This book probes the materiality of Improvement in early 19th century rural Massachusetts. Improvement was a metaphor for human intervention in the dramatic changes taking place to the English speaking world in the 18th and 19th centuries as part of a transition to industrial capitalism. The meaning of Improvement vacillated between ideas of economic profit and human betterment, but in practice, Improvement relied on a broad assemblage of material things and spaces for coherence and enaction. Utilizing archaeological data from the home of a wealthy farmer in rural Western Massachusetts, as well as an analysis of early Republican agricultural publications, this book shows how Improvement's twin meanings of profit and betterment unfolded unevenly across early 19th century New England. The Improvement movement in Massachusetts emerged at a time of great social instability, and served to ameliorate growing tensions between urban and rural socioeconomic life through a rationalization of space. Alongside this rationalization, Improvement also served to reshape rural landscapes in keeping with the social and economic processes of a modernizing global capitalism. But the contradictions inherent in such processes spurred and buttressed wealth inequality, ecological distress, and social dislocation.

Medium-Sized cities in the Age of Globalisation provides a brand-new perspective on academic discussions of globalisation through exploring urban development outside of select global cities including Paris, Tokyo, and London, and instead focuses on medium-sized cities in the context of a globalising world. Combining the author’s expertise with extensive research, this book fills a gap in the scholarly debate on globalisation and urban development, with chapters of the book giving detailed insight on urban governance and economy, local identity, and urban representation. Through a range of visual sources including maps, tables, and graphs, the book is applicable and accessible, and offers a specialised analysis of medium-sized cities through assessing urban regeneration policies as well as promotional activities and their role in promoting positive change in an era of great inter-urban competition. This book contains valuable historical insights and is excellent specialised material for scholars and postgraduate students in the disciplines of Urban History, Urban Studies, and Geography, as well as being a significant source for Professionals working in urban planning and place promotion

Short length provides a quick narrative overview of American urban history Describes both the European settlement towns of the colonial period, but also the influence of multiple waves of immigrants to the US. Works as a companion to The American Urban Reader (edited by the same authors), while also standing on its own

Maritime workers occupy a central place in global labour history. This new and compelling account from Australia, shows seafaring and waterside unions engaged in a shared history of activism for legally regulated wages and safe liveable conditions for all who go to sea. Maritime Men of the Asia-Pacific provides a corrective to studies which overlook this region's significance as a provider of the world's maritime labour force and where unions have a rich history of reaching across their differences to forge connections in solidarity. From the 'militant young Australian' Harry Bridges whose progressive unionism transformed the San Francisco waterfront, to Australia's successful implementation of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, this is a story of vision and leadership on the international stage. Unionists who saw themselves as internationalists were also operating within a national and imperial framework where conflicting interests and differences of race and ideology had to be overcome. Union activists in India, China and Japan struggled against indentured labour and 'coolie' standards. They linked with their fellow-unionists in pursuing an ideal of international labour rights against the power of shipowners and anti-union governments. This is a complex story of endurance, cooperation and conflict and its empowering legacy.

The first electronic communication network transformed language, distance, and time. This book researches the telegraph system of the British Indian Empire, c.1850 to 1920, exploring one of the most significant transnational phenomena of the imperial world, and the link between communication, Empire, and social change.

Maritime workers occupy a central place in global labour history. This new and compelling account from Australia, shows seafaring and waterside unions engaged in a shared history of activism for legally regulated wages and safe liveable conditions for all who go to sea. Maritime Men of the Asia-Pacific provides a corrective to studies which overlook this region's significance as a provider of the world's maritime labour force and where unions have a rich history of reaching across their differences to forge connections in solidarity. From the 'militant young Australian' Harry Bridges whose progressive unionism transformed the San Francisco waterfront, to Australia's successful implementation of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, this is a story of vision and leadership on the international stage. Unionists who saw themselves as internationalists were also operating within a national and imperial framework where conflicting interests and differences of race and ideology had to be overcome. Union activists in India, China and Japan struggled against indentured labour and 'coolie' standards. They linked with their fellow-unionists in pursuing an ideal of international labour rights against the power of shipowners and anti-union governments. This is a complex story of endurance, cooperation and conflict and its empowering legacy.

