Coercion, Contract, and Free Labor in the Nineteenth Century

by Robert J. Steinfeld

Book Overview

This book presents a fundamental reassessment of the nature of wage labor in the nineteenth century, focusing on the common use of penal sanctions in England to enforce wage labor agreements. Professor Steinfeld argues that wage workers were not employees at will but were often bound to their employment by enforceable labor agreements, which employers used whenever available to manage their labor costs and supply. In the northern United States, where...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521774004
• ISBN13: 9780521774000
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 342 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"