The Glassworkers Of Carmaux (harvard Studies In Urban History) [Paperback]

This award-winning study analyzes in close detail the experiences of glassworkers as mechanization transformed their trade from a highly skilled art to a semiskilled occupation. Arguing that changes in the organization of work altered the lifestyle and political outlook of the glassworker, Joan Scott uses local archival materials and demographic records to reconstruct the experience of ordinary workingmen.A model for urban history studies. Utilizing the current techniques of quantitative measurements but without sacrificing any of the time-tested tools of the profession, [Scott] has traced the impact of industrialization and the development of class-consciousness among the French artisan glassworkers in the late 19th century& An absorbing story.An enlightening addition to the growing American contribution to the history of France's turbulent Third Republic.An important book, well written and thoroughly researched. Its rather narrow focus belies its conceptual breadth and the impact of this kind of historical research on our understanding of the laboring population's experience of industrialization.This book is superb social history, one of the most important recent studies of French industrialization.