The Suburban Worker in the History of Labor

In the United States, Canada, Australia, and even Britain there is a long and broad history of suburban working-class settlement. Conditions have improved and changed. Suburban workers once lived at the frontier margin of the urban economy; after 1945, occupying more standardized and financially leveraged subdivisions, they became part of its consumer apotheosis. Many writers have assumed that suburban residence rendered workers passive, but have couched their arguments in terms of long-term consequences, neglecting to weigh the immediate intentions of workers and their families. By acquiring homes in suburban communities, workers sought greater autonomy and control, similar to the goals that guided their actions in the workplace and the political arena. Indeed, the desire to own suburban homes has been expressed more strongly by the manual working class than by any other major group. The significance of the suburban worker remains unclear, and may most usefully be addressed within the framework of comparative research at the urban and national scales.