The Social Drama of Daily Work

Part manifesto, part manual, this book offers historians of all levels both subject and approach. The subject is work. In every place-time people made and sold objects and struggled with annoying customers or government regulation. They healed clients and wanted to bolster their prestige and keep out interlopers. Studying work allows historians to delve into the experiences of non-elite groups using texts, images, or objects. The wide-ranging approach is based on the Chicago-school sociology of occupations, which starts from the premise that work isnt just a job: its a drama created by people making decisions that shape and are shaped by their place-time. Packed with examples from Ming Chinese apothecaries to twentieth-century New York City doormen, this book is a must for those who want to enliven their study of the past by examining how people spent most of their days and lives: at work.