For a good reference on the dynamics of this in the US see A History of
small business in America / Mansel G. Blackford , 1991
> From: <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> I think one of the major methodological problems we are having is linking
> workplace production to consumption... One of the problems we have had
> with the
> Industrial Revolution in Britain is the over emphasis on those industries
> (coal and cotton etc) which had macro-invention led revolutions connected
> to
> steam power and other major technological jumps. A lot of other industries
> changed in more subtle ways often commercially rather than
> technologically
> driven.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, January 19, 2001 4:02 PM
> Subject: Re: Industrial Archaeology of the Workplace
>
>
> > I am suprised, actually, by your statement that most industrial
> excavations
> > focus on the worker. It was my impression that just the opposite is
> > true--that the prevailing focus of industrial archaeologists has been on
> the
> > documentation of past industries, the recordation and preservation of
> > structures and industrial technologies, and that rather few industrial
> sites
> > have been excavated with the role of the worker in mind. Studies such
> as
> > those by David Landon in Michigan, the investigation of Lowell's
> > boardinghouses under the direction of Mary Beaudry and Stephen
> Mrozowski,
> > Paul Mullins's examination of potters in nineteenth-century Rockingham
> > County, Virginia, and Paul Shackel's work at the armory in Harper's
> Ferry,
> > VA, are still in the minority.
> >
> > The reference made by Mark Walker to scientific management and Taylorism
> > calls to mind a study by T. E. Leary (1979) who proposed an industrial
> > ecology of the workplace. While this seems like an excellent basis for
> an
> > integrated study of the workplace, combining both its technological and
> > social aspects, it is nonetheless only a partial window on the
> industrial
> > past if we do not also consider worker behavior outside the
> workplace--in
> the
> > boardinghouse, the brothel, or the bar. Leary's particular interest is
> with
> > the material environment of production--the effects of machinery and the
> > internal arrangements of the workplace upon working conditions. This is
> > easily expanded to include studies of labor and management relations.
> But
> it
> > is my feeling that while an industrial ecology of the workplace can be
> an
> > integral part of the study of the industrial landscape, it provides at
> best
> > only a limited perspective on working-class behavior, since it is not
> > representative of the full spectrum of relationships in which workers
> > participated daily.
> >
> > It seems to me that whatever the industry, an understanding of
> management
> and
> > labor and the industrial process within the workplace is not and cannot
> be
> > complete without an equal consideration of worker behavior outside of
> the
> work
> > place--indeed, that this is the context for understanding worker
> behavior
> in
> > an industrial setting. For this reason, I think it all the more
> important
> > that we encourage studies such as those produced under the America's
> > Industrial Heritage Project--surveys on industrial sites, company towns,
> and
> > worker housing, both private and corporate. Mulrooney's survey of
> company
> > towns, and of living conditions for bituminous coal miners and their
> families
> > in southwestern PA, is an excellent example and provides a solid base
> for
> any
> > study of the 'workplace', be it underground in the mines, a study of
> coke
> > ovens, or the transportation of finished products to consumers.
> >
> > Karen Metheny
> >
> >
> >
> > In a message dated 1/19/01 10:48:37 AM, you wrote:
> >
> > << Today industrial archaeology is in the same position and those of us
> >
> > > interested
> >
> > > in it are ready for another paradigm shift. Most excavations of
> >
> > > industrial sites
> >
> > > key on the workers. Often the excavations of company towns are
> confined
> >
> > > to the
> >
> > > boarding houses, brothels, and bars. But, it is time for the
> >
> > > archaeological
> >
> > > community to realize that there is tremendous value in excavating the
> >
> > > industrial
> >
> > > portions.
> >
> > >>
> >
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