SHATTERED GLASS AND BROKEN DREAMS: UTILIZING THE WORKS OF MICHEL DE CERTEAU TO ANALYZE COPING MECHANISMS AND OVERT FORMS OF RESISTANCE AMONG GLASS WORKERS IN HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA Dan Shope A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2007 Committee: Donald McQuarie, Advisor Piya Pal Lapinski Graduate Faculty Representative Kevin Quinn Marilyn Motz Lynda Ann Ewen © 2007 Dan Shope All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Dr. Donald McQuarie, Advisor This dissertation examines the process of deindustrialization in an urban Appalachian community from a cultural perspective. Many initial studies concerning the effects of deindustrialization on Appalachian communities concluded that these communities were ultimately devastated. Appalachian culture was too brittle, culturally backwards, and therefore unable to withstand the shock of such an economic disaster. These studies failed to consider what subtle forms of coping mechanisms existed in the workplace before deindustrialization, and what overt forms of resistance were utilized by economically dispossessed workers after the deindustrialization process. In the 1980s, the Owens-Illinois Glass manufacturing plant in Huntington, West Virginia was significantly downsized, and in the early 1990s the glass manufacturing plant was permanently closed due to the deindustrialization process. This dissertation challenges the notion that Owens-Illinois workers in Huntington, West Virginia were “culturally backward,” and therefore ultimately defeated by the deindustrialization process. Utilizing the works of Michel de Certeau, and analyzing a series of oral histories of deindustrialized Owens-Illinois glass workers in Huntington, West Virginia, this paper proposes that former glass workers in Huntington, West Virginia creatively coped with their often tedious work environments during full employment, and later developed overt forms of resistance to the deindustrialization process. iv DEDICATION First and foremost, this dissertation is dedicated to my loving wife Julie. A research project of this size can never be solely the product of one individual. I could not have completed this with study without her. Additionally, I would also like to dedicate this dissertation to my mother and father who always taught me through their work and diligence in rearing our family to reach for the stars, but to keep my feet on the ground. This dissertation is dedicated to all those who for many years lived in Huntington, West Virginia and worked for the old Owens-Illinois glass factory. It is my hope that through this dissertation their lives and stories will not be forgotten. Moreover, I would like to dedicate this dissertation to those loved and lost, Dr. William Westbrook who taught me to always question so as to fully understand and Dr. Steve Winn who taught me to appreciate the power of sociological theory and always appreciated the way I think. In closing, I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my father William Shope. My father taught me the meaning of work and its rewards. He worked every day of his adult life in factories. I hope that he would have been proud of the results of his arduous labor. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to first acknowledge my dissertation committee. They are: Dr. Donald McQuarie, Dr. Lynda Ann Ewen (co-chairs), Dr. Marilyn Motz, Dr. Kevin Quinn, and Dr. Pia Pal-Lipinski. Without their help and thoughtful contributions the completion of this dissertation would never have been realized. I would also like to thank Dr. Barbara Smith, the former director of the Oral History of Appalachia Program at Marshall University and her staff consisting of sociology graduate students and staff in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Marshall University. At the time of the glass factory's closure in Huntington, West Virginia, Dr. Smith had the foresight to collect the oral histories of Owens-Illinois glass workers who lost their glass manufacturing jobs in Huntington, West Virginia. I would like to thank Tony Avruch for allowing me to access his personal library that contained books and articles concerning the works of Michel de Certeau. I wish to thank Alissa Burger for her editorial assistance. I would also like to thank Colleen K. Parker in Government Documents at Bowling Green State University’s library. Finally, I wish to thank Bonnie Huff and Janice Singer, both former Owens-Illinois glass workers, and Janice’s son Curt Singer for their help in locating much of the information presented in this dissertation. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER I. HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRIGINIA’S GLASS MAKING HISTORY ....... 24 CHAPTER II. FROM “COPING MECHANISMS” TO “OVERT RESISTANCE” .......... 49 CHAPTER III. APPALACHIAN WOMEN SHATTER THE GLASS CEILING .............. 55 CHAPTER IV. AFRICAN-AMERICANS BREAK THE COLOR LINE ........................... 88 CHAPTER V. JOB DISCRIMINATION AND OPAL MANN’S LEGAL BATTLE ......... 123 CHAPTER VI. THE PRACTICE OF EVERYDAY LIFE .................................................. 153 CONCLUSION……… .......................................................................................................... 183 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 191 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 GLASS CONTAINER SHIPMENTS, 1980-1992 .................................................... 37 2 ALUMINUM CAN SHIPMENTS, 1972-1980 ......................................................... 38 3 PLASTIC BOTTLE PRODUCTION, 1977-1988 ..................................................... 39 1 INTRODUCTION Historically, the Appalachian region and its inhabitants have served as an aberrant and often baffling construct in American scholarship and literature. Initially, Appalachia was characterized in fictional accounts as a rustic backwoods region, hidden within the interior of the United States. The Appalachian population was described as a culturally backwards people living in total isolation. These stories were often distributed by major U.S. publishing houses whose readership resided in the Northeastern region of the U.S.i The major distribution of such exaggerated Appalachian stories resulted in a wide-spread stereotypes of Appalachia as a place that socially lagged behind the rest of the U.S.ii Many of these stereotypes persist today and may influence the scholarship and social policy on deindustrialization. The research presented in this dissertation, which is based on a series of oral histories, refutes these stereotypes. Appalachian Scholarship and the Culture of Backwardness Early scholars who were interested in studying Appalachia inadequately contended that a bucolic, yet socially retarded nature typified the majority of the population that resided in the region. As early as 1898, George Vincent authored an article published in The American Journal of Sociology that described the people of Appalachia as residing in pools of isolation where a “retarded” frontier mentality survived the ascending Industrial Revolution.iii This analysis incorrectly created a picture of Appalachian people as incapable of producing forms of coping mechanisms to deal with social strife or conflict. This kind of analysis also convinced readers that as a 2 socially retarded population, Appalachians were faced with living in a fragile culture that could easily be shattered during times of social upheaval. According to Vincent’s analysis, Appalachians were unaware of modern coping mechanisms. To cope with distortions in their “backwards” social organization, Appalachians resorted to deleterious cultural practices such as violence, alcoholism, depression, or suicide. Therefore, Appalachian populations, with little in the way of cultural competency, were destined to be destroyed during great social re-configurations like the Industrial Revolution. In fact, Appalachia provided an important piece in the completion of the nation’s industrial puzzle. Without the natural resources that existed in Appalachia, namely the southern coal fields and timber forests, and a large readily available Appalachian workforce, massive industrialization in the U.S. would not have taken place so rapidly. This study argues that not only was Appalachia a part of the nation’s developing industrial complex, Appalachians were essential to U.S. industrial development. Therefore, Appalachians developed ways to cope with the nation’s changing employment structure activated by industrialization. By the middle of the 19th century, various Appalachian cities located along the Ohio River and its tributaries emerged as urban industrial centers that provided many goods and services needed in the industrialization process. In the beginning of the 20th century, Appalachians in search of employment migrated from rural areas to Appalachian cities, which were escalating in population. These new Appalachian industrial workers were included in the swelling U.S. industrial manufacturing base. Ken Fones-Wolf (2007) noted in Glass Towns: Industry, Labor, and Political Economy in Appalachia, 1890-1930s that in 1909, the state of West Virginia was praised 3 in the Commoner and Glassworker, which was a weekly journal for workers in the glass industry due to its natural resources which made the state a great storehouse