Labour and Society in Britain and America

A comparative study of workers, organized labour and society in 18th- and 19th-century Britain and America. It explores the development of workers' movements in the two countries and situates the labour movement's institutions in their wider social context.

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A comparative study of workers, organized labour and society in 18th- and 19th-century Britain and America. It explains the formative influences on, and main characteristics of, the development of workers' movements in the two countries; it situates the labour movement's institutions in their wider social context; and it traces the interactions between economic and other "hard facts of life" and the conscious attempts of workers to shape their own destinies. Although Neville Kirk recognizes various national differences between Britain and the US - the chronology and character of industrialization, the relative importance of agriculture, contrasting political and social structure and values - he rebuts the norm of Maerican "exceptionalism". The book identifies common international influences and strong mutual connections between the two states as factors forcing the workers in both countries to follow similar paths.