The Big Rig

Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream

Steve Viscelli

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Hardback

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English

University of California Press
12 April 2016

Sociology: work & labour; Labour economics; Road transport industries; Industrial relations

Long-haul trucks have been described as sweatshops on wheels. The typical long-haul trucker works the equivalent of two full-time jobs, often for little more than minimum wage. But it wasn’t always this way. Trucking used to be one of the best working-class jobs in the United States.

The Big Rig explains how this massive degradation in the quality of work has occurred, and how companies achieve a compliant and dedicated workforce despite it. Drawing on more than 100 in-depth interviews and years of extensive observation, including six months training and working as a long-haul trucker, Viscelli explains in detail how labor is recruited, trained, and used in the industry. He then shows how inexperienced workers are convinced to lease a truck and to work as independent contractors. He explains how deregulation and collective action by employers transformed trucking’s labor markets--once dominated by the largest and most powerful union in US history--into an important example of the costs of contemporary labor markets for workers and the general public.

By: Steve Viscelli
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 544g
ISBN: 9780520278110
ISBN 10: 0520278119
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 12 April 2016
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Further / Higher Education , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction. Where Did All These Bad Jobs Come From? 1. The CDL Mill: Training the Professional Steering-Wheel Holder 2. Cheap Freight, Cheap Drivers: Work as a Long-Haul Trucker 3. The Big Rig: Running the Contractor Confidence Game 4. Working for the Truck: The Harsh Reality of Contracting 5. Someone to Turn To: Managing Contractors from an Arm’s Length Away 6. “No More Jimmy Hoff as”: Desperate Drivers and Divided Labor Appendix A. Data and Methods Notes Glossary Bibliography Index

Steve Viscelli is a political sociologist and lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a senior associate at the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. In addition to his academic research, he works with a range of public and private stakeholders to make the trucking industry safer, more efficient, and a better place to work. To learn more, please visit: http://www.steveviscelli.com/.

Reviews for The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream

Engagingly written and very thorough... The Big Rig is a strong contribution to scholarship on work and occupations, economic sociology, and institutional analysis. * American Journal of Sociology * The Big Rig is sure to become the touchstone study of U.S. trucking. Coupling fascinating accounts of personal struggles with sharp structural analyses linking these struggles to macroeconomic forces, it is the best kind of ethnographic sociology. * Men & Masculinities *