Class Acts: An Anthropology of Urban Workers and Their UnionAmerican labor leaders are constantly developing new programs to revive the union movement. What happens when these plans collide with the daily lives of front-line union staff and members? This book examines the often conflicting interests of key players in the trenches of a national effort to bring back the American labor movement. Brutally honest, funny, never dull, this anthropological ethnography shows the daily struggles of union members today to bring about positive change and hold together their urban labor union in an era of globalization, outsourcing, and deindustrialization. A union activist and an anthropologist (the authors) pair up to offer insideoutside views of labor unions and of how anthropological fieldwork is done. Explaining, coaching, and warning Paul of hazards, Suzan, the communications director for the Local, provides inside views and details of day-to-day interactions. Paul, the anthropologist, provides outside analytical views that related Suzan's experiences and his own observations to the wider view anthropology offers through ethnography, holism, and comparativism. The result is a story of one dynamic union local, one anthropological study, and the lit fuse that connects them until the end. |
Contents
| 1933 | |
| 1934 | |
| 1937 | |
| 1944 | |
| 1945 | |
What a Union Looks Like | 1963 |
Being a Union | 1975 |
The Anthropology of | 1986 |
The Stories What We Went Through to Learn | |
Sifting through the Remains | |
Translating AnthropologyThe Proposal | |
Riding with Tiny | |
A Day in the LifeHurry Up and Wait | |
We Smell a | |
The Study Explodes | |
Report To The Local | |
Disasters | 2000 |
RitualHere There and Everywhere | |
Getting a Raise | |
The Boss Over a BarrelThe Workers Boycott | |
Thatll Teach YouCognition and Practice | |
What Does Change Peoples Minds? | |
The Aftermath | |
An Old Song | |
What Class Struggle? | |
Report to the Executive Board | |
Other editions - View all
Class Acts: An Anthropology of Urban Workers and Their Union E. Paul Durrenberger,Suzan Erem Limited preview - 2015 |
Class Acts: An Anthropology of Service Workers and Their Union E. Paul Durrenberger,Suzan Erem No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
action Adel AFL-CIO agency answer anthropologists arbitration asked boycott cafeteria called chief steward co-workers cognitive contract culture Different Line Worker discuss Durrenberger elected engineers ethnography etic grid feel goals going grievances guys healthcare human relations director ideology industrial members interviews involved Iowa issues Jean Lave Kevin knew labor movement Latino leaders learned look meeting membership meritocratic individualism Metropolis negotiate organizing organizing model Pálsson participation Paul person political practice president problems Proximity Matrix public hospital question questionnaire rehabilitation hospital relationships represent responded ritual Roy Rappaport sample Service Workers similarity matrix social Solidarity Forever staff story structure structure and agency suitcase supervisors Suzan Table talk tell there's things told triads test trying understand union consciousness union members union reps Union steward vice-president vote wages waiting workplace worksites