Men and Monotony: Fraternalism as a Managerial Strategy at the Ford Motor Company

The introduction of mass production transformed many skilled tasks into repetitive and monotonous jobs. In industries such as automobiles, the workforce remained predominantly male despite contemporary assessments that women could efficiently do many of these jobs. This article explores why. It is a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of economic history 1993-12, Vol.53 (4), p.824-856
Main Author: Lewchuk, Wayne A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archives
Automobile industry
Automobile production
Automotive industries
Economic history
Employment
Gender roles
History
Management styles
Management techniques
Masculinity
Mass production
Men
Productivity
Wages
Workforce
Working women
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Summary:The introduction of mass production transformed many skilled tasks into repetitive and monotonous jobs. In industries such as automobiles, the workforce remained predominantly male despite contemporary assessments that women could efficiently do many of these jobs. This article explores why. It is argued that employers such as Ford concluded that the conversion of labor time into effort would be more difficult in a mixed-gender workforce. The paper shows how Ford developed a fraternalist labor strategy, a men's club, whose objective was to accommodate men to monotony and maximize labor productivity.
ISSN:0022-0507
1471-6372
DOI:10.1017/S0022050700051330