questions about how class works for people at work, at home, and in the community. We explore how class both unites and divides working-class people, which highlights the importance of understanding how class shapes and is shaped by race, gender, ethnicity, and place. We reflect on the common interests as well as the divisions between the most commonly imagined version of the working class-industrial, blue-collar workers-and workers in the 'new economy' whose work and personal lives seem, at first glance, to place them solidly in the middle class. -from the Introduction
In John Russo and Sherry Lee Linkon's book, contributors trace the origins of the new working-class studies, explore how it is being developed both within and across fields, and identify key themes and issues. Historians, economists, geographers, sociologists, and scholars of literature and cultural studies introduce many and varied aspects of this emerging field. Throughout, they consider how the study of working-class life transforms traditional disciplines and stress the importance of popular and artistic representations of working-class life.
Contributors: Robert Bruno, University of Illinois; Renny Christopher, California State University-Channel Islands; Jim Daniels, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh; Elizabeth Faue, Wayne State University; Lisa Jordan, University of Minnesota; Paul Lauter, Trinity College; Sherry Lee Linkon, Youngstown State University; Jack Metzgar, Roosevelt University in Chicago; Don Mitchell, Syracuse University; Kimberley L. Phillips, The College of William and Mary; Alessandro Portelli, University of Rome La Sapienza; David Roediger, University of Illinois, Rachel Lee Rubin, University of Massachusetts-Boston; John Russo, Youngstown State University; Tim Strangleman, London Metropolitan University; Tom Zaniello, Northern Kentucky University and George Meany Center for Labor Studies; Michael Zweig, State University of New York at Stony Brook

Synopsis

We put the working class, in all its varieties, at the center of our work. The new working-class studies is not only about the labor movement, or about workers of any particular kind, or workers in any particular place-even in the workplace. Instead, we ask questions about how class works for people at work, at home, and in the community. We explore how class both unites and divides working-class people, which highlights the importance of understanding how class shapes and is shaped by race, gender, ethnicity, and place. We reflect on the common interests as well as the divisions between the most commonly imagined version of the working class-industrial, blue-collar workers-and workers in the 'new economy' whose work and personal lives seem, at first glance, to place them solidly in the middle class. -from the Introduction

In John Russo and Sherry Lee Linkon's book, contributors trace the origins of the new working-class studies, explore how it is being developed both within and across fields, and identify key themes and issues. Historians, economists, geographers, sociologists, and scholars of literature and cultural studies introduce many and varied aspects of this emerging field. Throughout, they consider how the study of working-class life transforms traditional disciplines and stress the importance of popular and artistic representations of working-class life.

Contributors: Robert Bruno, University of Illinois; Renny Christopher, California State University-Channel Islands; Jim Daniels, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh; Elizabeth Faue, Wayne State University; Lisa Jordan, University of Minnesota; Paul Lauter, Trinity College; Sherry Lee Linkon, Youngstown State University; Jack Metzgar, Roosevelt University in Chicago; Don Mitchell, Syracuse University; Kimberley L. Phillips, The College of William and Mary; Alessandro Portelli, University of Rome La Sapienza; David Roediger, University of Illinois, Rachel Lee Rubin, University of Massachusetts-Boston; John Russo, Youngstown State University; Tim Strangleman, London Metropolitan University; Tom Zaniello, Northern Kentucky University and George Meany Center for Labor Studies; Michael Zweig, State University of New York at Stony Brook

$57.34

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 288
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: ILR Press
Published: Apr 2005
ISBN 10: 0801489679
ISBN 13: 9780801489679

Media Reviews

I've learned enough about working-class studies in the last couple of years to pay attention whenever Sherry Lee Linkon and John Russo publish. Here they've combined the perfect mix of voices and ideas to create a fresh take on a vital and still disappointingly overlooked notion: that class counts. I urge anyone serious about understanding workers and working-class culture in America to read this book.

-- Alfred Lubrano, author of Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams

It is hard to imagine a better time for the publication of New Working-Class Studies, which demonstrates how class affects our lives at work, at home, and in the community. This succinct, inclusive, and comprehensive collection reflects our lived experiences.

-- Mary Romero, Arizona State University, author of Maid in the U.S.A.

These readings on the history and experience of the working class make compelling reading. Recommended for all libraries.

* Library Journal *

This book is sure to make a splash, with ripple effects continuing for a long time. It is an invaluable encyclopedic guide to the best of the writing and research that has emerged in working-class studies in the last decade. It also eloquently and convincingly shows how this new attention to class and the lives of working people is reshaping in fundamental ways our vocabulary, theory, pedagogy, and political choices. It is exciting and compelling work, bubbling with new and fresh ideas and connections.

-- Dorothy Sue Cobble, Rutgers University, author of The Other Women's Movement: Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America

This extremely valuable collection explores the development of new working-class studies in academe. The essays highlight these studies at the intersection of different academic fields; within disciplinary perspectives on the working class; among representations of the working class in poetry, literature, film, and music; and as reflected in the relationship between social class, politics, and education. Highly recommended.

* Choice *

This groundbreaking collection offers a diverse and comprehensive starting point for forays into the 'new working-class studies,' presenting not only an exemplary range of studies of working-class lives and more theoretical pieces that explore the contours of this emerging field, but also a wonderful bibliographic resource. Together the chapters vividly demonstrate the importance, in the new working-class studies, of the centrality of and respect for working-class lives, class intersections, interdisciplinarity, a diversity of sources and forms of representation, and the political and educational value of such studies. This volume is a crucial and inspiring intervention.

-- Alison Stenning, University of Newcastle

Author Bio

John Russo is Professor of Labor Studies, Coordinator of the Labor Studies Program, and Co-Director of the Center for Working-Class Studies at Youngstown State University. Sherry Lee Linkon is Professor of English and American Studies and Co-Director of the Center for Working-Class Studies at Youngstown State University. Russo and Linkon are coauthors of Steeltown USA: Work and Memory in Youngstown. John Russo is Professor of Labor Studies, Coordinator of the Labor Studies Program, and Co-Director of the Center for Working-Class Studies at Youngstown State University. Sherry Lee Linkon is Professor of English and American Studies and Co-Director of the Center for Working-Class Studies at Youngstown State University. Russo and Linkon are coauthors of Steeltown USA: Work and Memory in Youngstown.