TOGETHER WE WORK, TOGETHER WE GROW OLD: LIFE, WORK AND COMMUNITY IN A COAL MINING TOWN (WEST VIRGINIA).
Item
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Title
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TOGETHER WE WORK, TOGETHER WE GROW OLD: LIFE, WORK AND COMMUNITY IN A COAL MINING TOWN (WEST VIRGINIA).
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Identifier
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AAI8629732
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identifier
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8629732
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Creator
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SACHS, PATRICIA.
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Contributor
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Jane Schneider
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Date
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1986
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Anthropology, Cultural
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Abstract
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This dissertation is about generational process in an American community. I suggest that in communities which have undergone extensive social change, "normal" succession from generation to generation is altered. A critical aspect of generational continuity is the passing on of a legacy to one's heirs. What happens to elders in a community when this process is disrupted through outmigration? I explore how the residents of "Decker's Creek," a small former coal mining community in northern West Virginia, have responded to such social change in their community. An understanding of the notions of generation and community are important to my argument. I begin with Arensberg's enduring article about the relationship between community and industry, as a basis for thinking about communities. Mannheim's ideas about generation organize my sense of how involvement in a major technological change wrought by the industrial revolution (the mechanization of the mines) served to cement the older mining families into a generation. The remainder of Chapter I reviews the relevant discussions about ethnography in the U.S., old age, work and economy. In Chapter II, I describe the historical, industrial and cultural changes that have been taking place in Appalachia since it was first subject to mining in the sixteenth century. Chapter III shows that the shift from handloading to mechanization during the 1920s and 1930s, when the older residents worked the mines, affected their "world view." The company closed in 1950; Chapter IV describes the shift in the community from a company town to a "bedroom suburb." Chapter V depicts two dramatic crises experienced by the retired miners in the 1970s; the miners' consciousness about work, engendered during the company town days, shaped their response to the crises. Moreover, the gap between the generations of Decker's Creek was strikingly apparent in each crises. Finally, Chapter VI reassesses the issue of generational process and community change.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Anthropology
