Work in America. An Encyclopedia of History, Policy and Society

Work in America. An Encyclopedia of History, Policy and Society

Title: Work in America. An Encyclopedia of History, Policy, and Society

Edited by: Carl E.Van Horn and Herbert A. Schaffner
Foreword by: Ray Marshall, former U.S. Secretary of Labor
Publisher: ABC CLIO

Work in America. An Encyclopedia of History, Policy, and Society

List of Entries by Category

Business and Industry

Amazon.com
AT&T
Automotive Industry
Business Roundtable
Business Schools
BusinessWeek
Defense Industry
Federal Mine Safety and Health Act
Food-service Industry
Fortune
Garment/Textile Industries
General Motors
High-Performance Workforce
International Business Machines
Ironworkers
Maritime Trades and Work
Manufacturing Jobs
Meatpacking Industry
Middle Management
Nurses and Doctors
Prostitution
Steel/U.S. Steel
Wall Street
Wall Street Journal
World Trade Organization

Unions and Labor Relations

Agricultural Work
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
Arbitration
Automotive Industry
Black Lung Disease
Blue Collar
Building Trades Unions
Child Labor
Collective Bargaining
Communications Workers of America
Communism in the U.S.Trade Union Movement
Davis-Bacon Act
Democratic Socialism
Flood,Curt
Garment/Textile Industries
Great Depression
Guilds
Haymarket Square Incident
Homestead Strike
Industrial Revolution and Assembly Line Work
International Labor Organization
International Workers of the World
Ironworkers
Justice for Janitors
Knights of Labor
LaFollette,Robert
Lewis, John
Living Wage
Local 1199 Health Care Workers
Lowell Strike
Manufacturing Jobs
Maritime Trades and Work
Meany,George
Meatpacking Industry
Mother Jones
National Education Association
National Labor Relations Act
North American Free Trade Agreement
Pink Collar
Professional Air Traffic Controllers
Organization Strike
Railway Labor Act
Randolph,Phillip A.
Recesssion
Reuther, Walter
Right to Work
Rust Belt
Socialism
Solidarity
Steel/U.S. Steel
Strikes
Sweeney, John
Teamsters
Trade Adjustment Assistance Program
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Unemployment Rate
United Auto Workers Union
United Farm Workers
United Mine Workers of America
Wage Gap
Workday
Working Class
Work Sharing

Compensation and Benefits

Americans with Disabilities Act
Bonuses
Collective Bargaining
Comparable Worth
Compensation
Davis-Bacon Act
Defined Benefit/Defined Contribution Plans
Domestic Partner Benefits
Earnings and Education
Equal Pay Act
Employee Retirement Income
Security Act
Fair Labor Standards Act
Family and Medical Leave Act
Federal Unemployment Tax and Insurance System
Gold Watch
Health Insurance
Job Benefits
Living Wage
Minimum Wage
Overtime and the Workweek
Pay Equity
Pensions
Prevailing Wage Laws
Profit Sharing
Retirement
Scrip
Severance Pay
Stock Options
Vacations
Wage Gap
Wage Tax
Worker Housing
Workers Compensation

Postindustrial Economy

Amazon.com
Computers at Work
Dilbert
Dot-com Revolution
Downsizing
E-commerce
E-learning
Employee Stock Ownership
Ergonomics
Globalization and Workers New Economy
Postindustrial Workforce
Silicon Valley
Violence and Stress in the
Workplace
Women and Work
Yuppie

Demographic, Economic and Policy Trends

Affirmative Action
American Association of Retired Persons
Careers
Child Care
Consultants and Contract Workers
Contingent and Temporary Workers
Day Laborers
Defense Industry
Disability and Work
Downsizing
Drug Testing and Substance Abuse in the Workplace
Earnings and Education
Health Insurance
Immigrants and Work
Internships
Job Placement and Recruitment Firms
Job Security
Job Skills
Labor Force
Labor Market
Layoffs
Literacy
Occupations and Occupational Trends
Older Workers
On the Job Training
Outplacement
Overtime and the Workweek
Part-Time Work
Personnel Management
Piecework
Prevailing Wage Laws
Productivity
Professionals
Recesssion
Rust Belt
Self-Employment
Stress and Violence in the Workplace
Suburbanization and Work
Summer Jobs
Sweatshops
Swing Shift
Telework/Telecommuting
Time Cards
Undocumented Workers
Women and Work
Workday
Workplace Safety
Worksharing

