Taking Stock: Labor History during the Past Fifty Years

Abstract

This essay has two aims. The first is to provide a critical overview of the nature and development of labor history in selected places during the past fifty years. The second is to offer a critical evaluation of the recent “transnational turn” in labor history and its likely future development. Although reference is made to the global context and to labor history beyond national borders, my main focus rests upon the development of labor history in parts of the Americas and the countries of Britain, Ireland, Germany, India, Japan, and Australia.