Historical Studies of Labor Movements in the United States

This article reviews recent historical research on the American labor movement. Emphasizing the primacy of economic and political struggles waged between and within classes, our discussion highlights the contested past of organized labor. We begin by exploring key aspects of organized labor’s political history, including its alleged “exceptionalism,” and its relationship to the state under the New Deal. Then, turning to the industrial arena, we review the determinants of unionism and critically consider arguments about the conservative impact of formal organization on worker insurgency. Next we survey recent contributions by labor historians, whose work challenges many of the received sociological understandings of organized labor’s development. Finally, we review some promising areas of inquiry within sociology, pointing in particular to research on social movements, organizational environments, and workers’ consciousness.