Notable Groups and Individuals

American Association of Retired Persons
Consultants and Contract Workers
Contingent and Temporary Workers
Cowboys
Day Laborers
Deming, W.Edwards
Dos Passos, John
Drucker,Peter
Flood,Curt
Ford,Henry
Greenspan,Alan
LaFollette,Robert
Lewis, John
Lewis, Sinclair
Meany,George
Mother Jones
National Education Association
Nurses and Doctors
Older Workers
Perkins, Francis
Prostitution
Randolph,Phillip A.
Reuther,Walter
Roosevelt, Eleanor
Roosevelt, Franklin
Rosie the Riveter
Sandburg,Carl
Sayles, John
Secretaries
Sinclair,Upton
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
Steinbeck, John
Steinem, Gloria
Sweeney, John
Taylor, Frederick
Terkel, Studs
Veterans
Whitman,Walt
Whyte,William
Yuppies

Government Organizations

Bureau of Labor Statistics
Civil Service
Civilian Conservation Corps
Council of Economic Advisers
Dunlop Commission
Employment and Training Administration
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Federal Reserve Board
International Labor Organization
Secretary of Labor,U.S.
World Trade Organization

Theories and Systems of the Economy, Management and Human Capital

Baldrige Awards and Criteria
Capitalism
Communism in the U.S.Trade Union Movement
Comparable Worth
Core Competencies
Corporate Consolidation and Reengineering
Democratic Socialism
Downsizing
Earnings and Education
Education Reform and the
Workforce
Ergonomics
Hawthorne Plant Experiments
High-Performance Workforce
Home Economics/Domestic Science
Industrial Engineering
Industrial Psychology
Industrial Revolution and Assembly Line Work
Levittown
Lifelong Learning
Middle Management
Mommy Track
Productivity
Quality Circles
Socialism
Taylor, Frederick
Total Quality Management
Whyte, William

Public Policy and Legislation

Affirmative Action
Americans with Disabilities Act
Black Lung Disease
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Child Labor
Civil Service
Civilian Conservation Corps
Comprehensive Employment and Training Act
Council of Economic Advisers
Davis-Bacon Act
Defense Industry
Dunlop Commission
Earned Income Tax Credit
Education Reform and the Workforce
Employment and Training Administration
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Equal Pay Act
Employee Retirement Income Security Act
Estate Tax
Export-Processing Zones
Fair Labor Standards Act
Family and Medical Leave Act
Federal Mine Safety and Health Act
Federal Reserve Board
Federal Unemployment Tax and Insurance System
Food Stamps
Full Employment Act
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GI Bill
Great Depression
Green Cards
Humphrey-Hawkins Act
Immigration Reform and Control Act
Job Corps
Job Training Partnership Act
Lifelong Learning
Medicaid
Military Jobs and Careers
Minimum Wage
National Labor Relations Act
New Deal
North American Free Trade Agreement
Occupational Safety and Health Act
Pell Grants
Prevailing Wage Laws
Railway Labor Act
Secretary of Labor,U.S.
Sexual Harassment
Sherman Antitrust Act
Social Security Act
Teaching
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Trade Adjustment Assistance Act
Wage Tax
Wartime and Work
Welfare to Work
Work First
Workforce Investment Act
Works Progress Administration
World Trade Organization

Arts and Media

BusinessWeek
Communications Workers of America
Dilbert
Dos Passos, John
Fortune
Lewis, Sinclair
Rosie the Riveter
Sandburg, Carl
Sayles, John
Sinclair, Upton
Steinbeck, John
Steinem, Gloria
Terkel, Studs
Wall Street Journal
Whitman,Walt
Work in Film
Work in Literature
Work in Television
Work in Visual Arts

