Race And Labor Matters In The New U S Economy

In this powerful new work, Marable, Ness, and Wilson maintain that contrary to the popular hubris about equality, race is entrenched and more divisive than any time since the Civil Rights Movement. Race and Labor in the United States asserts that all advances in American race relations have only evolved through conflict and collective struggle. The foundation of the class divide in the United States remains, while racial and ethnic segregation, privilege, and domination, and the institution of neoliberalism have become a detriment to all workers.

In this powerful new work, Marable, Ness, and Wilson maintain that contrary to the popular hubris about equality, race is entrenched and more divisive than any time since the Civil Rights Movement. Race and Labor in the United States asserts that all advances in American race relations have only evolved through conflict and collective struggle. The foundation of the class divide in the United States remains, while racial and ethnic segregation, privilege, and domination, and the institution of neoliberalism have become a detriment to all workers.

Whether as slaves or freedmen, the political and social status of African Americans has always been tied to their ability to participate in the nation's economy. Freedom in the post–Civil War years did not guarantee equality, and African Americans from emancipation to the present have faced the seemingly insurmountable task of erasing pervasive public belief in the inferiority of their race. For Jobs and Freedom: Race and Labor in America since 1865 describes the African American struggle to obtain equal rights in the workplace and organized labor's response to their demands. Award-winning historian Robert H. Zieger asserts that the promise of jobs was similar to the forty-acres-and-a-mule restitution pledged to African Americans during the Reconstruction era. The inconsistencies between rhetoric and action encouraged workers, both men and women, to organize themselves into unions to fight against unfair hiring practices and workplace discrimination. Though the path proved difficult, unions gradually obtained rights for African American workers with prominent leaders at their fore. In 1925, A. Philip Randolph formed the first black union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, to fight against injustices committed by the Pullman Company, an employer of significant numbers of African Americans. The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) emerged in 1935, and its population quickly swelled to include over 500,000 African American workers. The most dramatic success came in the 1960s with the establishment of affirmative action programs, passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Title VII enforcement measures prohibiting employer discrimination based on race. Though racism and unfair hiring practices still exist today, motivated individuals and leaders of the labor movement in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries laid the groundwork for better conditions and greater opportunities. Unions, with some sixteen million members currently in their ranks, continue to protect workers against discrimination in the expanding economy. For Jobs and Freedom is the first authoritative treatment in more than two decades of the race and labor movement, and Zieger's comprehensive and authoritative book will be standard reading on the subject for years to come.

This assessment of the statesmanship, principles, and policies of Robert F. Kennedy places him "in the stream of history," to assess what came before his time in political life, what happened during that time, and what happened to his legacy after his assassination. Terrence Edward Paupp evaluates the themes and issues RFK confronted, responded to, and for which he provided visionary solutions. Paupp first chronicles the influence of Franklin D. Roosevelt's legacy as a prologue to the New Frontier and Great Society. During Robert F. Kennedy's time in power-both in his brother's administration and on his own in the US Senate-he struggled with striking a balance between power and purpose. In the years after John F. Kennedy's assassination, RFK emphasized the need to unite power and purpose, national and international concerns, ideals and practice. Much of this has been ignored, Paupp argues, by what C. Wright Mills called "the power elite." In assessing RFK's statesmanship, Paupp examines his commitments to human and civil rights, which linked themes and ideals within the US to those struggles taking place outside the country. Robert F. Kennedy brought zeal and passion to these problems by discussing the moral necessity of honouring human dignity while articulating practical solutions, policies, and programs to structural injustice. His legacy remains a beacon of light, intelligence, and hope in today's world.

Stephen Steinberg offers a bold challenge to prevailing thought on race and ethnicity in American society. In a penetrating critique of the famed race relations paradigm, he asks why a paradigm invented four decades before the Civil Rights Revolution still dominates both academic and popular discourses four decades after that revolution. On race, Steinberg argues that even the language of "race relations" obscures the structural basis of racial hierarchy and inequality. Generations of sociologists have unwittingly practiced a "white sociology" that reflects white interests and viewpoints. What happens, he asks, when we foreground the interests and viewpoints of the victims, rather than the perpetrators, of racial oppression? On ethnicity, Steinberg turns the tables and shows that the early sociologists who predicted ultimate assimilation have been vindicated by history. The evidence is overwhelming that the new immigrants, including Asians and most Latinos, are following in the footsteps of past immigrants—footsteps leading into the melting pot. But even today, there is the black exception. The end result is a dual melting pot—one for peoples of African descent and the other for everybody else. Race Relations: A Critique cuts through layers of academic jargon to reveal unsettling truths that call into question the nature and future of American nationality.

Progressive politics has long been in crisis in the United States. As the radical Left realizes the dire consequences of defining themselves solely by what they are against, this collection challenges leading engaged academics and activists to show how radical politics can lead to a more fruitful democracy. Dealing with pressing issues of the day such as health care, race, immigration, religion, foreign policy, unions, feminism, liberalism, education, and the media, this edited volume looks at the prospects for a progressive turn in U.S. politics. In doing so, it hopes to inspire the radical imagination by showing where we can go from here. As technology continues to enable greater access to ideas around the world, the power of intellectuals is greater than ever. And given that the world is full of crushing poverty, sexism, uneven development, environmental degeneration, religious fanaticism, racism, and imperialism, the need for intellectuals to inspire the radical imagination by championing principles of economic and social justice, democracy, and universality is also greater than ever. However, political visions are required to guide that struggle. This is the aim of this book.

Not since the Great Depression of the 1930s has the United States faced such a prolonged period of high unemployment and underemployment. Recovery from the "Great Recession" that began in 2008 has been slow, and is projected to remain sluggish over the next several years, while another shock to the global economy could erase the meager gains of the past months. Economic conditions remain fragile and employment challenges show no sign of letting up. With persistently high unemployment and underemployment-and growing inequality in wages-an increasing number of American families are no longer adequately supported by employment income and basic benefits. Many older workers have "retired" before they are ready, and many young workers cannot find a foothold in the job market. A silent crisis is underway, with huge social and economic costs for the nation. Working and Living in the Shadow of Economic Fragility examines the current state of employment through historical, macroeconomic, cultural, sociological and policy lenses, in order to address fundamental questions about the role and value of work in America today. The book offers suggestions for how to address the short- and long-term challenges of rebuilding a society of opportunity with meaningful and sustaining jobs as the foundation of the American middle-class.

The SAGE Handbook of Human Resource Management brings together contributions from leading international scholars in an influential collection that combines both global and interdisciplinary perspectives. An indispensable resource for advanced students and researchers in the field, the handbook focuses on familiarising the reader with the fundamentals of applied human resource management whilst contextualizing practice within wider theoretical considerations. Internationally minded chapters combine a critical overview with discussion of key debates and research, as well as comprehensively dealing with important emerging interests. The interdisciplinary and wide-ranging potential of the practising field is reflected through contributions from a diverse range of disciplines, including psychology, politics and sociology