stayin' alive chapter 1 summary
basic conditions that characterize labor conditions at this time. Stayin' alive : the 1970s and the last days of the working class / Jefferson Cowie. Stayin' Alive is a highly readable yet subtle and sophisticated analysis of this period, and should be recommended reading for anyone who desires to understand the importance of this oft-overlooked, yet pivotal, decade in U.S. history—one whose political realignment still holds sway in 2015. Thus, people, not the resources to improve housing, education, or other services, was the focus. Cowie traces the trajectory of this transformation through individuals, groups, politics and popular culture. 72). Nixon further dominated working-class populism by signifying himself in disagreement to the stereotypical ideal of Northeastern liberal elites, as the titleholders of hard-working taxpayers who are oppressed by a union of underclasses. chronicled in the second chapter, their failure was encapsulated in the These make easy generalizations much more difficult, and show the sophistication of worldviews that led to the outcome Cowie discusses. United States—Economic conditions—1971-1981. He asserted that civil rights and labor rights largely remained separate issues confined to separate government agencies and separate court systems. Young workers who had gown-up in the years after the WW II (baby bombers) did not find this, arrangement entirely satisfying. In his work Cowie traces the disintegration of the working class in the 1970s. A labor historian traces political and cultural forces that turned the 1970s into a swan song for the American working class. This transformation, as Cowie shows, came about largely from cultural factors and suspicions, exploited by the Republican Party and mismanaged by the Democratic Party. Stuck? Stayin’ Alive is an important book that needs to be read carefully by political activists, liberals, progressives and unionists. The doctor says he’ll be fine, he’s gonna make it, and really, that’s all Hutch cares about, though at some point he’s told it’ll still be a … Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. And that flight, according to Cowie, “allowed the nation to begin to move toward the eighties celebration of working-class heroes who managed to get out, while casting those who could not into cinematic (and political) darkness” (317). "Stayin' Alive" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees from the Saturday Night Fever motion picture soundtrack.The song was released on 13 December 1977 as the second single from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. We know that sometimes it's hard to find inspiration, so we provide you with hundreds of related samples. | To hear Zinn tell it, all anyone did in America at any time was to oppress or be oppressed; and so he obscures as much as his hated mainstream historical foes do—only in Zinn's case there is that absurd presumption that virtually everything that came to pass was the work of ruling-class planning: this amounts to one great indictment for conspiracy. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy. During the New Deal and especially World War II the government worked to forge, an “agreement” between laborers and management that satisfied the basic need of both sides. Pages 43-83 Summary. In Staying Alive she defines the links between ecological crises, colonialism, and the oppression of women. Cowie discusses the potential for another New Deal, especially with the Humphrey-Hawkins Act, promising full employment, but shows how, by that time, the day of gains for organized labor had passed. In that hopeful time, Rolling Stone hailed Eugene Debs–like steelworker Eddie Sadlowski as an “old-fashioned hero of the new working class” when he made his failed bid for union leadership. ; Capital Moves: RCA’s Seventy-Year Quest for Cheaper Labor, 1999, etc.) In the end, it is this realistic and distressing conclusion, combined with the complexity and ambiguity with which Cowie paints all of his characters, that makes his account of the transition from the New Deal to the New Right ring true. In the book Stayin’ Alive historian Jefferson Cowie writes a very engaging explanation of the political and cultural aspects that effected white workers’ economic individuality and what damaged a “vibrant, multi-cultural, and gender conscious conceptualization of class” (Stayin Alive, Cowie. Chapter 9 [6:01] 10. STAYIN' ALIVE THE 1970S AND THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORKING CLASS. Although Cowie arrives at the overall same answer—indeed, cultural factors and alienation delivered the white working class into the waiting hands of the Republican Party—he gives a much more sophisticated and sympathetic analysis. Chapter 11 [1:42] 12. By 1980, the TV show Dallas, featuring amoral oil baron J.R. Ewing, was America’s favorite, and “a Reaganesque cross-class alliance” united “white worker and rich man in common cause—to repeal the 1960s.” Packed with interesting stories, Cowie’s book explores all the complexities of blue-collar yearning in the period and shows how the post–New Deal working class, whose needs the country had once addressed, became America’s forgotten workers. In Stayin' Alive, Jefferson Cowie focuses on the fate of the working class, particularly the white working class, between 1968 and 1982. ... there's even a half-chapter on the early works of Devo in the context of blue-collar Akron. Cowie begins the book by introducing readers to Dewey Burton, a Michigan autoworker who had "received [his] fifteen minutes of fame four times" through New York Times articles about his political views through the decade. First, he wants to show how labor arrived at this point. HISTORY. been influenced by the counterculture and the movements for peace and racial Howard Zinn By mid-decade, the United States was wracked by stagflation, Watergate and the continuing failures in Vietnam, and had begun making a watershed transition from the optimism of the New Deal to the diminished expectations of the present. by Jefferson Cowie ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2010. Categories: Read 65 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Working class—United States—History—20th century. I hear the book is out and wait impatiently for the audio book. A key strength of Stayin’ Alive is Cowie’s discussion of how popular music and Hollywood films did not simply reflect the social changes of the 1970s but became objects of struggle in their own right. In focusing on a decade often remembered (and teased) only for its cultural fads, Cowie presents a fresh perspective and an insightful study on the decline of the working class. led by younger, more anti-authoritarian workers, like the Lordstown autoworkers Since he thinks that everything is in someone's interest, the historian—Zinn posits—has to figure out whose interests he or she is defining/defending/reconstructing (hence one of his previous books, The Politics of History). (368-369) The weakness of the working class in the US brought about their own downfall. As Cowie argues and makes clear throughout his study, “The working class died of the many external assaults upon it, yes, but mostly of its own internal weaknesses” (18). Not surprisingly, he argues that economic downturns, a growing sense of national apathey or malaise resulting from Watergate, the Vietnam War, and a perceived weakening of the nation's moral fabric offered fertile ground for change on the political front. With the rise of Reagan as governor and then president in the 1980s, Reagan served as the face of the of the new conservative movement and was influential in gaining the support of working class white men in particular. s05e12 - I Just Met the Man I'm Going to Marry, Quick Filter - Add shows to favourites - View most popular shows, The 100 returns for seventh and final season - Prequel spin-off planned, Ruby Rose Leaves Gotham: Exits CW's Batwoman lead role, Star Trek Strange New Worlds Boldly Goes Where We Kinda Went Before, Final Renewed and Cancelled Predictions for 2018-2019 TV Shows, Agents of SHIELD will outlive Infinity War - Season 7 greenlit, Netflix announces TV series and films based on Chronicles of Narnia.
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