The American Working Class Experience

The American Working Class Experience

Introduction

The American working culture has taken several developments during the several years passed history . But behind all these developments were the hard times spent by American workers during the years 1959 and several years more onwards . This is why many historians took endeavor in writing the events that happened during those years with the working class of the American society

Many of these historians post real events regarding working realities Why do people work hard ? The success of a company 's sales relative to

its competitors is a source of immense pride and self-satisfaction . Hard work that contributes to this end is its own reward ' explains Cohen Allegiance to their company becomes a reason that employees work hard and work becomes the only way for them to express their worth . Not to be overlooked , too , is the urge to climb the corporate ladder . The possibility of someday reaching the top remains a strong incentive for hard work

Aside from this , the historians in different books point out that there is something more behind the past records regarding the history of the working world in America . such as Boris and Lichtenstein Leikin , Liz Cohen , Murolo and Chitty as well as Cheri Register have discussed vital history concerning the working culture of the past American employees

In the paragraphs to follow , a discussion on the history of the American working class shall be discussed basing from the authored books mentioned above . By this , a clearer view of the real accounts of working history shall be revealed through the written account of Cheri Register 's actual experience of becoming a part of a Union group

An Experiential Approach

The author of the book the Packinghouse Daughter is Cheri Register . She is the daughter of an employee from the Wilson Company millwright that has strongly influenced her way of viewing life and the working culture of the early American society

Her book is mainly a compilation of her own experiences as a daughter and later on an employee herself in Wilson Company . As she relates she has seen and known the working arena as a source of social diversity in her hometown of Alberta Lea , Minnesota . With the use of her memories she carefully jotted down in s all the experiences she and her family have seen through history . She mentioned several experiences concerning the issues on the struggles of several American workers for more work-related satisfaction they wish to have basing from the events that happened with the packinghouse employers . She also made clear pictures of the exact events regarding employment discrimination that happened so much during the earlier working era after the war years

Another feature of Register 's book is the way she made vivid visualization of history through her own life experiences . The author managed to merge the idea of approaching history through a more biographical style , making the book more clearly understandable for readers . Being the daughter of an employer who is an active member of the labor union in the packinghouse business of Wilson Company , the author displayed a strong sense of conviction . The author used effective writing style through relating the major effects of tension in the working world with employees belonging to the lower level of employment in a company

Aside from this , Register has also placed a strong point in making the oppressed employer 's side become clearer to the readers of the present generation . It is more often than not that the author makes the way the book was written with such personal touch , which makes it more feasible for readers to easily understand . It has also been the ideal theme of the entire book to show the political agendas that occurred during the 1950 's . Aside from that , the easy dismissing of propaganda also has a strong impact on the way the author jotted down the events in the book Packinghouse Daughter

A Different Historical Write-up

Cheri Register 's Packinghouse Daughter ' is considered as a historical book , which is far different from other books that discuss the past events on the working class population in the history of America . Having her own experiences as the basis of history , many readers would consider a book such as Register 's to much factual since it has been based on the actual experiences of the author . Aside from her experiences though , she also used the approach of further more researches in proving her claims and theories presented in the book aiming to make the events more relatively connected to other employees from other companies who are also experiencing the turmoil of a stressful working culture

Among the peak specified in Register 's book is the event on Wilson Company replacing the union workers with strikebreakers . This brought the tested family loyalty of the many employees of the packinghouse to grow cold in their working attitude . As well as it triggered the community stability of the Wilson Company existence This is more like what the book From the Folks who brought you the Weekend ' by Precilla Murolo and Joe Saco Chitty . The authors indicated in their book that a part of the American working class history is the formation of employees or laborers of different countless organizations namely , political parties , advocacy and reform groups , community groups as well as labor unions . All the said groups aim for one single goal , to have a better working culture in America . A more liberal and open treatment to the diverse individualism of each employee , as well as to their diverse economic and racial differences are included in the ideal goals of the groups formed by the people during those times

Yes , many attest to the issues on poverty , violence and racism during the 1950 's to the 1960 's . In connection to this , the book written by Leikin entitled The Practical Utopians ' says that during those years , the society has been filled with people who closely examine the working experiences of both men and women . Along with this observation comes building of cooperatives and reconciliation of the meaning of the market place in connection with the democratic participation of everyone . All these idealism pointed to one single goal of ending the issues of work-culture in the American society

On the contrary , Register 's book is a lot more different from the approach that other historians used to present the informations regarding the issues mentioned above . Even though the author experienced so much hardships because of the economic situation and working conditions in America during her younger years , she never forgot to thank her parents for giving her the emotionally and in some ways economically secure environment . She also mentioned how they taught her to take her place in the world ' amidst all the diversity present in the community . Unlike other historians , the main theme of the books they wrote are plain discussion on the researches they did about the working history , Register place emotional and opinionated discussions to actually involve the readers on the real effects of the stressful world of the working industry

A Book for All Ages

Because of its being personal unlike the books of Boris and Lichtenstein entitled Major Problems in the history of American Workers , and Liz Cohen 's Making a New Deal , many would say that a historical book based on memoirs such as that of Cheri Register 's may not be that applicable anymore to generation of the later times . Aside from this , many historians may consider the approach used by Cheri Register in her book weak . But on the contrary , what Register wrote in her book is still closely related in the present working system and culture of America . Although not so much on the detailed events , the emotional approach used by the author to present facts makes it more feasible to be read by people of any age

Conclusion

Today , a lot of things in the American working culture have already changed . Women are already allowed to take any job they qualify for . As well as the situation for immigrants from other countries have also changed . Now they can already acquire any job they want provided that they have the capability of completing their tasks . Indeed , from the 50 's and 60 's , compared to the present times , the face of the working world has already developed for good

But because a few more industries in America are still under the plagues of the unfit and unwanted work culture , many employees could still relate to the written accounts by Cheri Register . Which would help them realize the importance of employee cooperation to attain great big changes in their own working industry

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Boris Lichtenstein (2002 . Major Problems in the History of American Workers 2nd Edition . Houghton Mifflin Company

Leikin (2004 . The Practical Utopians : American Workers and the Cooperative Movement in the Gilded Age . Wayne State University Press

Liz Cohen (1991 . Making A New Deal : Industrial Workers in Chicago Cambridge University Press

Murojo Chitty (2003 . From The Folks who brought you the Weekend Canadian Committee on Labour History .New York : New Press

Cheri Register . The Packinghouse Daughter p...