CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN THE LEGITIMATION OF AUTHORITY IN SOUTHERN MILL TOWNS

This paper examines the legitimation of authority in textile mill towns in the southern United States. Structural changes in the organization of the textile industry, personnel management practices, and the composition of the textile labor force suggest that the paternalism of the past has been replaced by more impersonal and limited authority relations. However, the interviews I conducted with residents of one mill town indicate that some characteristics of paternalism remain. I offer some explanations for the gratitude and quiescence of textile workers in the context of structural change, including: the market power of industry giants, the high proportion of women and the increasing proportion of blacks in the textile labor force, and the extreme localism of many mill workers. The structure of the textile industry in the southern United States' has changed dramatically since the Second World War. Changes range from the organization of the industry to the composition of the labor force. On the other hand, much has stayed the same, including the location of most mills and the technology they employ. This paper uses historical trends, data about the industry, and interviews with residents of a mill community to explain current worker attitudes to change and stability in the structure of the industry. In particular, I try to specify the basis for legitimation of authority relations in the southern textile industry. The system of structures and beliefs that legitimated authority in southern mill towns before the Second World War has been characterized as paternalistic (Blauner, 1964; McLaurin, 1971; Mitchell, 1921; Morland, 1958; Pope, 1942). Some commentators claim that paternalism persisted into the 1970s (Boyte, 1972). Others argue that authority relations in contemporary mill towns have taken a more "modern" form (Conway, 1979; Hughes, 1976). What are the essential attributes of paternalism and this modern form of legitimation? Paternalism is a form of traditional domination, epitomized by the authority of the father over other members of his household (Weber, 1947). The dependence, helplessness, and need for protection of the wife, children, and servants is the basis for an exchange of obligations between the father and the others that legitimates the power of the father in his and the others' eyes. Perception of the same personal characteristics and reciprocal obligations allows the extension of traditional legitimation by analogy from the family to other social settings. Under traditional domination, subordinates accept the arbitrary power of the master without question and by convention. In any authority relationship, a continuing sense of obligation on the part of the subordinates is essential to the stability of the system. The subordinates could threaten the domination of the master by collective action if they decided to do so. A revolt against traditional authority is unlikely, however, unless the master himself violates traditional limits, by demanding too much of his subordinates or failing to fulfill his obligations to them (Bendix, 1960). To the personal dependency characteristic of traditional domination, paternalism adds the diffusion of obligations through numerous community institutions (Newby et al., 1978). What may