Notes and Questions on Jefferson Cowie, Capital Moves
The major reading assignment for the last weeks of the term is in Jefferson Cowie's influential (well, influential among historians of business and labor) book, Capital Moves: RCA's Seventy-Year Quest for Cheap Labor. Here are a few things to consider as you read the book. In general, think about how it relates to the "big issues" of today: globalization, outsourcing, racism and sexism, immigration, the transition from goods production to a service economy, etc.
1. The main thesis of the book is expressed in the subtitle. As you read it, consider whether RCA's moves from New Jersey to Indiana to Tennessee and to Mexico were motivated by the "quest for cheap labor" alone or whether there might have been other motives as well.
2. The book combines business and labor history. For our purposes, the sections devoted to union organizing, strikes, etc. are of secondary importance, but concentrate on the way work was organized at RCA in different places and different times. How much of this did the managers control? How much influence did the workers have? We've studied Frederick W. Taylor's ideas about "scientific management." Note how "Taylorism" was introduced at the Bloomington factory (pp.65-67) and in Juarez (p.154).
3. Another theme of the book is that race, ethnicity and gender were important factors in labor-management relations at RCA (and, by extension, throughout American industry). In what ways did divisions among the US labor force affect labor relations and the way RCA operated?
4. Everywhere it went, RCA looked for young women workers. Why do you think that was their strategy? Consider the advantages and disadvantages for women at various times and places in this account who decided to work for RCA. Did work liberate women from the restrictions of the home and family? Did it oppress and exploit them? Neither? Both?
5. We've spent quite a bit of time on the changing strategies and structures of big businesses. Note how RCA begins as a radio manufacturer, then expands to other electronics, notably televisions. In the 1960s, like many big corporations, RCA diversified, acquiring such apparently unrelated companies as Hertz Auto Rentals and Random House publishers. Often this "conglomerate" diversification was unsuccessful, as it was at RCA. Why do you think companies did it? And why did it seldom win profits for the company?
6. RCA's plant in Ciudad Juarez was one of the maquiladoras (see p.113 for a definition and description). What do you think were the motivations for the US and Mexico to embark on this "Border Industrialization Program"? In recent years, many of the maquiladoras and other Mexican industries have lost ground to competition from China and other areas with lower labor costs. Think about RCA's Juarez operations in the light of current headline issues of immigration and globalization.