The Plurality of Power: An Archaeology of Industrial Capitalism (Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology)

How do people experience power within capitalist societies? Research presented here explicitly addresses the notion of pluralistic power, which encompasses both productive and oppressive forms of power and acknowledges that nuanced and multifaceted power relations can exist in combination with binary dynamics such as domination and resistance. This volume addresses growing interests in linking past and present power relationships engendered by capitalism and in conducting historical archaeology as anthropology. __The Plurality of Power: An Archaeology of Industrial Capitalism__ explores the subtle distribution of power within American industrial capitalism through a case study of a company town. Issues surrounding power and agency are explored in regard to three heuristic categories of power. In the first category, the company imposed a system of structural, class-based power that is most visible in hierarchical differences in pay and housing, as well as consumer behavior. A second category addresses disciplinary activities surrounding health and the human body, as observed in the built environment, medical artifacts, disposal patterns of industrial waste, incidence of intestinal parasites, and unequal access to healthcare. The third ensemble of power relations is heterarcical and entwined with non-economic capital (social, symbolic, and cultural). Individuals and groups drew upon different forms of capital to bolster social status and express identity both within and apart from the corporate hierarchy. The goal in combining these diverse ideas is to explore the plurality of power relationships in past industrial contexts and to assert their relevance in the anthropology of capitalism. Cover 1 CONTRIBUTIONS TO GLOBAL HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 3 The Plurality of Power: An Archaeology of Industrial Capitalism 4 ISBN 9781441983053 5 Acknowledgments 6 Contents 8 Chapter 1: The Plurality of Power in Industrial Capitalism: A Case Study of Fayette, Michigan 12 Introduction 12 The Company Town of Fayette 13 The Plurality of Power 18 Summary 21 Chapter 2: Working Communities and the Victorian-American Company Town 22 Introduction 22 Working Communities and Industrial Capitalism 23 The Reorganization of Work 23 Technologically Centered Communities, Company Towns, and Paternalism 25 Fayette, Michigan: An Iron Town in the Gilded Age 27 Nineteenth-Century Iron Production 28 The Cultural Geography of American Iron Towns 30 American Communities in the Gilded Age 32 Research at Fayette 33 Histories, Park Management Plans, and Archival Resources 34 Analysis of Landscape and Built Environment 35 Archaeological Research 35 Town Road System 36 Racetrack/Baseball Field 36 Slag Beach 36 Residential Excavations 37 Comparative Excavations of Class-Based Neighborhoods 38 Summary 41 Chapter 3: Critically Reading Power, Landscapes, Documents, and Artifacts in Industrialized Society 42 Introduction 42 Theorizing Power 42 Structural Power, Class, and Hegemony 44 Power, the Individual, and the Body 47 Status, Noneconomic Capital, and Identity 50 Related Theories of Power 52 Theorizing Documents, Built Environment, and Consumerism 55 Critically Reading Historical Documents 55 Critically Reading Landscapes and Built Environments 57 Critically Reading Consumerism Through Historical Artifacts 61 Summary 65 Chapter 4: Paternalism, Resistance, and Hegemony 68 Introduction 68 Corporate Paternalism 68 Paternalism in Services and Benefits 69 Paternalism in the Landscape: Green Engineering 79 Hegemony and Resistance 81 The Summers and Berlanguette Incident, 20 July 1880 85 Summary 87 Chapter 5: The Class System 88 Introduction 88 Class and the Built Environment 89 Assessing Class-Based Neighborhoods 89 Upper-, Middle-, and Working-Class Housing 96 Class and Consumerism 105 Faunal Remains 105 Edible Fruits 109 Glass Bottles and Jars 110 Ceramics 111 Summary 113 Chapter 6: Biopower: Discipline, Symbolic Violence, and the Privilege of Hygiene 116 Introduction 116 Health, Biopolitics, and the Privilege of Hygiene 117 Living Conditions and Exposure to Waste 117 Incidence of Human Intestinal Parasites 119 Medicines and Medical Paraphernalia 120 Bodily