Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Hard Sell: Work and Resistance in Retail Chains
Hard Sell: Work and Resistance in Retail Chains
Hard Sell: Work and Resistance in Retail Chains
Ebook266 pages26 hours

Hard Sell: Work and Resistance in Retail Chains

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

Along with fast-food workers, retail workers are capturing the attention of the public and the media with the Fight for $15. Like fast-food workers, retail workers are underpaid, and fewer than five percent of them belong to unions. In Hard Sell, Peter Ikeler traces the low-wage, largely nonunion character of U.S. retail through the history and ultimate failure of twentieth-century retail unionism. He asks pivotal questions about twenty-first-century capitalism: Does the nature of retail work make collective action unlikely? Can working conditions improve in the absence of a union? Is worker consciousness changing in ways that might encourage or further inhibit organizing? Ikeler conducted interviews at New York City locations of two iconic department stores—Macy’s and Target. Much of the book’s narrative unfolds from the perspectives of these workers in America’s most unequal city.

When he speaks to workers, Ikeler finds that the Macy’s organization displays an adversarial relationship between workers and managers and that Target is infused with a "teamwork" message that enfolds both parties. Macy’s workers identify more with their jobs and are more opposed to management, yet Target workers show greater solidarity. Both groups, however, are largely unhappy with the pay and precariousness of their jobs. Combined with workplace-generated feelings of unity and resistance, these grievances provide promising inroads to organizing that could help take the struggle against inequality beyond symbolic action to real economic power.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherILR Press
Release dateAug 3, 2016
ISBN9781501706639
Hard Sell: Work and Resistance in Retail Chains
Author

Peter Ikeler

Peter Ikeler is Assistant Professor of Sociology at SUNY College at Old Westbury.

Related to Hard Sell

Related ebooks

Politics For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Hard Sell

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    Hard Sell - Peter Ikeler