Diversity and Discrimination in the Workplace

Affirmative Action
African American Women and Work
African Americans and Work
American Association of Retired Persons
American Slavery
Americans with Disabilities Act
Asian Americans and Work
Comparable Worth
Disability and Work
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Equal Pay Act
Fair Labor Standards Act
Domestic Partner Benefits
Family and Medical Leave Act
Gays at Work
Glass Ceiling
Green Cards
Immigrants and Work
Lowell Strike
Maquiladora Zone
Mommy Track
Native Americans and Work
Older Workers
Pay Equity
Pink Collar
Retirement
Rosie the Riveter
Secretaries
Sexual Harassment
Social Security Act
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
Steinem, Gloria
Undocumented Workers
United Farm Workers
Wage Gap
Women and Work
Work and Hispanic Americans

Home and Family

Child Care
Domestic Partner Benefits
Elder Care
Employee Retirement Income Security Act
Estate Tax
Family and Medical Leave Act
Homework
Housework
Levittown
Mommy Track
Pensions
Pink Collar
Retirement
Suburbanization and Work
Vacations

Education and Workforce Training

Apprenticeships
Business Schools
Careers
Civilian Conservation Corps
Comprehensive Employment and Training Act
Earnings and Education
Education Reform and the Workforce
E-learning
Employment and Training Administration
GI Bill
Guilds
Internships
Job Corps
Job Placement and Recruitment Firms
Job Skills
Job Training Partnership Act
Lifelong Learning
Literacy
National Education Association
Occupations and Occupational Trends
On the Job Training
Pell Grants
Summer Jobs
Teaching
Tenure,Academic
Workforce Investment Act

Immigration Issues

Agricultural Work
Asian Americans and Work
Day Laborers
Export-Processing Zones
Green Cards
Immigrants and Work
Immigration Reform and Control Act
Justice for Janitors
Maquiladora Zone
North American Free Trade Agreement
Servants and Maids
Sweatshops
Undocumented Workers
United Farm Workers
Work and Hispanic Americans

Foreword and Preface

Foreword to the Encyclopedia

This comprehensive work is guided at its core by an
in-depth understanding of the essential nature of
globalization reshaping virtually every facet of
human activity in the United States and around the
world. Competition and survival in the new global
economy are driven by knowledge and innovation at
all levels of the workforce. The student, the worker,
the teacher, the scholar, and the entrepreneur: all
need to understand how the rules of the global
economy are being made-and will be made for
years to come. Human potential and ability make
the difference. In a book I wrote with Marc Tucker a
few years back titled Thinking for a Living: Education
and the Wealth of Nations, we emphasized that
workers at the point of production must be able to
think and decide for themselves, and we pointed to
the need for national policies that would build ladders
of training and skill development from high
school through community college and other educational
institutions.The lives of U. S.workers and employers,
we found, are a constant search for new and
relevant skills and insights that provide security and
opportunity.Of course workers face personal, social,
and institutional barriers to achieving the knowledge
that will keep their skills razor-sharp. Governments,
employers, worker groups, unions, schools,
faith-based organizations, and other institutions all
must recognize the “knowledge gaps” faced by workers
and find ways within their institutional limits to
help bridge those gaps.
Work in America: An Encyclopedia of History,
Policy, and Society is a source of the trustworthy
knowledge and research that all of us, especially
students, require for educational and career
achievement. It provides a thoughtful source for
plumbing the new realities of our knowledge and
innovation-driven global economy. The editors,
along with dozens of nationally well-regarded
scholars, analysts, and writers, have provided an
intellectual blueprint to the realities of our competitive,
innovation-driven economy and the implications
and effects of these changes upon critical institutions.
Every significant area of economic and
work life and scholarship is addressed herein.Contributed
entries of quality and depth address business
and industry, union and labor relations, the
importance of education and training, the nature
of compensation and benefits, major demographic
and social trends, economic principles, law and
public policy, government organizations, arts and
the media,home and family, and the major systems
of thought that have shaped our knowledge of the
economy, business management, and human capital.
The editors address developing trends of great
importance to the future U. S. economy and the individuals
who shape policy, including entries on
immigration, welfare and the working poor, discrimination
and diversity, and the expansion of female
participation in the workforce and work-family
concerns. The entries were not assigned to
advance the interests of narrow ideologies or perspectives
but to incorporate the best research and
sources from all major points of view. For those
who seek further exploration, the lists of recommended
further reading and research are treasure
troves of the best analysis,writing, and scholarship
in every aspect of employment, labor, and economic
study. You need no other tool to begin a
journey of discovery into the U.S. workforce and
the scholars who study it.

