The Politics of Work

Reviews / Votes

"The data base is impressive in terms of its extent and its blend of quantitative and non-quantitative material, revealing an immense amount of hands-on work. Even more impressive is the way the author comes to grips with it. She promises, and achieves, a multi-faceted explanation of change in the labour process, encompassing the interaction between product and labour markets, technological advances, supply of capital, state interventions and racial and gender orders." Alison Turtle, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences "...does much to explain how 'skill' has been gendered historically and how women have come to occupy an inferior position in the capitalist labour market." Christina Burr, Labor History "Frances' examination of three industries--clothing, boot-making and printing--is both thought-provoking and readable....[S]he is very persuasive in tracing the effects, which often are shown to be unpredictable or counter-productive, of technology and government intervention upon the conditions of work." Thomas E. Tausky, Australian and New Zealand Studies in Canada "She ably demonstrates the importance of perceiving uneven developement with regard to gender and labor and of avoiding monocausal explanations of both change and the maintenance of the status quo....Frances's book makes a useful contribution to a more nuanced understanding of women's labor history." Judith Allen, American Historical Review