{"product_id":"production-of-difference-race-and-the-management-of-labor-in-us-history-9780199739752","title":"Production of Difference: Race and the Management of Labor in U.S. History","description":"In 1907, pioneering labor historian and economist John Commons argued that U.S. management had shown just one symptom of originality, namely playing one race against the other. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In this eye-opening book, David Roediger and Elizabeth Esch offer a radically new way of understanding the history of management in the United States, placing race, migration, and empire at the center of what has sometimes been narrowly seen as a search for efficiency and economy. Ranging from the\u003cbr\u003eantebellum period to the coming of the Great Depression, the book examines the extensive literature slave masters produced on how to manage and develop slaves; explores what was perhaps the greatest managerial feat in U.S. history, the building of the transcontinental railroad, which pitted\u003cbr\u003eChinese and Irish work gangs against each other; and concludes by looking at how these strategies survive today in the management of hard, low-paying, dangerous jobs in agriculture, military support, and meatpacking. Roediger and Esch convey what slaves, immigrants, and all working people were up\u003cbr\u003eagainst as the objects of managerial control. Managers explicitly ranked racial groups, both in terms of which labor they were best suited for and their relative value compared to others. The authors show how whites relied on such alleged racial knowledge to manage and believed that the lesser\u003cbr\u003eraces could only benefit from their tutelage. These views wove together managerial strategies and white supremacy not only ideologically but practically, every day at workplaces. Even in factories governed by scientific management, the impulse to play races against each other, and to slot workers\u003cbr\u003einto jobs categorized by race, constituted powerful management tools used to enforce discipline, lower wages, keep workers on dangerous jobs, and undermine solidarity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePainstakingly researched and brilliantly argued, \u003cem\u003eThe Production of Difference\u003c\/em\u003e will revolutionize the history of labor race in the United States.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e David R. Roediger, Elizabeth D. Esch\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/01\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 296\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.30h x 6.50w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780199739752\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDavid R. Roediger\u003c\/strong\u003e is Babcock Professor of History, University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana, and the author of \u003cem\u003eHow Race Survived U.S. History and The Wages of Whiteness\u003c\/em\u003e, among other titles. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eElizabeth D. Esch\u003c\/strong\u003e is Assistant Professor of History and American Studies and a member of the Consortium for Critical Interdisciplinary Study at Barnard College-Columbia University.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":40008395030643,"sku":"9.7802E+12","price":49.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_965cf476-df0d-44d3-a3c5-42a5cd57570f.jpg?v=1650385216","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/en-de\/products\/production-of-difference-race-and-the-management-of-labor-in-us-history-9780199739752","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}