A Living Wage: American Workers and the Making of Consumer Society (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Between the Civil War and the 1930s, working-class attitudes toward wage labor shifted from "wage slavery" to the "living wage..." (more)
Key Phrases: Civil War, Ira Steward, Samuel Gompers (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Glickman (history, Univ. of South Carolina) analyzes the change in labor-movement ideology from aspiring to make workers self-employed artisans to accepting their status as wage earners. Nevertheless, labor unions disdained "wage slavery" and fought for a "living wage" that would reward workers commensurate with their needs as consumers. In doing so, Glickman argues that working-class Americans played an important role in the transformation of America from a producer-driven to a consumer-oriented society. He also disputes earlier influential interpretations of American labor ideology as being "exceptional" compared with European ideology, a view found particularly in the writings of John R. Commons and Selig Perlman. Recommended for labor collections of academic libraries.?Harry Frumerman, formerly with Hunter Coll., New York
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801486149
• ISBN-13: 978-0801486142
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,283,380 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)