Henry Ford s Project in Human Engineering: The Sociological Department of the Ford Motor Company 1913-1941 - Hardcover

Loizides, Georgios P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773409114 ISBN 13: 9780773409118

Publisher: Edwin Mellen Pr

Synopsis

This is a clear and well documented work that studies the influence of a corporation's attempt to transform the social and cultural identities of its newly arriving immigrant workforce in order to create an homogenized American working-class through the practice of 'social / human engineering'. These corporate polices had far reaching implications in the development of class, race, ethnic and gender relations in America. One of the key ideas of institutional theory on organizations is that organizations reflect society's wide values and norms. However, much less attention has been placed on the questions of whether and how private interest organizations influence wider societal values and norms. We are used to seeing Henry Ford and his Ford Motor Company as makers of automobiles. In at least its early history though, there was another project occupying the efforts of the Company. The Ford Motor Company, at least until WWI, was engaged in "human engineering' through its Sociological Department. Ford was "making men" as much as he was making cars. Thus, this study revolves around the efforts by the Ford Motor Company in the late progressive era to instill their workforce with a set of norms and values, which were seen as healthy, and appropriate. This story is about the company's efforts, through its Sociological Department, to engineer American, working-class (family) men out of the thousands of mainly Southern and Eastern European immigrants that flocked to Detroit. The questions that this research attempts to answer revolve around what may be called the social dimensions of early Fordism. These questions are answered through an examination of the discourse and actions of the Ford Motor Company as a case study, under the light of institutionalization and structuration theories.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Loizides received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Western Michigan University with areas of specialization in social inequality (race, class, gender) and comparative/historical sociology. He is involved in a number of research projects, mainly revolving around social relations in industry during the Progressive Era. He is currently an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Review

"Professor Loizides unearths considerable evidence that directly bears on the process the company used to establish a system of differential rules to be applied to its racial and ethnic minority employees...The Sociological Department did its best to bring all this about through its social engineering programs that educated workers yet spied on them." (Professor Larry T. Reynolds, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Central Michigan University) "Loizides' book is an important contribution to our understanding of the institutional context of early 20th century labor relations and particularly to the social engineering efforts of early Fordism. By extension, it contributes to present day debates over the origin and maintenance of middle-class values and the myriad political and social divisions that are based on such shibboleths. (Professor David Hartmann, Professor and Chair Sociology, Western Michigan University)

Edition details

• Publisher: Edwin Mellen Pr
• ISBN 10: 0773409114
• ISBN 13: 9780773409118
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 268