Social Labor

From Major League Baseball's inception in the 1880s through World War II, team owners enjoyed monopolistic control of the industry. Despite the players' desire to form a viable union, every attempt to do so failed. In the mid-1960s, star players Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale staged a joint holdout for multiyear contracts and much higher salaries. Their holdout quickly drew support from the public; for the first time, owners realized they could ill afford to alienate fans, their primary source of revenue.

After four unremarkable decades in politics, Jeremy Corbyn stands on the brink of power. Until his surprise election as leader of the Labour Party in 2015, this seemingly unelectable oddball had not been a major political player. Since then, Corbyn has survived coup attempts and accusations of incompetence that would have felled most politicians, including grave charges of anti-Semitism, bullying and not being the master of his brief. Despite these shortcomings, as the Conservatives rip themselves apart over Europe, he is likely soon to become Britain's Prime Minister.

From the dark arts of the dirt units to the role of billionaire Clive Palmer, this is the untold story of an election debacle. The Labor Party was the unbeatable favourite to win the 2019 election right up until the polls closed and voters delivered the surprise verdict. If the results staggered pundits, they also shocked Bill Shorten and his frontbench, who had spent the final weeks of the campaign carefully planning for their first days in office. Party Animals uncovers the secret history of a Labor fiasco, the untold story behind Scott Morrison's miracle.

The red wall formed the foundation of Labour's vote in the Midlands and the North of England, but these places backed Brexit and then dramatically turned Conservative for the first time in living memory at the 2019 election, redrawing the electoral map in the process. Originally from the North East himself, Payne set out to uncover the story of the red wall and issues that turned the seats blue.

The McCarthy-era witch hunts marked the culmination of an anticommunist crusade launched after the First World War. With Bolshevism triumphant in Russia and public discontent shaking the United States, conservatives at every level of government and business created a network dedicated to sweeping away the "spider web" of radicalism they saw threatening the nation. In this groundbreaking study, Nick Fischer shines a light on right-wing activities of the time, showing that the term "spider web" far more accurately described the anticommunist movement.

A compelling investigation into the phenomenon of dirty work – labour that society considers essential, but morally compromised. Guards who patrol the wards of America's most violent and abusive prisons. Undocumented immigrants who man the 'kill floors' of industrial slaughterhouses. Roustabouts who drill for oil on offshore rigs. And drone operators who kill people from thousands of miles away.

The United States remains the only industrialized nation in the world that does not provide paid family leave at the national level for either men or women. In the more than two decades since the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act, there have been numerous unsuccessful attempts to expand family leave benefits nationally. However, in the United States, it is common for innovations in family policies to arise at the state level.

After receiving a PhD in mathematics from MIT, Larry spent three decades working at prestigious companies in the tech industry. Initially he was not worried when he lost his job as part of a large layoff, but the prolonged unemployment that followed decimated his finances and nearly ended his marriage. Larry's story is not an anomaly. In The Stigma Trap, Ofer Sharone explains how the stigma of unemployment can render past educational and professional achievements irrelevant, and how it leaves all American workers vulnerable to becoming trapped in unemployment.

Since the Great Recession, recent college grads have confronted an alarming reality: the economic engine that propelled earlier generations into the middle class has begun to stall out. Millions of workers with degrees have faced crushing debt while settling for jobs below their qualifications. The anger of this college-educated working class finally boiled over during the Covid pandemic, when workers at companies like Apple and Starbucks shocked corporate America by voting to unionize.

*Wage-Labour and Capital* by Karl Marx is a foundational text in Marxist economic theory that explores the exploitative dynamics of capitalist societies. Originally delivered as a series of lectures, the work delves into the relationship between wage laborers and capitalists, emphasizing how workers sell their labor power for wages that merely sustain their existence, while the capitalists appropriate the surplus value created by the workers.

From the beginning of the Industrial Age and continuing into the twenty-first century, companies faced with militant workers and organizers have often turned to agencies that specialized in ending strikes and breaking unions. Although their secretive nature has made it difficult to fully explore the history of this industry, From Blackjacks to Briefcases does just that.

Linda Chavez, who was denied a plum job in President George W. Bush's Cabinet because she employed an illegal alien, here has her chance to get back at the unions and like-minded organizations that opposed her candidacy. She takes this opportunity with a vengeance. Chavez is shocked that labor unions have traditionally supported Democratic politicians and social causes; to her, these politicians and causes represent "socialism" at its worst.

Climbing the Rough Side of the Mountain is the remarkable story of a couple who came together during the Civil Rights Movement and made fighting for equality and civil and workers’ rights their purpose for more than sixty years, overcoming adversity—with the strength of their love and commitment—to bring about meaningful change.

When health care workers call a Code White, it’s an emergency response for a violent incident: a call for help. But it’s one that goes unanswered in hospitals, clinics, and long-term care homes across the country. Code White exposes a shocking epidemic of violence that’s hidden in plain sight, one in which workers are battered, assaulted, and demeaned, but carry on in silence, with little recourse. Researchers Margaret M. Keith and James T. Brophy lay bare the stories of over one hundred nurses and personal support workers, aides and porters, clerical workers and cleaners.

Defining Marriage traces the decades-long evolution of marriage through the personal stories of those who lived through it. Writer Matt Baume provides an intimate glimpse into the private lives of those who dreamed of marriage in the 1970s, the survivors of the 1980s, the audacious pioneers of the 1990s, the tireless soldiers of the 2000s, and the champions who won marriage today.

One thing I have always thought about is whether lazy people can really be motivated well enough to achieve great things in life, if someone is reading inspirational quotes and listening to motivational speakers but not actually putting any effort into improving his or her own life, can anything really change in their lives? Every day we are lectured by these ''Be The Best You Can Be in life,'' coaches without telling us exactly what we need to do to get where we wannabe. These life coaches have made careers out of other people's misery. There was once a guy in my neighborhood who created a...

David Ranney’s vivid memoir describes his work experiences between 1976 and 1982 in the factories of Southeast Chicago and Northwest Indiana. The audiobook opens with a detailed description of what it was like to live and work in one of the heaviest industrial concentrations in the world. The author takes the listener on a walk through the heart of the South Side, Chicago, observing the noise, heavy traffic, the 24-hour restaurants and bars, the rich diversity of people on the streets at all hours of the day and night, and the smell of the highly polluted air.

Employers are increasingly recruiting their workers into politics to change elections and public policy - sometimes in coercive ways. Using a diverse array of evidence, including national surveys of workers and employers, as well as in-depth interviews with top corporate managers, Alexander Hertel-Fernandez's Politics at Work explains why mobilization of workers has become an appealing corporate political strategy in recent decades.

En Fragmentados Andrés Hatum describe, analiza y ejemplifica las distintas formas en que el trabajo nos arruinó y fragmentó la vida. Arruinar, por lo inhumano de ciertos trabajos, en particular en momentos como la Revolución Industrial; fragmentar porque, en vez de estar integrados en nuestra vida, los trabajos se metieron como una cuña para complicárnosla.

In Britons Through Negro Spectacles Merriman-Labor takes us on a joyous, intoxicating tour of London at the turn of the 20th century. Slyly subverting the colonial gaze usually placed on Africa, he introduces us to the citizens, culture and customs of Britain with a mischievous glint in his eye. This incredible work of social commentary feels a century ahead of its time and provides unique insights into the intersection between empire, race and community at this important moment in history.