Cutting Into the Meatpacking Line - Workers and Change in the Rural Midwest (Paperback, New edition)

The nostalgic vision of a rural Midwest populated by independent family farmers hides the reality that rural wage labor has been integral to the region's development, says Deborah Fink. Focusing on the porkpacking industry in Iowa, Fink investigates the experience of the rural working class and highlights its significance in shaping the state's economic, political, and social contours. Fink draws both on interviews and on her own firsthand experience working on the production floor of a pork-processing plant. She weaves a fascinating account of the meatpacking industry's history in Iowa--a history, she notes, that has been experienced differently by male and female, immigrant and native-born, white and black workers. Indeed, argues Fink, these differences are a key factor in the ongoing creation of the rural working class. Other writers have denounced the new meatpacking companies for their ruthless destruction of both workers and communities. Fink sustains this criticism, which she augments with a discussion of union action, but also goes beyond it. She looks within rural midwestern culture itself to examine the class, gender, and ethnic contradictions that allowed--indeed welcomed--the meatpacking industry's development. |Drawing on firsthand experience working in an Iowa pork-processing plant, Fink looks at the differing experience of male and female, immigrant and native-born, black and white workers in the meatpacking industry.

General

Imprint:	The University of North Carolina Press
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Studies in Rural Culture
Release date:	April 1998
First published:	April 1998
Authors:	Deborah Fink
Dimensions:	235 x 156 x 18mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	256
Edition:	New edition
ISBN-13:	978-0-8078-4695-7
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Gender studies > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social groups & communities > Rural communities Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Manufacturing industries > Food manufacturing & related industries > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history
LSN:	0-8078-4695-3
Barcode:	9780807846957

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