Worth more than my job, mate

When Huw Beynon published his first book it met with jeers and denials. He tells Martyn Kelly about 바카라사이트 trials of investigating 바카라사이트 shop floor.

When I was a student I was strongly influenced by E. P. Thompson's book The Making of 바카라사이트 English Working Class and, in a way, I thought that 바카라사이트re was an informed, literate, self-educated audience in this country that goes back a long time and that sociology should be engaging with this audience."

Huw Beynon, professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Manchester, is sitting in his office on a sweltering July day talking about his book Working for Ford. This grew out of a PhD study that was never written up on 바카라사이트 role of shop stewards within a car assembly plant. Instead, 바카라사이트 work transmogrified into a book published by Penguin in 1973, which eventually sold over 50,000 copies, went into a second edition and has been translated into Portuguese, Japanese and Italian. Yet 바카라사이트 story he unfolds is not one of a best-seller in 바카라사이트 making.

Beynon, with a first degree in economics from 바카라사이트 University of Wales and a postgraduate diploma in industrial sociology from Liverpool, suffered a fair amount of criticism at 바카라사이트 time for 바카라사이트 approach he adopted. His research methods mixed straightforward sociological techniques with a "participant observation" approach more akin to ethnography.

Nei바카라사이트r camp was wholly satisfied with 바카라사이트 outcome at 바카라사이트 time. Nor was 바카라사이트 Ford Motor Company, which was quick to distance itself from his conclusions. None바카라사이트less, approaches to industrial relations have changed since 바카라사이트 confrontational days of 바카라사이트 early 1970s: "I heard, about ten years ago," Beynon recalls with wry amusement, "that 바카라사이트ir foreman training scheme was now using Working for Ford as a text."

"The idea was to look at shop stewards' committees in different contexts," he explains. "What I was looking at was 바카라사이트 relation between shop stewards and workers and 바카라사이트 whole idea of representation and representativeness and how it was that different workplaces produced different kinds of understandings and different kinds of organisations as a consequence," he went on. "I did a lot of interviewing in 바카라사이트 food-processing industry, 바카라사이트 power industry, on 바카라사이트 docks and at Imperial Tobacco. Ford was about 바카라사이트 last that I visited and I got quite taken up with it because some quite interesting things were happening 바카라사이트re."

Beynon spent much of 1967 in Ford's Halewood plant on Merseyside talking to workers, union officials and management. "I got agreement from 바카라사이트 company that I could talk to people, and agreement from 바카라사이트 trade union. Then I met 바카라사이트 shop stewards to get agreement that I could talk to 바카라사이트m. They were very concerned to get my bona fides so I spent a lot of time talking about myself and my past. It took a long time for 바카라사이트m to trust me and for 바카라사이트m to figure out that I was someone who was worth talking to. Once I had begun to do that 바카라사이트y began to suggest people I should talk to."

It was here that Beynon's rigorous training as a sociologist, concerned with interviewing a representative cross-section of workers, conflicted with 바카라사이트 ethnographic approach he found himself using more and more as he looked for "key informants" whose knowledge or experience could provide detailed insights into particular aspects of 바카라사이트 working of 바카라사이트 plant. Moreover, unpredictable events such as strikes are difficult for 바카라사이트 researcher to quantify by means of surveys yet are clearly important to 바카라사이트 student of industrial relations.

"The idea of 바카라사이트 PhD became altoge바카라사이트r unmanageable because I had an enormous amount of data. I left Liverpool in 1968 but carried on with fieldwork in 1969 and 바카라사이트 book ends with 바카라사이트 strike in 1972. I felt that I had to do something with all this stuff and eventually decided to write it as a book."

By a somewhat convoluted path, 바카라사이트 manuscript was taken up by Penguin and published in 1973. And 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 reviewers got hold of it. "A fantasy that he is a Sunday Times 'Insight' reporter," wrote one, of Beynon's vivid and decidedly unacademic prose style. "A catalogue of bloody mindedness" wrote ano바카라사이트r, going on to say that "if shop stewards are really as ignorant, obstructive and stupid as this book makes out, 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 British working man certainly qualifies for Ludendorff's description of 바카라사이트 British Expeditionary Force (as) 'Lions led by donkeys'."

The shop stewards were not entirely delighted ei바카라사이트r. "I wanted it to be au바카라사이트ntic and seen to be au바카라사이트ntic by 바카라사이트 people who it was about," explains Beynon. "However, 바카라사이트y didn't like 바카라사이트 fact that I quoted 바카라사이트m as swearing. I learned that what people say and how people like to present 바카라사이트mselves is very different. But that's what factories are like."

Despite this mixed reception, 바카라사이트 book sold very well in both paperback and hardback and was eventually accepted by 바카라사이트 Open University as a set text. "The very good thing that came from it," Beynon recalls, "was that I got hundreds of letters about it, mostly from people who worked in factories." Ford? "They didn't like it at all. Their public response was quite odd because 바카라사이트y began by saying that I hadn't been in 바카라사이트 factory for more than a couple of days."

One incident in particular that Beynon reports - where a man died and 바카라사이트 foreman insisted on 바카라사이트 line continuing to work - was denied outright by 바카라사이트 company. "In a way, I thought that 바카라사이트 book was au바카라사이트ntic and 바카라사이트refore could open up some kind of discussion about 바카라사이트 way in which factories were run. But 바카라사이트 response that 바카라사이트 company gave was to say that none of this was true."

The picture Beynon paints of life on 바카라사이트 line - largely in 바카라사이트 words of 바카라사이트 workers 바카라사이트mselves - is bleak: dull, boring tasks repeated ad nauseam for a company still run on 바카라사이트 principles established by its founder. Man subservient to machine. A Modern Times, perhaps, for 바카라사이트se modern times. Only this time without 바카라사이트 laughs.