For much of the twentieth century, the iconic figure of the U.S. working class was a white, male industrial worker. But in the contemporary age of capitalist globalization new stories about work and workers are emerging to refashion this image. Living Labor examines these narratives and, in the process, offers an innovative reading of American fiction and film through the lens of precarious work. It argues that since the 1980s, novelists and filmmakers-including Russell Banks, Helena Vìramontes, Karen Tei Yamashita, Francisco Goldman, David Riker, Ramin Bahrani, Clint Eastwood, Courtney Hunt, and Ryan Coogler-have chronicled the demise of the industrial proletariat, and the tentative and unfinished emergence of a new, much more diverse and perilously positioned working class. In bringing together stories of work that are also stories of race, ethnicity, gender, and colonialism, Living Labor challenges the often-assumed division between class and identity politics. Through the concept of living labor and its discussion of solidarity, the book reframes traditional notions of class, helping us understand both the challenges working people face and the possibilities for collective consciousness and action in the global present.
Cover attribution: Allan Sekula, Shipwreck and worker, Istanbul,fromTITANIC's wake, 1998/2000. Courtesy of the Allan Sekula Studio.
| ISBN: | 9780472055197 |
| Publication date: | 13th February 2023 |
| Author: | Joseph B Entin |
| Publisher: | The University of Michigan Press an imprint of University of Michigan Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 216 pages |
| Series: | Class : Culture |
| Genres: |
Literature: history and criticism |
For much of the twentieth century, the iconic figure of the U.S. working class was a white, male industrial worker. But in the contemporary age of capitalist globalization new stories about work and workers are emerging to refashion this image. Living Labor examines these narratives and, in the process, offers an innovative reading of American fiction and film through the lens of precarious work. It argues that since the 1980s, novelists and filmmakers-including Russell Banks, Helena Vìramontes, Karen Tei Yamashita, Francisco Goldman, David Riker, Ramin Bahrani, Clint Eastwood, Courtney Hunt, and Ryan Coogler-have chronicled the demise of the industrial proletariat, and the tentative and unfinished emergence of a new, much more diverse and perilously positioned working class. In bringing together stories of work that are also stories of race, ethnicity, gender, and colonialism, Living Labor challenges the often-assumed division between class and identity politics. Through the concept of living labor and its discussion of solidarity, the book reframes traditional notions of class, helping us understand both the challenges working people face and the possibilities for collective consciousness and action in the global present.
Cover attribution: Allan Sekula, Shipwreck and worker, Istanbul,fromTITANIC's wake, 1998/2000. Courtesy of the Allan Sekula Studio.
Living Labor features in the following genres: Literature: history and criticism
Living Labor is available in Paperback, Hardback
Living Labor was written by Joseph B Entin and published by The University of Michigan Press an imprint of University of Michigan Press
Living Labor has 216 pages
Yes it is part of Class : Culture series