The Great Recession punished American workers, leaving many
underemployed or trapped in jobs that did not provide the income or
opportunities they needed. Moreover, the gap between the wealthy
and the poor had widened in past decades as mobility remained
stubbornly unchanged. Against this deepening economic divide, a
dominant cultural narrative took root: immobility, especially for
the working class, is driven by shifts in demand for labor. In this
context, and with right-to-work policies proliferating nationwide,
workers are encouraged to avoid government dependency by arming
themselves with education and training.
Drawing on archival material and interviews with African American
women transit workers in the San Francisco Bay Area, Katrinell
Davis grapples with our understanding of mobility as it intersects
with race and gender in the postindustrial and post–civil
rights United States. Considering the consequences of declining
working conditions within the public transit workplace of Alameda
County, Davis illustrates how worker experience--on and off the
job--has been undermined by workplace norms and administrative
practices designed to address flagging worker commitment and
morale. Providing a comprehensive account of how political, social,
and economic factors work together to shape the culture of
opportunity in a postindustrial workplace, she shows how government
manpower policies, administrative policies, and drastic shifts in
unionization have influenced the prospects of low-skilled
workers.