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Arthur McIvor and Ronald Johnston explore the experience of coal
miners' lung diseases and the attempts at voluntary and legal
control of dusty conditions in British mining from the late
nineteenth century to the present. In this way, the book addresses
the important issues of occupational health and safety within the
mining industry; issues that have been severely neglected in
studies of health and safety in general. The authors examine the
prevalent diseases, notably pneumoconiosis, emphysema and
bronchitis, and evaluate the roles of key players such as the
doctors, management and employers, the state and the trade unions.
Throughout the book, the integration of oral testimony helps to
elucidate the attitudes of workers and victims of disease, their
'machismo' work culture and socialisation to very high levels of
risk on the job, as well as how and why ideas and health
mentalities changed over time. This research, taken together with
extensive archive material, provides a unique perspective on the
nature of work, industrial relations, the meaning of masculinity in
the workplace and the wider social impact of industrial disease,
disability and death. The effects of contracting dust disease are
shown to result invariably in seriously prescribed lifestyles and
encroaching isolation. The book will appeal to those working on the
history of medicine, industrial relations, social history and
business history as well as labour history.
Men in reserve focuses on working class civilian men who, as a
result of working in reserved occupations, were exempt from
enlistment in the armed forces. It uses fifty six newly conducted
oral history interviews as well as autobiographies, visual sources
and existing archived interviews to explore how this group
articulated their wartime experiences and how they positioned
themselves in relation to the hegemonic discourse of military
masculinity. It considers the range of masculine identities
circulating amongst civilian male workers during the war and
investigates the extent to which reserved workers draw upon these
identities when recalling their wartime selves. It argues that the
Second World War was capable of challenging civilian masculinities,
positioning the civilian man below that of the 'soldier hero'
while, simultaneously, reinforcing them by bolstering the capacity
to provide and to earn high wages, frequently in risky and
dangerous work, all which were key markers of masculinity. -- .
Arthur McIvor and Ronald Johnston explore the experience of coal
miners' lung diseases and the attempts at voluntary and legal
control of dusty conditions in British mining from the late
nineteenth century to the present. In this way, the book addresses
the important issues of occupational health and safety within the
mining industry; issues that have been severely neglected in
studies of health and safety in general. The authors examine the
prevalent diseases, notably pneumoconiosis, emphysema and
bronchitis, and evaluate the roles of key players such as the
doctors, management and employers, the state and the trade unions.
Throughout the book, the integration of oral testimony helps to
elucidate the attitudes of workers and victims of disease, their
'machismo' work culture and socialisation to very high levels of
risk on the job, as well as how and why ideas and health
mentalities changed over time. This research, taken together with
extensive archive material, provides a unique perspective on the
nature of work, industrial relations, the meaning of masculinity in
the workplace and the wider social impact of industrial disease,
disability and death. The effects of contracting dust disease are
shown to result invariably in seriously prescribed lifestyles and
encroaching isolation. The book will appeal to those working on the
history of medicine, industrial relations, social history and
business history as well as labour history.
In the early 21st century, radically changing work locations and
patterns have jolted society to reflect more on the ways that
employment affects the body and the mind. This book provides
historical context and insights to aid our understanding of this
contemporary crisis, critically examining the history of a
neglected area. In this oral-history based study, Arthur McIvor
explores the history of health and safety from Second World War to
the present, drawing extensively upon workers' own personal stories
of occupational accidents, disasters, injury, disease, overwork and
disability. It covers a wide range of workplace issues, from
stories of TNT poisoning and overwork in wartime, through to the
asbestos and black lung disasters, and the modern-day
‘epidemics’ of stress, burn-out and Covid-19. Opening
conversations surrounding the harms caused by work, this book
analyses how people have lived with occupational illness and
disability, critiquing risk and work-health cultures, and the
structural violence characteristic of industrial capitalism and
neoliberal economics, in addition to discussing the agency of big
business and advocacy of workers and victims. Focusing on class,
gender, disability and race, this book uses an impressive range of
secondary and primary sources, including government reports and
enquiries drawing upon workers’ testimonies, Mine and Factory
Inspectors Reports, HSE papers, newspapers, Mass Observation
responses and oral history interviews.
In the early 21st century, radically changing work locations and
patterns have jolted society to reflect more on the ways that
employment affects the body and the mind. This book provides
historical context and insights to aid our understanding of this
contemporary crisis, critically examining the history of a
neglected area. In this oral-history based study, Arthur McIvor
explores the history of health and safety from Second World War to
the present, drawing extensively upon workers' own personal stories
of occupational accidents, disasters, injury, disease, overwork and
disability. It covers a wide range of workplace issues, from
stories of TNT poisoning and overwork in wartime, through to the
asbestos and black lung disasters, and the modern-day
‘epidemics’ of stress, burn-out and Covid-19. Opening
conversations surrounding the harms caused by work, this book
analyses how people have lived with occupational illness and
disability, critiquing risk and work-health cultures, and the
structural violence characteristic of industrial capitalism and
neoliberal economics, in addition to discussing the agency of big
business and advocacy of workers and victims. Focusing on class,
gender, disability and race, this book uses an impressive range of
secondary and primary sources, including government reports and
enquiries drawing upon workers’ testimonies, Mine and Factory
Inspectors Reports, HSE papers, newspapers, Mass Observation
responses and oral history interviews.
This book draws upon the existing body of literature and
incorporates substantial new research to provide an interpretative
overview of the social history of work in Britain from the
late-Victorian period to 1950. Different theoretical frameworks are
analysed and the historiography reviewed. McIvor explores the
changing nature of work over 1880-1950, focusing upon the
occupational profile, work conditions, the labour process,
inequalities and discrimination in employment and work culture.
Industrial relations and the politics of work are evaluated, and
the final section probes the interaction between employment and
health. This is a valuable introduction to the history of a crucial
element in all our lives.
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