Free Labor
by louisesparza
Chris Tilly recently reviewed John Krinsky’s new book, Free Labor in the latest issue of Contemporary Sociology. Krinsky explores the struggle between New York City unions and Giuliani administration in the 1990’s as Giuliani expanded workfare programs in the city. Tilly calls it a “must read,” but also admits that it can be dense at times.
One of the more unique approaches in Krinsky’s work is his mobilization of activity theory, which he has been working with for several years. He and Colin Barker presented a paper on this at the CBSM Workshop at Hofstra a couple of years back. The insights produced when introducing this theory into the contentious politics language can be lost in the cross-current, but it is theoretically courageous. Krinsky argues that during the workfare debate in New York, political coalitions shifted and language changed, sometimes upsetting traditional political boundaries. In order to make the argument work, he collects an impressive amount of varied types of data to explore statements that actors made during this time period. The result is a tight study that leaves us a lot to think about.