In the decades following World War II, factories in many countries not only provided secure employment and a range of economic entitlements, but also recognized workers as legitimate stakeholders, enabling them to claim rights to participate in decision making and hold factory leaders accountable. In recent decades, as employment has become more precarious, these attributes of industrial citizenship have been eroded and workers have increasingly been reduced to hired hands. As Joel Andreas shows in Disenfranchised, no country has experienced these changes as dramatically as China. Drawing on a decade of field research, including interviews with both factory workers and managers, Andreas traces the changing political status of workers inside Chinese factories from 1949 to the present, carefully analyzing how much power they have actually had to shape their working conditions.

This book uses 'politics of urban knowledge' as a lens to understand how professionals, administrations, scholars, and social movements have surveyed, evaluated and theorized the city, identified problems, and shaped and legitimized practical interventions in planning and administration. Urbanization has been accompanied, and partly shaped by, the formation of the city as a distinct domain of knowledge. This volume uses 'politics of urban knowledge' as a lens to develop a new perspective on urban history and urban planning history. Through case studies of mainly 19th and 20th century examples, the book demonstrates that urban knowledge is not simply a neutral means to represent cities as pre-existing entities, but rather the outcome of historically contingent processes and practices of urban actors addressing urban issues and the power relations in which they are embedded. It shows how urban knowledge-making has reshaped the categories, rationales, and techniques through which urban spaces were produced, governed and contested, and how the knowledge concerned became performative of newly emerging urban orders. The volume will be of interest to scholars and students in the field of urban history and urban studies, as well as the history of technology, science and knowledge and of science studies.

The triumphal march of the automobile and its connection with American culture have often been acknowledged in scholarship. By contrast, the culture-specific, value-oriented advertising strategies of the most important US carmaker General Motors (GM) in its home market have received less attention, especially in American Studies. This study focuses on the connection between GM products and America and the fundamental values represented by politics, business, and society. The author examines which textual and visual strategies GM uses in its image advertising to establish and maintain its patriotic American image. He argues that GM's advertising campaigns follow a patriotic leitmotif and are consistently in line with American core values, often generating new patriotic ideas.

This book explores the development of the putting-out system in hand-woven textile industries in late Qing Dynasty and China's Republican Period. In classic sociology theory, the putting-out system in handcraft production was regarded as traditional and inefficient. In the context of Republican China, it was believed that this kind of household-based production system would have totally failed in competition with the factory system of machinery production. However, this book exhibits the historical fact that the putting-out system was booming in handcraft textile production and subsequently provides an explanation to this phenomenon from the perspectives of institutional analysis and quantitative modeling. With rich county-level data and comprehensive analysis, this book is valuable for both researchers, academics and students in economics and social history studies.

Originally published in 1987, this book traces the historical and sociological dimensions of the Trade Union movement and analyses the nature of the trade unions' involvement in the UK Labour Party during the 1970s and 80s. It discusses the review campaigns, and their implications, both for trade unions specifically and for politics in general. From the viewpoint of the trade unions, this book tells of an experience which was, for the Thatcher era, uniquely successful and innervating, opening up new approaches to campaigning.

Originally published in 1973, this book was designed as a concise and usable guide to those aspects of the law which particularly affect trade union members and officials. It deals with the internal and external affairs of trade unions and the law relating to collective bargaining. It also covers deals with dismissal from employment, redundancy and employers' liability for industrial injuries. The information is presented in a readable form without technical footnotes but with a considerable amount of background information. Diagrams and charts are used where applicable to present or reinforce information.

Originally published in 1976, Democracy and Government in European Trade Unions is a detailed and practical examination of the organisational structure and internal control of trade unions in 8 Western European countries. It provides an introduction to the characteristics and styles of trade unionism in Europe. Written at a time when the international dimension of trade unionism had taken on a new significance, this comprehensive study explains and compares fundamental issues of union organisation and administration. The relationship between individual unions and the national confederations is described and the internal operation of unions in the engineering, textile and railway unions of the various countries examined. This guide to the ways and means of European trade unionism during the 1970s will be of interest to students of industrial relations and trade unionists.

Originally published in 1934, Trade Unions and the State is a study of political institutions. This is a lucid account of the diverse views that have been held about the nature, attributes, functions and prerogatives of the State. The book analyses the changing status and treatment of Trade Unions under the law of the UK during the early part of the 20th century.

Originally published in 1952, Trade Unions quickly became a classic and went through 7 editions. It is a brief yet comprehensive guide to the complex structure and administration of British Trade Unions, which deals concisely and lucidly with every important aspect of the complicated tangle of organisations.

