| Three years of fieldwork in Pittsburgh communities was conducted to investigate the impact of post-industrial restructuring on ex-steelworkers, their families and communities. Community contacts were established, participant observation fieldwork was conducted and twenty complete ex-steelworker life histories were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed to offer an insider's perspective of the impact of mill loss. These histories are framed within the socio-historical context of the development and collapse of Pittsburgh's massive steel industry. The multifaceted events leading up to mill closures are described, depicting layoff policies that delayed post-steel reemployment. Ex-steelworkers explain the use and disuse of postindustrial retraining and college programs for ex-steelworkers. Work and retirement since the steel era are described, revealing age and seniority influences on post-steel employment decisions. Sociocultural barriers to women's work, developing out of steel production era values, persist in spite of the growing economic importance of female labor. The historical importance of ethnic identities in both workplaces and communities is related to the use of immigrant labor in steel production. Racial discrimination in steel and post-steel workplaces and communities is described. The use of oral history methodology revealed that ex-steelworkers, like many other ex-industrial workers, have not benefited from the economic changes accompanying America's deindustrialization. |
