Breaking the heartland: creating the precariat in the US lower rust belt

Abstract

This article uses the context of the struggle over antiunion legislation in Indiana to explore the decomposition of the New Deal working class, and the emergence of a more precarious class of workers in the lower rust belt of the United States Midwest. Through an examination of workers in three economic sectors in Southern Indiana (consumer durables, mineral extraction, and light or high-tech manufacturing), the article traces the historical processes by which wageworkers in this region have been dispossessed of workplace rights and security, and how worker power has diminished. This decline of worker’s rights and labor market security has brought about the composition of a new, more precarious class of workers. The emergence of this precariat is changing the political, social, and cultural landscape of the region of the country long known as the ‘heartland’.

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