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Carroll Wright and Labor Reform

Carroll Wright and Labor Reform

The Origin of Labor Statistics

James Leiby

ISBN 9780674098008

Publication date: 01/01/1960

Contemporaries of Carroll D. Wright (1840-1909) lived through the transformation of American society by the industrial revolution. For the most part they thought the transformation represented growth and progress, but many also found occasion for doubt and fear in its consequences. Their anxieties collected around the notions of a "labor problem" and "labor reform." Whether from hope or fear, people felt a need for statistical information. On this popular demand Wright built his career as statistical expert and renowned master of "labor statistics." His investigations during thirty-two years of government service (1873-1905) gave form to contemporary ideas and set precedents for modern procedures, as in his seminal studies of wages, prices, and strikes.

In telling how Wright took up this unprecedented career, Mr. Leiby shows the importance of Wright's early years and relates his work to the politics and religion of his time as well as to its social science. In this perspective, the history of the labor bureaus and their voluminous reports take on their original human purposes and meaning.

Author

  • James Leiby was Professor Emeritus of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley.

Book Details

  • 257 pages
  • 5-5/16 x 8 inches
  • Harvard University Press

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