{"product_id":"the-production-of-difference-race-and-the-management-of-labor-in-us-history","title":"The Production of Difference: Race and the Management of Labor in U.S. History","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 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.\"  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 antebellum 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 Chinese 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 against 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 races\" 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 into jobs categorized by race  constituted powerful management tools used to enforce discipline  lower wages  keep workers on dangerous jobs  and undermine solidarity.  Painstakingly researched and brilliantly argued  The Production of Difference will revolutionize the history of labor race in the United States.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44986219003957,"sku":"ByrdShop_0199376484","price":45.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780199376483.jpg?v=1770892857","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-production-of-difference-race-and-the-management-of-labor-in-us-history","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}