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Annual Review of Sociology Vol. 17 (1991) , pp. 27-49 (23 pages) Published By: Annual Reviews https://www.jstor.org/stable/2083334 Read and download Log in through your school or library Read Online (Free) relies on page scans, which are not currently available to screen readers. To access this article, please contact JSTOR User Support. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader.With a personal account, you can read up to 100 articles each month for free. Get StartedAlready have an account? Log in Monthly Plan
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Abstract The proliferation of research on the US labor movement has created opportunities for the development of theory on labor action. Such theory would account for variations in the development, structure, ideology, goals, functions, social composition, and societal impact of labor unions and, more generally, the labor movement. This review of recent sociological research focuses on two sets of enduring questions to which this research has been addressed. The first concerns the development of the U.S. labor movement--that is, its connection to industrialization; its internal organizational and ideological development; and worker predispositions to unionize and conduct strikes. The second pertains to the socioeconomic and political impact of the U.S. labor movement--i.e. its impact on worker livelihoods and life chances and social inequality, as well as its universalizing effects on the determinants of inequality; and, its impact on working class political participation and the shaping of social policy. This review concludes with suggestions for redirecting research in order to realize the growing opportunities for developing theory on labor action. Journal Information The Annual Review of Sociology®, in publication since 1975, covers the significant developments in the field of Sociology. Topics covered in the journal include major theoretical and methodological developments as well as current research in the major subfields. Review chapters typically cover social processes, institutions and culture, organizations, political and economic sociology, stratification, demography, urban sociology, social policy, historical sociology, and major developments in sociology in other regions of the world. This journal is intended for sociologists and other social scientists, as well as those in the fields of urban and regional planning, social policy and social work. It is also useful for those in government. Publisher Information Annual Reviews was founded in 1932 as a nonprofit scientific publisher to help scientists cope with the ever-increasing volume of scientific research. Comprehensive, authoritative, and critical reviews written by the world's leading scientists are now published in twenty-six disciplines in the biological, physical, and social sciences. According to the "Impact Factor" rankings of the Institute for Scientific Information's Science Citation Index, each Annual Review ranks at or near the top of its respective subject category. A searchable title and author database and a collection of abstracts may be found at https://www.annualreviews.org//. The web site also provides information and pricing for all printed volumes, online publications, and reprint collections. Rights & Usage This item is part of a JSTOR Collection.  This drawing depicts men working the lock on a section of the Erie Canal. Find more lyrics like this "I've got a mule, her name is Sal, Fifteen years on the Erie Canal" on this New York State Canals website. The transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy took more than a century in the United States, but that long development entered its first phase from the 1790s through the 1830s. The Industrial Revolution had begun in Britain during the mid-18th century, but the American colonies lagged far behind the mother country in part because the abundance of land and scarcity of labor in the New World reduced interest in expensive investments in machine production. Nevertheless, with the shift from hand-made to machine-made products a new era of human experience began where increased productivity created a much higher standard of living than had ever been known in the pre-industrial world. The start of the American Industrial Revolution is often attributed to Samuel Slater who opened the first industrial mill in the United States in 1790 with a design that borrowed heavily from a British model. Slater's pirated technology greatly increased the speed with which cotton thread could be spun into yarn. While he introduced a vital new technology to the United States, the economic takeoff of the Industrial Revolution required several other elements before it would transform American life. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton pours a bucketful of Lake Erie into the Atlantic Ocean to mark the opening of the Erie Canal in the autumn of 1825. Another key to the rapidly changing economy of the early Industrial Revolution were new organizational strategies to increase productivity. This had begun with the "outwork system" whereby small parts of a larger production process were carried out in numerous individual homes. This organizational reform was especially important for shoe and boot making. However, the chief organizational breakthrough of the Industrial Revolution was the "factory system" where work was performed on a large scale in a single centralized location. Among the early innovators of this approach were a group of businessmen known as the Boston Associates who recruited thousands of New England farm girls to operate the machines in their new factories. The most famous of their tightly controlled mill towns was Lowell, Massachusetts, which opened in 1823. The use of female factory workers brought advantages to both employer and employee. The Boston Associates preferred female labor because they paid the young girls less than men. These female workers, often called "Lowell girls," benefited by experiencing a new kind of independence outside the traditional male-dominated family farm.
