Arthur Mcivor

Jobs and Bodies (eBook, ePUB)

An Oral History of Health and Safety in Britain

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

In the early 21st century, radically changing work locations and patterns have jolted society to reflect more on the ways that employment affects the body and the mind. This book provides historical context and insights to aid our understanding of this contemporary crisis, critically examining the history of a neglected area.

In this oral-history based study, Arthur McIvor explores the history of health and safety from Second World War to the present, drawing extensively upon workers' own personal stories of occupational accidents, disasters, injury, disease, overwork and disability. It covers a wide range of workplace issues, from stories of TNT poisoning and overwork in wartime, through to the asbestos and black lung disasters, and the modern-day 'epidemics' of stress, burn-out and Covid-19.

Opening conversations surrounding the harms caused by work, this book analyses how people have lived with occupational illness and disability, critiquing risk and work-health cultures, and the structural violence characteristic of industrial capitalism and neoliberal economics, in addition to discussing the agency of big business and advocacy of workers and victims. Focusing on class, gender, disability and race, this book uses an impressive range of secondary and primary sources, including government reports and enquiries drawing upon workers' testimonies, Mine and Factory Inspectors Reports, HSE papers, newspapers, Mass Observation responses and oral history interviews.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK eBooks
• Seitenzahl: 304
• Erscheinungstermin: 2. November 2023
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781350236240
• Artikelnr.: 68549292

Autorenporträt

Arthur McIvor is Professor of Social History and Co-Director of the Scottish Oral History Centre at the University of Strathclyde, UK.

Inhaltsangabe

List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
1. Memory, Context and the Working Body
2.Talking Dirty: Narrating Toxic Exposure and Danger Stories
3. Industrial Legacies; Damaged Bodies
4. 'Fit for the Scrap Heap': Remembering Losing Work and Health
5. Stress and Burn-Out: Narrating the Modern Work-Health Epidemic
6. Infected Bodies: From Anthrax to Covid-19 in the Workplace
7. Pushing Back: Health and Safety Activism and Environmentalism
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index