    R!Pabook_preview_excerpt.html|nIݯ@QR_ uQ-eRsqrfUpkSσmYUiUȈ+.'O<}2u= /_bd-+߇~pm_ ur-|w卯t^w?{,4.Cן=}[n}ׇaa.N&elb~q*y߆v1Dpͳ8,i'⦍ڗ˟]5^{qCya67~Yv1xfCq,m_b{(?W޺n8E؜\O`_~ /u{YIĴeJss/M|WOʯ}aP.~M*YMV9qM<Y2w]O4U m1v/v>|]fkxl0q:t[LBQjcXTc;z ]f56rcQe.㐽;Ih κI]l7crC_*~-tMhWfWva^m6 8z w]Gvna}vǿ7оAu0>9R*i&.Qv;Dd4_׃(s 0W'. ǧ6]/XS1lg{w d<G_Ħt9},(_ pw2SfPL#'u}7T_H.c\׻~t){;Жa,"'l3yti؝oXqtakPd]a3>~[}IUVٶ5؉A¦VEOO 9[OQ69;NԉRS;.)pZO v~ XT 7tG&  v Ex%>+*Ƿ!q1|O@EߚΡtZփ, Yy`ܷ~--ƯC5MhuxMⒶVJ)::R t~|o'F%YptغMEx me*A85t`9E \@=OWX|]:Ƥ(qNPO'+Pu]@u.UY`w"EEHאk] nTpD_U[>Vf=f<` ٫^e~.N AEplXyj^B61;m[hU$W_j*(Bܽ0/ɓEPXeoq "B@$#,FcO7)xOt^x< \S'ܹ@0YR ;_KŰXNғ#ʨzd,5 <CWa7/p "ꄡOq]c.j ^#˫դy :htCs=$܆+UX7 @z3٪pί{;lcS9bUBCXJz6&x&񄉃\6wm{Ջ[Kbc  &2 ~l+r=X3yebx֡(0)P}̥RWrk;/qhd#"_2H B|. c:;Db跁 0y?nK !mH3zќ5NXO'& cw:>-t`vu^Byw,Ia&9(sQ%Kz7Dyq8guFS( wD B!.>~ḷ+v<|e4'U"Iه;ɩي,SX'cl'OŨ:Aُmznξ^e WP/\LX9t@$P0m^isX y/"eD'rILdNsgOp`gv~]+-H\߈ڞ\̩}D{Wk|^,o9oE[D½F I z2<,c|@B.k1Pu9+f覃A|#MGXJ RK)-Y7XFFZ&OaGpP.QR"{3酼:(\GEk0u0y؜ 3!WYpj."M]W@xr^ &͵Oq[{A61`6]~Y[K9 >*3bŷq')-xn$7?4H'qd1/',A?e4u&Ik 1s*KxQjƯfL0ᄚʕP+I6zi8":ô'6\¢Bs}vBQwLjX&I6t6 $LsBsMN9eCk]q%q#A'L5KGW3yJ7lwT | 7ԕv{871 :k\U/-1g-tβ.fU$.+9X0QEK alum3os}%c|J5Mn"-m''f4Das!V7$Wʨ{\TΡpuU?!$BD^ . IWdb16g*6v<nU Q(f#c%Gl5 ( NQ/=If.vL~kh@1;%.?Q* Ũ>'ٷc-yd@`#O&ҖqzT/R{f$V=8A#< _OD /~pRd c+ꃷS1B_;KU8*"sWؽ_1ܻ,`dgՋ1x^Xpe5[p*%bT!b{+wuȎ^A6l+qY~0^fIB8(]*[S vKjP%RyMU}X%#MYK$bE$%;C(EnǶlBFNOh܆Y(ÀJT拉#"ޝ"@"SE_A͎\7Y^1Yb`aeDBUPH/Ukzeִl& @O&jMl{ʿiBh W/'=.X+U%V{mC^'a#V= ]K k'Z.M)ܜ/tV3)賓ZQֿWR\- >QGhZhXV6hJOp8Lj6,B$.[.b;CImVx]a+v'xk >Cz|D [,Q%6ou0ZPK,e4bk7yɋ]0Lj4n _iw5+R B;Ar2w`؄o7кrPA5όb*v4GQGVRjLsK|ߪ6k%/ mF;c{:Ӈ_a4¿2la#Vh {X)];y泖|t 3(Ej<|՜MXt!Rƴ؟tI$쒌S\d}Io![KwI M ܍sbQ!00M.-:iNrU8:LHA4; qSB \zK+NNjեSd2(?BpYΰ-;< ͳs,tX4pj`&j9)4Z_`m],G*S7O݃T,>iC;q+kNt[..-J53~G]U UR\B;fH=HÜO?I%Xp0Zs4~]I&=bu++fGb"t0o0':uC 7="%?Sɬٟ2jl1e0/o{V@18L'Ο8<.ÌW1.矿lnl"n1oc=&KѤt# )KhCy>;7u:5q &rj0櫓k@r:yH]p%ޚ;;gDc9;D?ޝp~<ɳ׭5`7@::B"rB5IYBrqC/j 7ΰ6 2WYW#c.-!BK^nԭ6M$ d9c{hDjIكUC9SJFp82UphhtZG%drQ"1&Ir7`z'I1bny#JfÒDhdo| jkF)E/+wZMO"%@mi"X>Ha:i`« xKJ#. $k`٣qacp0 MVؽ\ zז,l*XnI,]mgqgn|^$bHDRls^y`KݧjKkDz֮8 쓉G-GqvQ3#E$s$+Cy}%Jx} u= j_xm lY9+`v7vՍp9RLR)U].'2U^yvFȳQ *Mw3S`51Vҧq0.tIƓYq*\X~ꃱ2ؤjlQ%Tm q̕tro:vAV.7Yb`9)۰MoNx.snG0p8[\Rlq=h&f! {18<[Ä@T!6 &Mk-^R1L #uv.})lkl:,dVn8VԙC`Zo|~5myG84cC2uf!,[_FVuY'ȱҔ,]VoNeJAL`1ޟ trASevxUFwy^iRs2elD%m@pZlC6%%/HYDȀ'l1fsy+d ܢԤ%+I6j+`&u~xQZOضpпIpn"I'M} l;߰Rh0Sw ?eJNm4PRz:r͂X{LF)&џJ*|0 @VVNt|?ڪvoabTrV A) it!qh67`8 U{p_@<%nTh)auP>;ڔӺxF܎;C 'we2jӖo#Ƒ(bhN,#/PXNcnX\FK0Y eZ8HGDCwo|~u8s8L}VJc[o!`]uWn{Цqp,M /@bUd k,+KymGI h.(.[C$r%I,[װ~W5M e7NRiVˌwcSVwϝE"y[vH%ǵ'GL@RZGnK?@/."8F9 },H*%rcc- S]_`%veP+M¸{Ћ?p)yuŘ`-GJ2} ~=5[/I1)HEu|8!6Yh0eTZG`,M 6L%kg&,%]N> ʦ'~PK˞U'I(*: ֔lfڸjjL)lo9OM
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1