Originally published in 1952, The Government of British Trade Unions analyses the government, in theory and in practice, of one of Britain's most important labour organizations - The Transport and General Works Union in the first half of the 20th Century. It is an appraisal of the role of the rank and file within this union of over one million members, to determine both the opportunity for, and the extent of their participation in, this State within a State. Original sources and materials, which had not previously been made public in relation to any major British or American Trade Union, were used to ascertain member turnover, participation in elections, attendance at Branch meetings and the effect of the repeal of the Trade Disputes Act on Labour Party membership. The study is of great interest both for the light it throws on the general question of Trade Unions in the modern State, and for its analysis of the Transport and General Works Union itself.

Originally published in 1981, Trade Unions was written at a time when there was a widespread belief that Britain's trade unions were undemocratic, obstructive and strike-prone. This book argues that throughout their history, British trade unions have played a reactive role, and that their objectives, organization and tactics have been shaped by the actions of others, whether employers, governments or the judiciary. The book examines the historical development of the trade union movement and its long running battle with lawyers and judges. It then analyses trade union structure, organization and government and looks at the pattern of union activity in the workplace. Trade Unions will be of interest to students of industrial relations, politics and management studies and for anyone interested in the role of unions within contemporary British society.

Originally published in 1986, this book analyses the impact of the changing economic and political climate on trade unions in Europe. The first part of the book deals with general issues, and the succeeding parts look at developments in the UK, Italy and the former West Germany.

Originally published in 1977, this book explains the complexity of collective bargaining and discusses the nature of trade unionism and trade unions, emphasising the collectivity aspect. It discusses a union's work at local and national levels, when dealing with an employers' federation, and with various types of employers. Among the topics covered are the legal processes involved in collective bargaining, the topics about which collective bargaining takes place (recognition, the salary package, pensions, for example, and the back-up services necessary to conduct effective bargaining and industrial action.

Originally published in 1979 at a time when white-collar union membership had increased both in the public and private sectors of the economy, this book explains who the members were, why there was such astonishing membership growth and the circumstances which surrounded it. The history of this growth is recorded and the special problems of organization and recruitment are outlined. Issues discussed include bargaining, communications, the salary package concept, organization and recruitment problems, the rewards system, incomes policies, government liaison work and industrial democracy.

Originally published in 1962, this book analyses and assesses the Swedish Government and structure of both trade unions and employers' organizations, including the spread of unionism to white-collar workers. It then examines Swedish labour legislation, which established an act on Collective Contracts, a Labour Court and a mediation service. The book also shows the collective bargaining system at work under conditions of full employment, and examines critically the attempts to develop a policy for wages through the labour market organizations, rather than by government decree. Anyone, in mature or developing economies, concerned with collective bargaining and wage policies will find this lucid study of the Swedish system a rich source book for positive policies.

Originally published in 1963, The Landsorganisationen I Sverige (LO - Swedish Confederation of Trades Unions), enjoys an international reputation as a trade union movement with progressive ideas on wage policy and collective bargaining. The authors of this volume who are trade union economists, deal critically with credit policy; plead for free trade; are outspoken on company taxation, wage policy, the labour market and the location of industry. Throughout the authors are outspoken in their emphasis on growth and change, which they interpret as change in the outlook of the unions as well as in that of industry and of the government.

Originally published in 1935, this provocative book examined the tendencies of the Trade Unions in early 20th Century Britain in the light of their history. An advocate of a Socialist society, the author regarded the form and limited functions of the trade unions as temporary and predicted that they would be transformed into industrial unions and become part of the administrative mechanism of industry which would endure.

Originally published in 1970 this book was written by a successful trade union leader. It describes the changes which took place in the environment in which trade unions have to function; the vast modern corporations, with their highly professional management and often with an international base making them almost immune to pressure in any one country; the technological revolution; the direct involvement of government in industrial relations, prices and incomes policy and the international pressures which impel government intervention.

When this book was originally published in 1982 the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) was an organisation which catered for some 40 unions with an aggregate membership of 490,000. The GFTU in the late 20th Century was a very different organisation from what its founders in 1899 hope it might become, but in both its early and later form, it holds a significant place in the history of British trade unionism. Its history, outlined in this book sheds much light on the history of labour relations and working-class organisation in this country as a whole. The book provides a framework within which the GFTU's contribution to the history of British labour in the 20th Century may be understood.