The Mind at Work : Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker

by Mike Rose

Book Overview

In the tradition of Barbara Ehrenreich?s Nickel and Dimedand Studs Terkel?s Working, The Mind at Workis an illuminating reassessment of American labor. Testimonials to physical work have always... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143035576
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.7" x 5.0" x 0.5"

Customer Reviews

Bright eye behind hand work: linking the hand and the brain

Attempts to evaluate and measure the quality of human effort, or what economists now call human capital, have a long history. Leviticus (XXVI: 3-6) says, "When a man shall clearly utter a vow of persons unto the Lord according to thy valuation, then thy valuation shall be for the male from twenty years old even onto sixty years even, even thy valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver .... In addition, if it be a female, then thy valuation shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy valuation shall be for male twenty shekels and for the female ten shekels." I am quoting this biblical passage from Elchanan Cohn's classic text The Economics of Education (1979), to point out that the idea of human capital is historical. More recently, emphasis has shifted towards contrasting "hand work" to "brain work" in a way that attributes higher value to the latter than the former. This book is the first ever study of its kind to raise serious questions about that attribution. It documents "the thought it takes to do physical work." It debugs the notion that physical work does not have intelligent effort behind it by telling stories of hard working communities. The general notion that hand work is dumb work comes from a disturbing fact that "in our cultural iconography we are given the muscled arm, sleeve rolled tight against biceps, but not thought bright behind the eye, no image that links hand and brain" (p. xv). Chapter 7 on "Rethinking Hand and Brain" is the gem - to me. However, all eight chapters are just as good. For the specialist the afterword "On Method", and 21 pages of notes (pp.229-249) are good sources of inspiration. "On Method" describes extant methodological approaches to "the nature of cognition and legitimacy of various methods of studying it" (p.217). As for me the author has made a compelling case that it is silly to continue to argue that physical work is not intelligent work. Obviously, when the smartest construction engineer picks up a wrench to check if that last bolt on the bridge is tight enough, he or she does not turn off his/her brain. An EXCELLENT TRIBUTE to both labor and human intelligence! Amavilah, Author Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies ISBN: 1600210465

A Wonderful Book about Working Class Lives

Mike Rose is a kind of mix between Studs Terkel and Antonio Damasio, the guy who wrote Descartes' Error. In this book he documents the intelligence it takes to do blue-collar and service industry jobs like being a waitress or a hairstylist or a plumber or a welder. While he does this he also pays tribute to his own family, all of whom worked in manufacturing or the service industry. I found the chapter on his mother, a career waitress, especially moving and beautifully written. Rose dispels the notion that blue collar or service industry labor is "mindless" as he provides an inspiring and personal account of the lives of workers -- from the shop floor to the diner to the beauty salon. His discussion of education is wonderful. Rose provides a vision for moving beyond the "skill and drill" approach to education usually doled out to the sons and daughters of the working classes. A terrific read from a writer with deep, first hand knowledge of the lives of America's workers.

Every now and then a book comes along...

that completely changes your life. This is one of those books. Writing from the heart, Rose probes our society's categorizations of work and the intellect it takes to do all kinds of work. It is deep, powerful and thought-provoking.

A Seminal Book on Blue Collar Work

This book forces you to look at things in a new light. When you hire someone to do some work around the house, cut your hair, or bring food to you in a restaurant; you really don't want someone that's too dumb. Otherwise you house, your hair, or your food isn't right. But we have been conditioned to think that these kinds of workers do not need any brainpower. In this book, Mike Rose, a member of the faculty of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies grew up in a working class family and witnessed first hand the skills it takes to do the manual work about which he writes. With that a basis, he begins to look at intelligence in a new, broader sense. Perhaps our traditional IQ tests are wrong. And if we think of these workers, these people as being not too bright, then we shut down opportunities for advancement and it makes you think seriously about how people will vote in the upcoming presidential election. This is a seminal book. It establishes several points, but it is just a first step. How should we change education to be more meaningful to people who are just as smart but not oriented the same way. Are the traditional three R's simply not applicable? If not, what should we do? We don't want to condemn people who are just slow starters on the traditional path, yet we want to provide the best education possible for all.