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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.
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