The rise of wage labor at the heart of the Industrial Revolution also exploited working people in new ways. The first strike among textile workers protesting wage and factory conditions occurred in 1824 and even the model mills of Lowell faced large strikes in the 1830s. Dramatically increased production, like that in the New England's textile mills, were key parts of the Industrial Revolution, but required at least two more elements for widespread impact. First, an expanded system of credit was necessary to help entrepreneurs secure the capital needed for large-scale and risky new ventures. Second, an improved transportation system was crucial for raw materials to reach the factories and manufactured goods to reach consumers. State governments played a key role encouraging both new banking institutions and a vastly increased transportation network. This latter development is often termed the Market Revolution because of the central importance of creating more efficient ways to transport people, raw materials, and finished goods. Alexander Hamilton's Bank of the United States received a special national charter from the U.S. Congress in 1791. It enjoyed great success, which led to the opening of branch offices in eight major cities by 1805. Although economically successful, a government-chartered national bank remained politically controversial. As a result, President Madison did not submit the bank's charter for renewal in 1811. The key legal and governmental support for economic development in the early 19th century ultimately came at the state, rather than the national, level. When the national bank closed, state governments responded by creating over 200 state-chartered banks within five years. Indeed, this rapid expansion of credit and the banks' often unregulated activities helped to exacerbate an economic collapse in 1819 that resulted in a six-year depression. The dynamism of a capitalist economy creates rapid expansion that also comes with high risks that include regular periods of sharp economic downturns. The use of a state charter to provide special benefits for a private corporation was a crucial and controversial innovation in republican America. The idea of granting special privileges to certain individuals seemed to contradict the republican ideal of equality before the law. Even more than through rapidly expanded banking institutions, state support for internal transportation improvements lay at the heart of the nation's new political economy. Road, bridge, and especially canal building was an expensive venture, but most state politicians supported using government-granted legal privileges and funds to help create the infrastructure that would stimulate economic development. The most famous state-led creation of the Market Revolution was undoubtedly New York's Erie Canal. Begun in 1817, the 364-mile man-made waterway flowed between Albany on the Hudson River and Buffalo on Lake Erie. The canal connected the eastern seaboard and the Old Northwest. The great success of the Erie Canal set off a canal frenzy that, along with the development of the steamboat, created a new and complete national water transportation network by 1840. Samuel Slater Report broken link Lowell Mills Report broken link The History of the New York State Canal System Report broken link Alan Greenspan Speech on the History of Banking Report broken link In what follows, I shall confine myself to a description of factory life in Lowell, Massachusetts, from 1832 to 1848, since, with that phase of
Early Factory Labor in New England, I am the most familiar-because I was a part of it. -Harriet H. Robinson Report broken link Reverend Ephraim Avery was acquitted in the murder trial of Sarah Cornell, a factory worker who was
found hanged, 5 months pregnant. Avery's respected status in the community and Cornell's history of shoplifting and venereal disease helped get him off the hook. Report broken link If you like our content, please share it on social media!How did the Industrial Revolution stimulate the growth of unions?The concentration of workers in factories, mines, and mills facilitated the development of trade unions during the Industrial Revolution. After the initial decades of political hostility towards organized labor, skilled male workers emerged as the early beneficiaries of the labor movement.
What caused labor unions to begin during the Industrial Revolution?The labor movement in the United States grew out of the need to protect the common interest of workers. For those in the industrial sector, organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions.
What caused the rise of labor unions during the late 1800s?Basic Answer: In the late 1800s, workers organized unions to solve their problems. Their problems were low wages and unsafe working conditions. The solution was for the work- ers to cooperate and form unions. First, workers formed local unions and later formed national unions.
What led to labor unions rise?Unions began forming in the mid-19th century in response to the social and economic impact of the Industrial Revolution. National labor unions began to form in the post-Civil War Era.
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What stimulates the growth of labor unions in the United States during the Industrial Revolution?
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