Thursday, November 4, 2010

"Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class"

INTERVIEW: Labor's love lost - News Articles - Rochester City Newspaper:

Jefferson Cowie traces the roots of blue-collar conservatism

By Ron Netsky
October 13, 2010

"...In his new book, 'Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class,' Cowie weaves popular culture into the narrative of labor history.

The book traces the way some traditionally Democratic workers gravitated to the Republican Party as the left embraced minorities, feminists, and countercultural youth in the 1970's.

As the country braces for another election in which many workers appear poised to once again vote against what would seem to be their best interests, the reverberations of the 1970's continue to be felt.

The book also deals with the more liberal outlook on labor in the 1970's that made it possible for Congress to pass the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act in 1978. The bill, sponsored by then Senator Hubert Humphrey and Representative Augustus Hawkins (whose district included the turbulent Watts area in Los Angeles), called for the right to a job."

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

0 comments:

WPA Posters


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.