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Summary
Contrasting "native" and "outsider" points of view, this book explores the contemporary realities of work, development and redevelopment in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, a New England community undergoing rapid industrial restructuring.
Based on anthropological fieldwork in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, In the Wake of the Giant has implications for towns and cities across the country and internationally. It traces the history of the Pittsfield region, the U.S. economy, and the tidal wave of multinational corporate restructurings. Comparing communities undergoing restructuring to newly independent states, Kirsch shows how these communities confront for the first time the challenge of directing their own present and future. The turmoil that develops as a result of these changes, and the means by which individuals, kin-groups and community voluntary organizations react and adapt are central themes of the book.
"In the Wake of the Giant is a remarkable book. Much of the anthropology now being done has fallen into the trap of a less thoughtful postmodernism--concentrating more on textuality and the emotional states of individuals, without any realization that these secondary states are derived from historical and economic, as well as linguistic and psychical processes. Kirsch manages to combine the historical and economic with the individual perspectives brilliantly.
"One of the outstanding features of the book is its readable style. It is very well-written, with an excellent narrative feel." -- Richard Feldstein, Rhode Island College
Max H. Kirsch teaches anthropology at Oberlin College. He is past Associate Dean of the Graduate Faculty of Social and Political Science at the New School for Social Research in New York.
Table of Contents
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I Problems and Issues
1. The Chosen Community
The Community and its Setting
2. Community and Context
The Growth of the American City
3. Restructuring, Megaindustrialization, and the Expansion of the Service Sector
Megaindustrialization and Merger Movements
Constructing Consensus in Late Capitalism
Part II A New England Community in Crisis
4. The Region and Industry in History
Early Industrialization and New England Social Structure
Relations of Work and Unemployment
The Region after World War II
Trade Union Erosion
Notes on the Service Sector
5. The Pittsfield Community
Early Industry in Pittsfield
General Electric and the Growth of a Company Town
Industrial Decline and the Issue of Development
Community Effects of Economic Restructuring
Voluntary Associations, Community Organization, and Corporate Morality
The Corporation and the Community
6. Development Strategies
Defining Development
Development Agencies
Development Perspectives
The Production of Chaos
Development and Ideologies of Economic Growth
Native versus Nonnative Views of Development
Uneven Development and Relations of Dependency
The General Electric Donation
Bypasses and Parking Lots
Mall Wars
Ideology and Community Crisis
7. Uneven Development and Community Response
Platics Firms and Uneven Development
Kinship, Friendship, and the Entrepreneurial Spirit
Firm Ownership and Relations of Work
General Electric Plastics
Development Efforts and the Plastics Industry
Corporate and Community Ideology in the Development of Industry
8. Economic Development and Social Responsibility: A Case Study
The Health Crisis in Pittsfield
The Cost Accounting Approach
Community Response and Corporate Responsibility
The Social Construction of Science
The Structure of Health Administration in Pittsfield