Discipline, Panopticism, and Symbolic Violence 124 Legislative Documents 124 Disciplinary Institutions, Panopticism, and Surveillance 126 Symbolic Violence and the Freedom of Daily Improvisation 130 Summary 134 Chapter 7: Social Status and Intersectional Identities: Consumer Behavior, Gender, and Immigration 136 Introduction 136 Consumer Behavior 137 Excerpt from the Novel A Pasteboard Crown: A Story of the New York Stage (Morris 1902:58–60) 141 Advertisement for Okell’s Original Mona Bouquet, 1884 147 Dining Practices, Genteel Play, and Social Status 138 Victorian Health Practices and Medical Fetishism 144 Gender Identity and Power 148 From the Mining Journal, 21 June 1879 154 Working Women and Men 149 Women’s Work at Fayette 150 Men’s Work at Fayette 152 Gender in Local Narratives 153 Ethnicity and Immigration 156 Escanaba Iron Port, 30 September 1882 155 Nativity of Fayette Residents 157 Intersectionality and Mobility in Immigrants’ Narratives 160 Summary 162 Chapter 8: Symbolic, Cultural, and Social Capital 164 Introduction 164 Work-Related Voluntary Organizations 167 Independent Order of Odd Fellows 167 Fayette Agricultural Society 169 Mining Journal, July 17, 1880 168 Entertainment Organizations 169 Horse Racing and Baseball 169 Fayette Coronet Band 170 Religious Congregations and Genteel Socializing 173 Religious Congregations 173 Socializing in the Home 174 Education and Literacy 177 Traditional and Charismatic Authority of Individuals 181 Summary 182 Chapter 9: Conclusion: Power and Industrial Capitalism, Past and Present 184 Introduction 184 Hierarchical Power and Class 185 Paternalism, Resistance, and Hegemony 186 Power and the Body 188 Social Status and Intersectional Identities 191 Noneconomic Capital 193 Conclusions 195 References 198 Index 218 1441983058,9781441983053 Springer 2011 "How do people experience power within capitalist societies? Research presented here explicitly addresses the notion of pluralistic power, which encompasses both productive and oppressive forms of power and acknowledges that nuanced and multifaceted power relations can exist in combination with binary dynamics such as domination and resistance. This volume addresses growing interests in linking past and present power relationships engendered by capitalism and in conducting historical archaeology as anthropology. The Plurality of Power: Industrial Capitalism and the Nineteenth-Century Company Town of Fayette, Michigan, explores the subtle distribution of power within American industrial capitalism through a case study of a company town. Issues surrounding power and agency are explored in regard to three heuristic categories of power. In the first category, the company imposed a system of structural, class-based power that is most visible in hierarchical differences in pay and housing, as well as consumer behavior. A second category addresses disciplinary activities surrounding health and the human body, as observed in the built environment, medical artifacts, disposal patterns of industrial waste, incidence of intestinal parasites, and unequal access to healthcare. The third ensemble of power relations is heterarcical and entwined with non-economic capital (social, symbolic, and cultural). Individuals and groups drew upon different forms of capital to bolster social status and express identity both within and apart from the corporate hierarchy. The goal in combining these diverse ideas is to explore the plurality of power relationships in past industrial contexts and to assert their relevance in the anthropology of capitalism."--Publisher's information Front Matter....Pages i-ix The Plurality of Power in Industrial Capitalism: A Case Study of Fayette, Michigan....Pages 1-10 Working Communities and the Victorian-American Company Town....Pages 11-30 Critically Reading Power, Landscapes, Documents, and Artifacts in Industrialized Society....Pages 31-55 Paternalism, Resistance, and Hegemony....Pages 57-76 The Class System....Pages 77-103 Biopower: Discipline, Symbolic Violence, and the Privilege of Hygiene....Pages 105-123 Social Status and Intersectional Identities: Consumer Behavior, Gender, and Immigration....Pages 125-151 Symbolic, Cultural, and Social Capital....Pages 153-172 Conclusion: Power and Industrial Capitalism, Past and Present....Pages 173-185 Back Matter....Pages 187-209