WORK, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY IN INDUSTRIALIZING AMERICA: Essays In American Working-Class And Social History

by Herbert George Gutman

Excellent Book

Genres: History, Labor, Nonfiction

343 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

A specialist in slavery and labor history, Herbert George Gutman was professor of history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Reviews

[Dan Gorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know, the Marxism is a little old-fashioned, but I think Gutman is brilliant for showing that the story of American working people involves more than just labor unions. He brings cultural traditions and religion into the mix, and he shows the tensions between an older, "artisanal" mentality and the newly regimented practices of modern factory owners. Gutman looks at white and black laborers, so that, even though these essays are mere sketches of bigger trends, he conveys the range of workers' experiences in America. And it reads wonderfully. I see why this book is considered a classic.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

America's E.P. Thompson.

[Mark Bowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

A. Synopsis: The main theme of all of these essays is to “explain the beliefs and behavior of American working people in the several decades that saw this nation transformed into a powerful industrial capitalist society.” (xi) Gutman argues that throughout the stages of America’s industrialization (from 1815-1920) there has been a continuous premodern tension that was infused into the workplace by different waves of immigrants in the 1843, 1893, and 1920. In the first period this tension was supplied by native Americans (white), and in the other two periods it was brought from Europe by the immigrants.
B. Gutman’s historiographical break with the Old Labor History
1. This book seeks to break with the Old Labor history of John Commons and the Wisconsin school (this approach was to study trade unions, strikes, and lockouts. This neglected all of the non-union workers.). Gutman’s approach is to study the changing work habits and the culture of work to “emphasize the frequent tension between different groups of men and women new to the machine and a changing American society.” (12).
C. Gutman studies free white labor and breaks them into 3 time periods when American society was very different. The transition from Gemeinschaft (folk culture) and Gesellschaft (urban culture)
1. 1815-1843: The US was a preindustrial society. Most of the workers that drawn to the few factories came from rural, village culture.
2. 1843-1893: Industrial development radically transformed. A profound tension existed between the older social structure and the modernizing institutions that accompanied the development of industrial capitalism.
3. 1893-1919: The US is a mature industrial society.
D. Specific essays:
1. Protestantism and the American Labor Movement: The Christian spirit in the Gilded Age.
2. The Negro and the United Mine Workers of America: Richard L. Davis 1890-1900
3. The reality of the “rags-to-riches Myth”: The case of Paterson NJ, locomotive, iron, and machinery manufacturers, 1830-1880
4. Class, status and community power in 19th century American industrial cities: Paterson, NJ a case study
5. Trouble on the railroads in 1873-1874
6. Two lockouts in Pennsylvania

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gutman's main argument states that culture shapes class, and because immigrants continually enter America in waves, distinct divisions of class formation have been stymied by primary identity through ethnic group. The pattern of assimilation eventually leads to class division in the American society (rising incomes and wages come to some but not all in an ethnic group), but class division is retarded and masked by ethnic group identity. As one of the three great labor historians of the 20th centurey, H. G. Gutman reveals this subtle pattern of gradual assimilation and division of ethnic groups into classes even into the 1950s and 60s as through a combination of statistical analysis and text based primary sources describing the process and impressions by immigrants and natives. It is a fairly simple concept but it is embedded in layers of theory and context.

[Lorraine Herbon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can certainly see the importance of this book, although it is now 40 years old. Gutman attempts in these pages to shake up the field of labor history, to encourage other labor historians to look at labor history as more than just the history of trade unions. That said, though, his constant critiques of his fellow labor historians and his incessant reminders of all the work still waiting to be done can be a little annoying. I sure hope other historians took up the challenge he laid out way back when. Otherwise, I'm afraid the ghost of Herbert Gutman may haunt them forever.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made me want to be a labor historian.

[Thomas Baughman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the author's path-breaking essays on labor history and working-class culture.