Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization, and the UPS Strike (History of Communication) (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: corporate media system, strike coverage, contract campaign, United States, Ron Carey, New York Times (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Inspiring and insightful, Outside the Box tells the story of the Teamsters ' successful strike and media campaign against UPS's draconian policies. By contextualizing this struggle, Deepa Kumar illuminates how corporations use globalization to reap greater profits at the expense of working people everywhere. In her elegant prose and penetrating analysis, Kumar offers practical suggestions for turning the neo-liberal tide. " Eileen R. Meehan Louisiana State University --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"[An] excellent book about the 1997 strike against the United Parcel Service."--International Socialist Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (April 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252075897
• ISBN-13: 978-0252075896
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,664,648 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great , Well Researched Book, July 17, 2007

By	Joseph Cleffie "Joe" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization, and the UPS Strike (History of Communication) (Hardcover)

This is a book that is rare in academia. It is clearly written yet a rigorous examination of one of the key labor struggles of the 1990's. Professor Kumar grounds media studies in the realities of working class America. The victory for the Teamsters at UPS had come after a long period of defeats for US labor. That struggle gave hope to millions across the US that we could beat back the attacks on our living standards. Unfortunately, the kind of struggle at UPS wasn't sustained. But it still points toward an effective strategy. Kumar's book is a valuable contribution in examining this successful strike and how the mass media reacted to it. The book is neither a conspiratorial outlook of mass media nor a naive view where the mass media is neutral. She gives a balanced assessment where the media was forced to relay the demands of the strikers due to the positive reaction to the strike amongst the general population. A must read for all students of labor history and labor activists.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful history, even with the unnecessary add-ons, March 4, 2008

By	S. Sherman "lefteyeonbooks.org" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization, and the UPS Strike (History of Communication) (Hardcover)

Perhaps I am writing this review slightly in bad faith. I read this book only because I am interested in the UPS strike. I am not much interested in the academic media theory which is pedantically laid out (by the way, although Noam Chomsky is critiqued for being excessively pessimistic and adopting a propaganda model, he in many places adopts the view of the author--that during times of struggle, dissenting voices find a place in dominant media. In fact, his claims along these lines are based on his personal experience with media like the New York Review of Books during the high tide of the anti-war movement,when he was sometimes published, and after, when they ignored him). I also found the author's politics, which, in typical fashion, mesh Trotskyism with anti-corporatism in an under-theorized manner (the kind of politics that believes post 1989 malaise can be waved away by explaining that the Soviet Union was really state capitalist, or that labor unions and the left can simply be lectured to be 'independent of the Democratic Party', as if it's self evident what that would mean, and there are no reasons why this proves so difficult in practice) to be irritating. Nevertheless, for the most part, this was a valuable read, and, overall, the book really helped put the UPS strike into historical perspective. Kumar clarifies how grassroots activism related to Teamsters for a Democratic Union and the Carey campaign helped solidify support for the strike. She also shows how the strike helped trigger broadly anti-corporate ways of thinking in American life (and she is quite correct that Naomi Klein made a big mistake to leave the UPS strike out of her account of the genesis of anti-corporatism, No Logo). I hope this book helps her attain tenure. Then she can lose the academic rhetoric, find a publisher like The New Press, and write a book arguing that the left must pay attention to class struggle around the workplace. I think this would be politically more productive than trying to convince media studies professors of the same.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Teamsters Beat Big Brown Down, August 4, 2007

By	ragnorrok - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization, and the UPS Strike (History of Communication) (Hardcover)

Kumar's account not only provides a sharp analysis of the strike, warts and all, but gives all due credit to the rank and file organization that made the victory possible and shows how institutions hostile to labor, like the corporate owned presses, were forced by the teamsters' "Part Time America Doesn't Work" campaign to cover worker's issues (if only to maintain their credibility with the audience they need to sell to their advertisers). There is also a very insightful (and long overdue) challenge to the kind of media theory advanced by Chomsky and many others on the Left which I think corrects their tendency to overemphasize the effect of propaganda and Corporate dominance. Kumar deftly shows exactly how the Teamsters' strong grassroots organization and fight to connect their struggle with all workers interests first impacts the press' coverage and then reacts back on them, reinforcing their members, increasing their supporters and further strengthening their campaign despite the media forces arrayed against them. An invaluable contribution to labor activists when we need to replicate such victories now as never before.