The Culture of Work,

I. Transformation of Work A. Decline of autonomous craftsman –1. Coopers, iron-moulders, shoemakers –2. Negotiated work rules, hiring and discharge of workers, discipline, apprentice training –3. The “stint”—rational restriction on output B. “Scientific management” and the routinization of labor –1. Social redistribution of knowledge—shifting locus of knowledge from workers to management –2. Critique of traditional methods—seen as wasteful, uncoordinated. Emphasis on control, efficiency, organization –3. Need centralized planning, control, and sequencing –4. Disciplining the labor force--cultural battles over alcohol and holidays--and deskilling of work force

Skill Level of Immigrants

Autonomous Craftsmen at Work, 1855

Westinghouse Air Brake Co., 1904

II. Breadwinning A. Breadwinning and male identity B. Wages –1. Instability—periodic unemployment and underemployment –2. Factory wages: A. Average annual wage: $486 in 1890, $630 in 1910 B. Male dominated industries paid higher than ones with high percentage of female workers –3. Regional variations significant –4. Great variance based on skill level C. Cost of living –1. Rose 47 percent between 1889 and 1913 –2. Cost of living outstripping rise in wages until turn of century

III. Family wage A. Shortfall for “breadwinners” – : 40 percent of industrial workers lived below poverty line ($500) –2. Sample of 10,000 male wage earners, ca. 1910: half made less than $400 per year B. Making up the difference: family strategies –1. Child labor –2. Women’s labor

IV. Child labor A. Statistics –1. Number in non-agricultural occupations triple between –2. In 1890, over 18 percent of all children were gainfully employed B. Life cycle of family and children’s role in family support –1. Rhythms of work within families –2. “Family Time and Industrial Time”—the family as a mediating institution –3. Making up the difference between the breadwinner’s pay and the cost of supporting a family

“Breaker boys”

Girl in factory

Children knitters in Tenn. Textile Factory

Young oyster shuckers

V. Women and Work A. Statistics –1. Between , number of wage-earning women grew by two-thirds –2. Women comprise ¼ of labor force in 1900 –3. Less than 5 percent of wives worked outside home for wages. (For African-American women figure was 30 percent.) B. Work and life cycle: young, single, living at home –1. The nature of the life cycle –2. Paternal control and women’s work

VI. The Nature of Women’s Work ca A. Domestic work: approx. 1/3 –1. The nature of domestic work –2. Objections to domestic work B. Female “pink collar” jobs: approx. 1/3 –1. “Feminization” of clerical work: 1880—4 % of clerical work done by women; 1920—50 % done by women –2. The “status” of pink collar work –3. Characteristics: skill devaluation, segmentation, impersonal work relationships, lack of control, hierarchical, gendered structures of authority C. Industrial work: approx. 1/3—textile trades, food processing, light industrial work

Secretarial School, ca. 1910

VII. Conditions of Female Work: ca A. Wages –1. Levels--$2-$5 per week –2. Life cycle and wage level –3. The “breadwinning” ethos v. the worker as supplemental earner B. Work environment –1. Few avenues of autonomy –2. Domination by male supervisory personnel-- pervasive discipline and supervision –3. Confirmation of conventional life expectations and the marriage imperative –4. Oppressive work conditions

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, 1911: New York City

Identifying the 146 Shirtwaist Dead, NYC, 1911

Mourning Shirtwaist Workers, 1911

VIII. The Work Culture of the Young A. “Cheap amusements” and the growth of an urban work culture –1. The male culture of saloons –2. Saloons as multi-functional institutions –3. Coming together A. Dance halls and amusement parks B. Excursions and promenading C. “Treating” and changing norms of sexuality B. “Women Adrift” –1. By 1900, 1/5 of urban wage-earning women lived “adrift” –2. Survival: pooling of resources due to low, less than subsistence wages –3. Resisted reformers efforts to establish boarding houses for single women: wanted freedom from such supervision –4. Rooming house districts: high geographic mobility, frequent heterosexual contact free from parental supervision, commercialized recreation

A Gathering of the Young

All Dressed Up