It is of little surprise to me that the wise architects
of this work are Dr. Carl E. Van Horn and
Herb Schaffner of the John J. Heldrich Center for
Workforce Development at Rutgers University. The
Heldrich Center has become one of the leading academically
based centers in the United States for
the study and improvement of the U.S. workforce
and economy. Its research and applied studies are
followed and used by policymakers in state and
federal governments as well as in the academy. Its
national Work Trends surveys of the U.S.workforce
have earned wide respect and attention and are invaluable
to many researchers. The editors were
able to draw upon the center’s respected policy
and research staff to contribute many significant
entries to this work. It is clear from the scope and
depth of the work that the Heldrich Center gave
this enterprise its full commitment and resources.
To everyone who cares to understand this economy
and his or her place in it-to all of those who
are thinking for a living-I recommend Work in
America as a faithful and reliable companion.

Ray Marshall
U.S. Secretary of Labor, 1976-1980
Professor Emeritus
Audre and Bernard Rapoport Centennial Chair in Economics and Public Affairs Chair, National Advisory Committee,
Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources
University of Texas

Preface to the Encyclopedia

The study of work and the workforce in the United
States has broad appeal, for nearly all of us go to
work, want to earn a good living, and value the role
of careers in our lives.Unlike the social democracies
of Europe, where social welfare programs provide a
more secure fallback for the unemployed,and unlike
developing nations, where many millions of people
remain tied to the land and agriculture, the laws and
policies of the United States encourage paid, skilled
employment, often in large organizations. For most
people in the United States,moving forward in a career
requires that workers learn, acquire, and adopt
new skills, rather than compile longevity or trade on
family or institutional associations.

As editors, we entered into this project with enthusiasm
about the study of work and the workforce
as a cross-disciplinary subject.Work touches
all aspects of life in U.S. society. The dignity of
work is a cornerstone of social justice, respect for
work and workers is essential in a just society, and
work pursued freely is a democratizing force.Work
is at the core of the emerging social and transnational
conflicts in the twenty-first century such as
globalization, the gap between rich and poor, sustainable
development, and the roots of the spread
of terrorism and militancy.

