The Sociology of Work in the Post-War United States: A Theoretical Assessment

Year 2019, Volume: 2 Issue: 61, 1155 - 1172, 01.01.2019

Evren M. Dinçer

Abstract

This article explores the post-World War II interest in the problem of work in the United States. Liberal triumphalist approaches of the immediate post-war era reduced work to an element of management as the greater conflict between labor and capital, they argued, was overcome. However, starting from the late 1960s, this theoretical resolution started to dissolve due to the simultaneous emergence of political, social and economic crises in American society. This had direct repercussions in the ways in which work is perceived and studied. Marxian works made a comeback and moved the concept of labor process to the center of theoretical endeavors to study work primarily thanks to the work of Harry Braverman. This interest later evolved into the study of a more comprehensive study of labor movement. The changing place of work especially among critical literature deserves closer and theoretical attention. It is also an excellent entry point to understand wide-ranging social, political and economic transformations shaped American society since the 1970s. This article is an attempt to decode the dynamics of late industrialism in the U.S. via providing a theoretical assessment of key debates on work

Keywords

Labor process, labor movements, United States, labor studies after World War II

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