Newcomers in Workplace
Immigrants and the Restructuring of the U.S. Economy

PB: $36.95
EAN: 978-1-56639-131-3
Publication: Jan 94
HC: $80.50
EAN: 978-1-56639-124-5
Publication: Jan 94
Ebook: $36.95
EAN: 978-1-4399-0148-9
Publication: Jan 94
320 pages
6 x 9
5 tables, 11 figs., 10 halftones
Case studies capture the experiences, difficulties, and determination of immigrant workers
Description
Newcomers in the Workplace documents and dramatizes the changing face of the American workplace, transformed in the 1980s by immigrant workers in all sectors. This collection of excellent ethnographies captures the stench of meatpacking plants, the clatter of sewing machines, the sweat of construction sites, and the strain of management-employee relations in hotels and grocery stores as immigrant workers carve out crucial roles in a struggling economy.
Case studies focus on three geographical regionsPhiladelphia, Miami, and Garden City, Kansaswhere the active workforce includes increasing numbers of Cubans, Haitians, Koreans, Puerto Ricans, Laotians, Vietnamese, and other new immigrants. The portraits show these newcomers reaching across ethnic boundaries in their determination to retain individualism and to insure their economic survival.
Reviews
"Through close analysis of the changing workplace in three U.S. communities, these informative academic essays chart the variety of work experience for new immigrants." Publishers Weekly
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction Louise Lamphere, Guillermo Grenier, and Alex Stepick
Part I: Garden City
2. Beef Stew: Cattle, Immigrants, and Established Residents in a Kansas Beefpacking Town Michael Broadway
3. Knock 'Em Dead: Work on the Killfloor of a Modern Beefpacking Plant Donald D. Stull
4. Guys in White Hats: Short-Term Participant Observation among Beef-Processing Workers and Managers Ken C. Erickson
5. The Effects of Packinghouse Work on Southeast Asian Refugee Families Janet E. Benson
Part II: Miami
6. Miami: Capital of Latin America Alex Stepick
7. Brothers in Wood Alex Stepick and Guillermo Grenier, with Steve Morris and Debbie Draznin
8. Grounding the Saturn Plant: Failed Restructuring in a Miami Apparel Plant Guillermo Grenier and Alex Stepick, with Aline LaBorwit
9. The View from the Back of the House: Restaurants and Hotels in Miami Alex Stepick and Guillermo Grenier, with Hafidh A. Hafidh, Sue Chaffee, and Debbie Draznin
Part III: Philadelphia
10. Polishing the Rustbelt: Immigrants Enter a Restructuring Philadelphia Judith Goode
11. Facing Job Loss: Changing Relationships in a Multicultural urban Factor Carole Cohen
12. Encounters Over the Counter: Bosses, Workers, and Customers on a Changing Shopping Strip Judith Goode
13. Poverty and Politics: Practice and Ideology among Small Business Owners in an Urban Enterprise Zone Cynthia Carter Ninivaggi
Contributors' Notes
Index
About the Author(s)
Subjects
In the Series
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Labor and Social Change edited by Paula Rayman and Carmen Sirianni
Labor and Social Change, edited by Paula Rayman and Carmen Sirianni, includes books on workplace issues like worker participation, quality of work life, shorter hours, technological change, and productivity, as well as union and community organizing and ethnographies of particular occupations.