Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement - Softcover

Forbath, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674517822 ISBN 13: 9780674517820

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1991

Synopsis

Why did American workers, unlike their European counterparts, fail to forge a class-based movement to pursue broad social reform? Was it simply that they lacked class consciousness and were more interested in personal mobility? In a richly detailed survey of labor law and labor history, William Forbath challenges this notion of American “individualism.” In fact, he argues, the nineteenth-century American labor movement was much like Europe’s labor movements in its social and political outlook, but in the decades around the turn of the century, the prevailing attitude of American trade unionists changed. Forbath shows that, over time, struggles with the courts and the legal order were crucial to reshaping labor’s outlook, driving the labor movement to temper its radical goals.

About this title

About the Author

William E. Forbath holds the Lloyd M. Bentsen Chair in Law and is Associate Dean for Research at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement.

From the Back Cover

Why did American workers, unlike their European counterparts, fail to forge a class-based movement to purse broad social reform? Was it simply that they lacked class consciousness and were more interested in personal mobility? In a richly detained survey of labor law and labor history, William Forbath challenges this notion of American ""individualism"."

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674517822
• ISBN 13: 9780674517820
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 230