Stephen Meyer charts the complex vagaries of men reinventing manhood in twentieth century America. Their ideas of masculinity destroyed by principles of mass production, workers created a white-dominated culture that defended its turf against other racial groups and revived a crude, hypersexualized treatment of women that went far beyond the shop floor. At the same time, they recast unionization battles as manly struggles against a system killing their very selves. Drawing on a wealth of archival material, Meyer recreates a social milieu in stunning detail--the mean labor and stolen pleasures, the battles on the street and in the soul, and a masculinity that expressed itself in violence and sexism but also as a wellspring of the fortitude necessary to maintain one's dignity while doing hard work in hard world.
| ISBN: | 9780252081545 |
| Publication date: | 28th March 2016 |
| Author: | Stephen Meyer |
| Publisher: | University of Illinois Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 272 pages |
| Series: | Working Class in American History |
| Genres: |
Society and culture: general Gender studies, gender groups Gender studies: men and boys Industrial relations, occupational health and safety |