A peaceful and working people
Subtitle: manners, morals, and class formation in northern Mexico
By: William E. French.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Albuquerque
Language: eng
Number of pages: 262
Subjects: Social classes -- Mexico -- Chihuahua (State) -- History.; Working class -- Mexico -- Chihuahua (State) -- History.; Middle class -- Mexico -- Chihuahua (State) -- History.; Social values -- Mexico -- Chihuahua (State) -- History.
Description: "The mining boom that began in northern Mexico in the 1890s set in motion fundamental social change. On the one hand it uprooted many workers, and the concerns of government officials, middle-class, reformers, and company managers coalesced into laws and programs to control the restless masses. But changes in the mining economy and political culture also precipitated class consciousness among merchants and artisans as well as skilled and unskilled workers. This study of the Hidalgo mining district in Chihuahua from the 1890s to the 1920s examines class formation, in particular its relation to social control, popular values, and pre-industrial traditions. In arguing that class identity stemmed less from the nature of one's work than from the beliefs one held, this work brings together the disparate themes of moral economy of mine workers, new mining technology, and the management policy of mine owners during the Mexican Revolution."--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-256) and index.
Table of contents: title: Ways of working; title: Managers and the inculcation of the capitalist work ethic; title: Moralizing the masses; title: Prostitutes and guardian angels : women, work, and the family; title: Forced progress : workers and the developmentalist ideology; title: The great awakening : mine workers, companies, and the Mexican Revolution; title: "Honorable" workers and "evil" reactionaries : mining in the early 1920s.