{"product_id":"a-new-working-class-9780812253450","title":"A New Working Class","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor decades, civil rights activists fought against employment discrimination and for a greater role for African Americans in municipal decision-making. As their influence in city halls across the country increased, activists took advantage of the Great Society—and the government jobs it created on the local level—to advance their goals.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA New Working Class\u003c\/i\u003e traces efforts by Black public-sector workers and their unions to fight for racial and economic justice in Baltimore. The public sector became a critical job niche for Black workers, especially women, a largely unheralded achievement of the civil rights movement. A vocal contingent of Black public-sector workers pursued the activists'' goals from their government posts and sought to increase and improve public services. They also fought for their rights as workers and won union representation. During an era often associated with deindustrialization and union decline, Black government workers and their union\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book is a local history, thick with mentions and stories of both public actors and ordinary people known only to family and friends. It contextualizes their conditions and activism in the national economy, cultural trends, and, centrally, federal policy that influenced the availability of money to the city...Historians, policy analysts, urban scholars and practitioners, and Baltimoreans will find much of interest in this book. But they will not escape its disturbing lesson. American cultural and institutionalized assumptions about race limit Blacks’ opportunities and challenge their dignity. And those who make public policy seem to have greater stakes in maintaining these conditions than ending them. * Journal of Urban Affiairs *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eList of Abbreviations\u003cbr\u003e Introduction. Public-Sector Workers and the Battle over Cities\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. \"Boom Times\" in Baltimore?\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. \"A New Mood\" Is Spreading: The Great Society as Job Creation\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. \"We Had to Fight to Get This\": Antipoverty Workers Take on City Hall\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. \"Better Wages and Job Conditions with Dignity\": Unionizing the Public Sector\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. \"A Posture of Advocacy for the Poor\": Fighting Poverty in an Era of Austerity\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 6. \"The Hell-Raising Period Is Over\": New Federalism in Baltimore\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 7. \"Polishing the Apple While the Core Rots\": Carter and the Cities\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 8. \"A Tourist Town at the Expense of the Poor\": The Making of Two Baltimores\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 9. \"A Revolving Door for Impoverished People\": Reaganomics and American Cities\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 10. \"There's Tragedy on Both Sides of the Layoffs\": Privatization and the Urban Crisis\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405747102039,"sku":"9780812253450","price":35.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780812253450.jpg?v=1730493471","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/a-new-working-class-9780812253450","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}