Rethinking Class Industrial Geography: Creating a Space for an Alternative Politics of Class
Author(s)
Gibson, Katherine; Graham, Julie
Abstract
Given the new economic conditions that are widely acknowledged to characterize the 1980s and 1990s, industrial geographers and other analysts often give the restructured working class an unpromising political prognosis. The industries that were bastions of working-class militancy have declined, while at the same time we have seen the rise of high-technology and service industries without the long tradition of solidarity and the unambiguous “working-class” image of traditional industrial jobs. The influx of women into the labor market and the increase in part-time and temporary jobs have created a labor force that is less likely to experience work as the primary basis of identity. In general, then, it seems that in spite of (and perhaps even because of) the rapid proletarianization of women, both the work experience and the consciousness traditionally associated with the “working class” have declined, and with them the possibility of a viable politics of class.
