This is a MCK-
hosted group; if you are not a Motor City Kossack, you are still welcome to jump in and join us!
This week's readings: Chapter 4 "'The Meanest and Dirtiest Jobs'" and Chapter 5 "'The Damning Mark of False Prosperities'"
Unemployment is not a crime. It is a social ill full of hardships, set-backs, anxieties, needs and sacrifices which would be lauded under any other circumstances. It it truly the weakest spot in Democracy's armor, the likely erosion point in the social structure, and the damning mark of false, unstable or lopsided prosperities. William Wakeham (1951)
I found this week's reading a bit of a slog, not through any fault of Sugrue, but due to my almost complete ignorance of labor and union history in Detroit. As I do every time I pick up the book, I find myself asking, "But what does this history mean for today?", and that becomes the basis for my questions and comments. This week, however, I am struggling with even formulating questions, because I have so little knowledge of how industry and unions work today, particularly with respect to discrimination. It wasn't until I started Chapter 5 and read the quote above, which could have been made by anyone in the Occupy movement, that I began to feel I was on familiar ground. As a result of my lack of background, I am going right to the questions and am looking forward to learning more from the comments.
In Sugrue's overview of discrimination in the auto industry, he outlined hiring practices, rank-and-file racial animus, and union focus on economic issues v race-specific issues as contributing factors. What, if anything, has changed today?
Sugrue writes, "The building trades have served as the classic example of a segment of the American working class steeped in prejudice. The dark side of the working-class community that thrived in the skilled trades was xenophobia and exclusivity." (p. 117 of my edition) If one expands beyond just the building trades, does this explain and/or describe the genesis of the Reagan Democrat?
Per Sugrue, "The existence of the 'slave market' [the informal, outdoor labor market where casual laborers gathered] thus allowed whites to redefine and reinforce the color line." (page 121 of my edition) How does one combat the racial stereotypes, developed decades ago, which continue to define the politics of whiteness and white racial domination?
Sugrue points out at the end of Chapter 5 that, if the 1950s was a decade of prosperity, it was concurrently a decade during which the seeds of automation, decentralization, and relocation were sown, which wrecked many workers' lives. What sort of industrial policy would unplant these seeds? Do you think it likely the United States or Michigan will ever have an industrial policy?
If one accepts the premise that globalization was the inevitable next step after decentralization and deindustrialization, what do you see as the next step for industrial capitalism?
Next week: Chapter 6: "Forget About Your Inalienable Right to Work": Responses to Industrial Decline and Discrimination and a recap discussion of all of Part 2: Rust.