American Management and British Labor: A Comparative Study of the Cotton Spinning Industry

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Bloomsbury Academic, Aug 15, 1990 - Business & Economics - 256 pages

This book examines the early American cotton industry through British perspectives. The book covers the period from the 1780s to 1880, and concerns mainly Lancashire and New England, although there are many references to Scotland on the one hand, and to Pennsylvania and New York on the other. By concentrating on the spinning branch of the industry, which was far more affected by technological advances than the weaving branch during this period, Cohen is able to contrast different types of technologies, workers, markets, and goods. For example, the book contrasts how American industrialists acted differently than the British millowners and deals with the response of American factory workers to industrialization as distinct from the British operatives. Three interrelated themes emerge to define the theoretical subject matter of this study: mass production versus craft production, technology and organization, and craft control. Significantly, this study recognizes the often overlooked importance of mule spinning to the industry.

The volume examines the craft workers' rise to and struggle for power, the rise of the foreman, the role of unions, and an exploration of strikes--how they happened, why they happened, and what happened because of them. In the final chapter, the book expands its focus to examine the relationship of cotton to the coal, iron, and steel industries.

From inside the book

 

Contents

PREFACTORY PRODUCTION
7
THE CHOICE OF TECHNOLOGY
28
THE MANAGEMENT OF LABOR
55
Copyright

7 other sections not shown

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American Management and British Labor: A Comparative Study of the Cotton ...
Isaac Cohen
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Common terms and phrases

actor American cotton industry American manufacturers American mule artisans Boston Britain British cotton British immigrant British mule spinners carriage Chapman coal contrast corporations cotton factories Cotton Manufacture cotton mills Cotton Spinners Cotton Spinning Cotton Trade craft control domestic early Economic History eighteenth century emigration England cotton English Cotton Industry Fall River Daily Fall River mills Fall River strike firms hand helpers Industrial Relations Industrial Revolution iron journeymen Labor Lancashire Cotton Lazonick London loom Lowell machinery Manchester manufac mass production Massachusetts miners Montgomery mule spindles mule spinning nineteenth century Oldham operatives organized overseers Pennsylvania Philadelphia piece rates piecers power-driven mules power-loom weaving recruited Report reprinted Rhode Island Rockdale Samuel Crompton Samuel Slater self-acting mule skilled Society South Wales speed spindles Spinning Mule spun subcontract Technological Change Textile throstle spinning tion trade unions typical U.S. Senate United women workers yarn yarn count York

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About the author (1990)

ISAAC COHEN is Assistant Professor, Department of Organization & Management at San Jose State University. He is the author of many articles and is currently completing a work entitled Industrial Relations in the Air-Transport Industry.

Bibliographic information

TitleAmerican Management and British Labor: A Comparative Study of the Cotton Spinning Industry
Contributions in Economics and Economic History
AuthorIsaac Cohen
Editionillustrated
PublisherBloomsbury Academic, 1990
ISBN0313267804, 9780313267802
Length256 pages
Subjects › 

Business & Economics / Economic History
Business & Economics / General
  
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