The Dignity of Working Men: Morality and the Boundaries of Race, Class, and Immigration
Lamont (sociology, Princeton) provides a fascinating look at the way working-class American and French men make sense of their world. Interviews with white and black American workingmen highlight their common commitment to doing their jobs well and remaining moral in a troubled world. However, the author finds that whites and African Americans differ markedly in their attitudes about the challenges facing low-skill workers in the high-tech economy. African Americans draw on a tradition of solidarity in the face of economic discrimination that is no longer available to their white counterparts. In comparison, French workers divide the world not along racial lines but between those workers who are culturally French and those who are Islamic immigrants to France. French workers, long exposed to socialism, also show more sympathy for the poor than do American workingmen. Lamont argues persuasively that the policy-making elite is increasingly isolated from such workers but that it is crucial that we listen to their voices and understand their concerns. Recommended for academic libraries.DDuncan Stewart, State Historical Society of Iowa Lib., Iowa CityCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.