In the early 1990s,the Clinton administration created
the Dunlop Commission to develop solutions to
the challenges facing the changing workplace. The
commission brought together the most significant
collection of thinkers and leaders on workforce issues
in many decades. In its final report in the mid-
1990s, the Dunlop Commission noted that the workplace
had become the central formal institution in
U.S.society.Their declaration was prescient.
As of 2003, Americans spend more time in the
workplace than citizens of most other industrialized
nations. Majorities of working Americans put
in overtime, and surprisingly large numbers work
more than one job. The workplace is our most inclusive
institution, as the vast majority of adult
women now have earned income. Workplaces-
particularly those of larger employers-reflect the
racial and ethnic diversity of the population. In contrast
with many European and Asian industrialized
nations, most Americans access their safety net of
health and retirement benefits through their employers,
rather than federal programs. In the United
States, the workplace is where many conflicts over
rights and racial or sexual discrimination are
brought to the courts. In addition, the workplace
has become a center of learning, for job training
and even formal education programs. As the Dunlop
Commission noted:
Our main national asset is a skilled and hardworking
workforce. In an ever-more global economy,
the quality of the workplace affects not only
the individual enterprise and its employees, but
also national economic growth and productivity
performance.
In the two volumes of this encyclopedia,we provide
through more than 250 concise entries-a
comprehensive portrait of work and the workforce
in the United States.An editorial advisory board including
a leading private sector human resource expert,
a labor historian, and social scientist worked
with us to design the full list of entries. At times,
scholars contacted us with suggestions for additional
topics, which we accepted.
We focus largely on developments since the In-
PREFACE
xxiii
dustrial Revolution through the emergence of the
new information economy and its aftermath. These
entries interpret and explain the roles of economics,
public policy and the law, human and civil rights,
culture in society, and the individual in acting upon,
reflecting, and changing our evolving work life,
workplace, and economy. The paramount role and
influence of work as an economic force is reflected
in the volumes, as is the significance of unpaid, underpaid,
exploited, and dangerous work throughout
U.S. economic history. More than eighty credentialed
scholars and analysts, experts in these various
disciplines, wrote the entries. Work in America: An
Encyclopedia of History, Policy, and Society involves
these topic areas:
• Definitions and ideas in labor economics,
labor law, employment policy, and material
culture, ranging from the Sherman Antitrust
Act to the earned income tax credit and the
Americans with Disabilities Act;
• Key historical events in the transformation
and development of work; the evolution of
employment sectors, occupations, and skills,
with entries ranging from the Triangle Shirtwaist
Fire to the dot-com revolution;
• The impacts of work on families and communities,
with particular focus on how
women, minority populations, immigrants,
and children have experienced and affected
work, including discrimination, slavery, and
labor exploitation;
• Work and the needs of workers as they are
embedded in political economics and political
science;
• The essential national and international
labor institutions that affect work, from the
AFL-CIO to the World Trade Organization;
• The essential thinkers and critics of work including
Studs Terkel,William Julius Wilson,
and Peter Drucker; associated schools of
thoughts, including socialism, capitalism,
and democratic movements;
• The corporation and its influence over time
on the public, political, and social forces
shaping work;
• Prominent public policies and changes affecting
the workforce such as affirmative action,
immigration law, and occupational
health and safety regulations;
• The rise of corporate management as a science
from Taylor to Deming;
• Critical events, people, conflicts, and changes
in the history of trade unionism and organized
labor;
• The effects of globalization and information
technology on work;
• Work and the family, and work and relationships.
At the end of each entry, readers will find crossreferences
to related entries within the work and a
list of references and related readings.We strongly
urge readers to make use of the recommended
books and reports referenced throughout the encyclopedia;
these are consistently the best and most
important research and journalism to be found on
the topics.
Work in America places strong emphasis on the
ways in which work and workers themselves are
represented and interpreted in mass and elite culture
and affected by the explosion in entertainment
and information media outlets. Art and media reflect
back to us various aspects of public controversies
around economic winners and losers and our
perceptions of what is “good work” (a police officer)
and what is “bad work” (a security guard). Millions
of Americans enter or seek jobs every day because
they have identified with the image and iconography
of that job portrayed on television.We include
entries on work in the visual arts, work in cinema,
and work in television, and humor and work.Media
organizations including the Wall Street Journal,
BusinessWeek, and Fortune are profiled. Work in
America also provides helpful overviews of key reference
areas, such as the range of U.S. occupations
and comprehensive overviews of capitalism, democratic
socialism, and communism.
Many entries in the encyclopedia endeavor to
draw the connections between work as a necessary
and economic reality and as an expression of individual
meaning and culture for virtually every living
adult. Work is a powerful field of inquiry because
work touches virtually everyone’s life every day. All
adults pass through the cycle of educating and training
for work, holding a job, and performing in a job.
Yet the economic conflict inherent in capitalism creates
tensions among workers that manifest themselves
in major social and class conflict.
The process of work encapsulates an array of
xxiv Preface
vital human experiences that must be examined
from economic, social, personal, and cultural perspectives.
Work in America uses crisp and accessible
language to draw a portrait of this diverse,
changing, complex, and enormously relevant universe.
We hope readers use these volumes to learn
more about the world of work and their place in it.
Carl E.Van Horn
and Herbert A. Schaffner


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