37:575:202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Company Scrip, Jay Cooke, Jeremy Brecher
23 Dec 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Empathy putting yourself in someone"s shoes or having been through their situation. Class consciousness understanding the structure of society and their place within it. Class differences: higher class, lower class, middle class, working class. Class conflict: wherever there is oppression there will be resistance. People belonging to the same socioeconomic backgrounds. Your relationship to what you do in society. Downward cycles (depressions, recessions) often result in layoffs and wage cuts. Jay cooke firm overextending on credit and going bankrupt. Most workers who had supported other workers that were going on strike b/c of: Workers paid in company "scrip" for company stores. Replaced skilled with unskilled and lower-paid workers. The nature of work has changed dramatically. Could buy machines to replace workers if possible. One extremely skilled loom worker hundreds of textile workers. Money-equivalent that could only be spent at company stores. Made money off workers from their jobs and also making them shop at their stores.
