The Great Recession punished American workers, leaving many underemployedor trapped in jobs that do not provide the income or opportunitythey need. Moreover, the gap between the wealthy and the poor has widenedin past decades as mobility remains stubbornly unchanged. Against thisdeepening economic divide, a dominant cultural narrative has taken root:immobility, especially for the working class, is driven by shifts in demand forlabor. In this context, and with right-to-work policies proliferating nationwide,workers are encouraged to avoid government dependency by armingthemselves with education and training. Drawing on archival material and interviews with African Americanwomen transit workers in the San Francisco Bay area, Katrinell Davis grappleswith our understanding of mobility as it intersects with race and genderin the postindustrial and post-civil rights United States. Consideringthe consequences of declining working conditions within the public transitworkplace of Alameda County, Davis illustrates how worker experience-onand off the job-has been undermined by workplace norms and administrativepractices designed to address flagging worker commitment and morale.Providing a comprehensive account of how political, social, and economicfactors work together to shape the culture of opportunity in a postindustrialworkplace, she shows how government manpower policies, administrativepolicies, and drastic shifts in unionisation have influenced the prospects oflow-skilled workers.

The Great Recession punished American workers, leaving many underemployedor trapped in jobs that do not provide the income or opportunitythey need. Moreover, the gap between the wealthy and the poor has widenedin past decades as mobility remains stubbornly unchanged. Against thisdeepening economic divide, a dominant cultural narrative has taken root:immobility, especially for the working class, is driven by shifts in demand forlabor. In this context, and with right-to-work policies proliferating nationwide,workers are encouraged to avoid government dependency by armingthemselves with education and training. Drawing on archival material and interviews with African Americanwomen transit workers in the San Francisco Bay area, Katrinell Davis grappleswith our understanding of mobility as it intersects with race and genderin the postindustrial and post-civil rights United States. Consideringthe consequences of declining working conditions within the public transitworkplace of Alameda County, Davis illustrates how worker experience-onand off the job-has been undermined by workplace norms and administrativepractices designed to address flagging worker commitment and morale.Providing a comprehensive account of how political, social, and economicfactors work together to shape the culture of opportunity in a postindustrialworkplace, she shows how government manpower policies, administrativepolicies, and drastic shifts in unionisation have influenced the prospects oflow-skilled workers.

After a cascade of failures left residents of Flint, Michigan, without a reliable and affordable supply of safe drinking water, citizens spent years demanding action from their city and state officials. Complaints from the city's predominantly African American residents were ignored until independent researchers confirmed dangerously elevated blood lead levels among Flint children and in the city's tap water. Despite a 2017 federal court ruling in favor of Flint residents who had demanded mitigation, such efforts have been incomplete at best. Assessing the challenges that community groups faced in their attempts to advocate for improved living conditions, Tainted Tap offers a rich analysis of conditions and constraints that created the Flint water crisis. Katrinell Davis contextualizes the crisis in Flint's long and troubled history of delivering essential services, the consequences of regional water-management politics, and other forms of systemic neglect that impacted the working-class community's health and well-being. Using ethnographic and empirical evidence from a range of sources, Davis also sheds light on the forms of community action that have brought needed changes to this underserved community.

After a cascade of failures left residents of Flint, Michigan, without a reliable and affordable supply of safe drinking water, citizens spent years demanding action from their city and state officials. Complaints from the city's predominantly African American residents were ignored until independent researchers confirmed dangerously elevated blood lead levels among Flint children and in the city's tap water. Despite a 2017 federal court ruling in favor of Flint residents who had demanded mitigation, such efforts have been incomplete at best. Assessing the challenges that community groups faced in their attempts to advocate for improved living conditions, Tainted Tap offers a rich analysis of conditions and constraints that created the Flint water crisis. Katrinell Davis contextualizes the crisis in Flint's long and troubled history of delivering essential services, the consequences of regional water-management politics, and other forms of systemic neglect that impacted the working-class community's health and well-being. Using ethnographic and empirical evidence from a range of sources, Davis also sheds light on the forms of community action that have brought needed changes to this underserved community.