Modern Manors – Welfare Capitalism Since the New Deal - Hardcover

Jacoby, Sanford M

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691015708 ISBN 13: 9780691015705

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1997

Synopsis

This is a comprehensive history of 20th-century American welfare capitalism, that is, the history of nonunion corporations that looked after the economic security of employees. The text is based around three case studies of "modern manors": Eastman Kodak, Sears and TRW. The author's argument is that welfare capitalism did not expire during the Depression, as traditionally thought. Rather, it adapted to the challenges of the 1930s and became a powerful, though overlooked, factor in the history of the welfare state, the labour movement and the corporation. "Fringe" benefits, new forms of employee participation, and sophisticated anti-union policies are just some of the outgrowths of welfare capitalism that provided a model for contemporary employers seeking to create productive nonunion workplaces. Although employer paternalism has faltered in recent years, many Americans still look to corporations, rather than to unions or government, to meet their needs. Jacoby explains why there remains widespread support for the notion that corporations should be the keystone of economic security in American society and offers a perspective on recent business trends.

About this title

About the Author

Sanford M. Jacoby is Professor of History, Management, and Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Employing Bureaucracy: Managers, Unions, and the Transformation of Work in American Industry, and the editor of Masters to Managers: Historical and Comparative Perspectives on American Employers and Workers of Nations: Industrial Relations in a Global Economy.

From the Back Cover

"The most thorough historical study of the role of welfare capitalism available. No other carries the study of these practices from when they first emerged and into their heyday--from the end of World War I into the 1930s--to today.Modern Manors is an engaging work that will become a standard reference in the field of human resource studies/industrial relations and will be cited widely by economic and business historians."--Thomas A. Kochan, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

From the Inside Flap

"The most thorough historical study of the role of welfare capitalism available. No other carries the study of these practices from when they first emerged and into their heyday--from the end of World War I into the 1930s--to today. Modern Manors is an engaging work that will become a standard reference in the field of human resource studies/industrial relations and will be cited widely by economic and business historians."--Thomas A. Kochan, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691015708
• ISBN 13: 9780691015705
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 358