What prevents cities whose economies have been devastated by the flight of human and monetary capital from returning to self-sufficiency? Looking at the cumulative effects of urban decline in the ...classic post-industrial city of Camden, New Jersey, historian Howard Gillette, Jr., probes the interaction of politics, economic restructuring, and racial bias to evaluate contemporary efforts at revitalization. In a sweeping analysis, Gillette identifies a number of related factors to explain this phenomenon, including the corrosive effects of concentrated poverty, environmental injustice, and a political bias that favors suburban amenity over urban reconstruction. Challenging popular perceptions that poor people are responsible for the untenable living conditions in which they find themselves, Gillette reveals how the effects of political decisions made over the past half century have combined with structural inequities to sustain and prolong a city's impoverishment. Even the most admirable efforts to rebuild neighborhoods through community development and the reinvention of downtowns as tourist destinations are inadequate solutions, Gillette argues. He maintains that only a concerted regional planning response-in which a city and suburbs cooperate-is capable of achieving true revitalization. Though such a response is mandated in Camden as part of an unprecedented state intervention, its success is still not assured, given the legacy of outside antagonism to the city and its residents. Deeply researched and forcefully argued,Camden After the Fallchronicles the history of the post-industrial American city and points toward a sustained urban revitalization strategy for the twenty-first century.
Corporations often move factories to areas where production costs, notably labor, taxes, and regulations, are sharply lower than in the original company hometowns. Not every company, however, ...followed this trend. One of America's most iconic firms, the Campbell Soup Company, was one such exception: it found ways to achieve low-cost production while staying in its original location, Camden, New Jersey, until 1990.
The first in-depth history of the Campbell Soup Company and its workers, Condensed Capitalism is also a broader exploration of strategies that companies have used to keep costs down besides relocating to cheap labor havens: lean production, flexible labor sourcing, and uncompromising antiunionism. Daniel Sidorick's study of a classic firm that used these methods for over a century has, therefore, special relevance in current debates about capital mobility and the shifting powers of capital and labor.
Sidorick focuses on the engine of the Campbell empire: the soup plants in Camden where millions of cans of food products rolled off the production line daily. It was here that management undertook massive efforts to drive down costs so that the marketing and distribution functions of the company could rely on a limitless supply of products to sell at rock-bottom prices. It was also here that thousands of soup makers struggled to gain some control over their working lives and livelihoods, countering company power with their own strong union local. Campbell's low-cost strategies and the remarkable responses these elicited from its workers tell a story vital to understanding today's global economy. Condensed Capitalism reveals these strategies and their consequences through a narrative that shows the mark of great economic and social forces on the very human stories of the people who spent their lives filling those familiar red-and-white cans.
Corporations often move factories to areas where production costs, notably labor, taxes, and regulations, are sharply lower than in the original company hometowns. Not every company, however, followed this trend. One of America's most iconic firms, the Campbell Soup Company, was one such exception: it found ways to achieve low-cost production while staying in its original location, Camden, New Jersey, until 1990.
The first in-depth history of the Campbell Soup Company and its workers,Condensed Capitalism is also a broader exploration of strategies that companies have used to keep costs down besides relocating to cheap labor havens: lean production, flexible labor sourcing, and uncompromising antiunionism. Daniel Sidorick's study of a classic firm that used these methods for over a century has, therefore, special relevance in current debates about capital mobility and the shifting powers of capital and labor. Sidorick focuses on the engine of the Campbell empire: the soup plants in Camden where millions of cans of food products rolled off the production line daily. It was here that management undertook massive efforts to drive down costs so that the marketing and distribution functions of the company could rely on a limitless supply of products to sell at rock-bottom prices. It was also here that thousands of soup makers struggled to gain some control over their working lives and livelihoods, countering company power with their own strong union local.
Campbell's low-cost strategies and the remarkable responses these elicited from its workers tell a story vital to understanding today's global economy.Condensed Capitalism reveals these strategies and their consequences through a narrative that shows the mark of great economic and social forces on the very human stories of the people who spent their lives filling those familiar red-and-white cans.
An engaging account of one woman’s overcoming the Depression and small town mores. Viola Goode Liddell’s short memoir tells the story of her return to Alabama in search of a husband and a ...new life. Thirty years old and recently divorced, Liddell comes back to her home state—with her young son—determined to survive, during the depths of the Depression. Liddell narrates the obstacles she faces as a single mother in the 1930s Deep South with self-deprecating humor and a confessional tone that reveal both her intelligence and her unapologetic ambitions. Unable to earn, borrow, or beg enough money to support herself and her child, Liddell uses her family connections to secure a teaching position in Camden, Alabama. Even though an older sister’s status within the community helps her land the job, Liddell is warned that she must be very careful as she navigates the tricky social terrain of small town life, particularly when it comes to men. A commentary on the plight of women of the time is woven into the narrative as Liddell recounts her experience of being refused a loan at the local bank by her own brother-in-law. Despite all the restrictions on her behavior and the crushing reality that she has become "the biggest nuisance in the family" because of her past, Liddell cheerfully and successfully builds a new life of respectability and hope.  
Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) have a vital role to play in seeking to offer solutions for a new model of governance that will embrace innovation while ensuring inclusive, sustainable growth. ...While the UK regulatory environment often stifles the innovative potential of start-ups and small businesses, governance sandboxes provide a space that enables innovation and diversity of activity. Much of the analysis surrounding the UK’s productivity problem points to the lack of investment by UK companies in new technology, which has a negative impact on the wider economy. The benefits of the rapid innovation surrounding us have therefore not filtered down to a civic or neighbourhood level. BIDs can help redress this balance by using non-traditional avenues and applying the BID framework. Camden Town Unlimited (CTU), a London BID, has previously pioneered new models of inclusive growth through Camden Collective and the Camden Highline; a governance sandbox — ‘alt.cmd’ — is CTU’s latest venture intended to give people the freedom to create a more democratic and inclusive future. Ultimately, innovation can only be inclusive with the support of the local community. For that reason, alt.cmd brought individuals and business leaders in the community together to propose radically innovative ideas to tackle everyday problems. This ‘ideas lab’ focused on four areas: finance, data, governance and economy, resulting in four key initiatives which alt.cmd is now taking forward: a ‘Smart Covenant’, which captures the value increase to private property resulting from public projects to create new potential funding models for public infrastructure projects; an ‘Improve my Street’ participatory crowdfunding model to help people organise, ensure fair contributions, and deliver a shared vision for the community; ‘Smart Noise Licensing’ for temporary events to improve the way noise is measured, managed and mitigated; and ‘Rooftop Planning Rights’ — data-driven planning permission that aims to unlock work and living space on top of existing buildings. Communities already have the tools they need to harness the creative potential of businesses and entrepreneurs. Doing so could not only help to address low productivity, but could do so in a sustainable and affordable manner — partnering with the private sector for the benefit of local communities.
Isaac Mickle was no ordinary youth, and it follows that his diary is no ordinary scribbling.A Gentleman of Much Promiseis the eloquent and insightful account of a young man entering the prime of his ...life.
Born of a wealthy New Jersey family, Mickle was in his short lifetime (1822-1855) a Camden and Philadelphia lawyer, the editor of two weekly newspapers, an historian, an accomplished violinist and avid book collector, a local political leader, something of a ladies' man, and a keen observer of his society and times. By the age of twenty-two Miclke had immersed himself in politics, and his activities provide a view not only into day-to-day local affairs but also into the Democratic National Convention of 1844. He relates meetings with many prominent figures of his day, including Presidents Van Buren, Tyler, and Polk and writers Orestes Brownson and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
A Gentleman of Much Promise is at once a private and a public history. The details of this yoing man's life-from his modes of travel to his courting habits-draw the reader into intimate contact with Jacksonian America. His comments on current events and his accounts of trips to Washington, Baltimore, New York, New Haven, Boston, and other cities provide a fascinating portrait of the United States during one it its most vibrant decades.
The Vesey conspiracy was the largest in North America, yet historians have failed to establish the wider contexts for how white authorities responded to the plot. This article points to a conspiracy ...in Camden, South Carolina, in 1816 to argue that many of the responses to Vesey derived from participants' knowledge of Camden. In particular, those representing Charleston in the state legislature gained first-hand knowledge of the plot and several later became key actors in the Vesey trials. The Camden conspiracy in 1816 thus established the wider socio-political context for the unfolding of the Vesey trials in 1822.
Increasingly partisan perceptions of neoliberal education reforms and resistance to such reforms from communities they negatively impact have created challenges for some neoliberal reformers. This ...article uses a case study of the state takeover and dramatic reshaping of the Camden, New Jersey school district to examine how some reformers have responded to those challenges. We find that Camden's state-appointed superintendents used multiple messaging and framing techniques to diffuse community resistance to unpopular policies. We refer to these techniques collectively as window dressing because they are intended to create a perception of movement away from neoliberalism without actually changing neoliberal policies. These strategies are intended to move public opinion and discourage resistance without having to fundamentally address critiques of neoliberal reform. We posit that neoliberal reformers are likely to expand their use of window dressing techniques in response to a growing rejection of neoliberal education policies, particularly by Democrats and progressives.
