| Summary, etc. |
This book is, in a sense, an investigation of this point of view above all, it is the consciousness of the working class that the author deals with, for if mass society is a fact, then working class consciousness should have vanished almost entirely. The author has chosen to center his studies on a relatively small number of workingmen, all living within one metropolitan area, but he has probed deeply into the structure and bases of their thinking, Since the workingmen he has studied are all shop stewards, there is reason to believe that they are in close touch with rank-and file and that they reflect its thought. Using a novel technique (fully described in the book) to stimulate spontaneous discussion, he carefully analyzes their reactions to a variety of issues: corruption in unions, political action by labor, the position of minority groups war and peace, socialiom, delinquency, weking women, the nature of rank-and-file psychology, and forth. What emerges from this analysis is not only a fascinating record of men's bewilderment in the face of the complicated problems of our society, but evidence which, I think, throwy much doubt on the hypothesis of the "mass society," at leas as it applies to the working class<br/><br/>For what the author has found is a working class with a sharply defined consciousness, one which distinguishes it clearly from other groups in society, indeed from union leadership. At the same time this consciousness is of a specific kind, closely related to the present form of society and the position of the working class within it. Working-class consciousness, the author notes, varies from society to society and in terms of historical periods occasionally it has been centered directly on the job, at times it has focused on the interests of the class as a whole within the framework of society, more rarely it has centered on the need for transforming the framework of society. Of this last type of consciousness, the stewards were, though not without some exceptions, virtually free. But, on the other hand, neither could it be said that their vision was confined to their jobs, their plants, or even their industries. It was the interests, aspirations, and values of the working class as a whole which dominated their thinking. Indeed, so strong was class consciousness that it served to counteract consciousness arising from other forms of social being-for instance, racial or religious solidarities. |
