This book examines the role of the family labour system in the early evolution of the post-bellum Southern cotton textile industry. The growing textile industry required workers with varied skills and a stable and reliable work force. At the same time, Southern agriculture was in a depressed state and families, especially those with many children, were forced into looking for work in the textile mills. The mills, in their own interest, created a paternalistic work environment, including good schools for the children, to attract this desirable source of workers. This paternalism was central to solving the industry's labour needs, but it was a paternalism shaped by market forces and not merely as an instrument of capitalist indoctrination.

Book Information
ISBN 9780195042993
Author Cathy L. McHugh
Format Hardback
Page Count 154
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 339g