Abstract

"Extractive Company Towns"

Volodymyr Kulikov, University of Texas, Austin (vlkulikov@gmail.com)

The paper presents my findings from analyzing the economy, power dynamics, social structures, and environmental issues in extractive company towns. It will discuss company towns as a global phenomenon and zoom in on a few cases from the United States, Russia, and China. The local case studies will be based on primary sources, including archival materials. A systematic literature review will be used to present these cases in a broader geographic and temporal context.
The first Industrial Revolution required large amounts of natural resources, specifically coal and iron ore. Many of these resources were found in sparsely populated areas but required an extensive workforce to extract them from the earth. To meet labor demands, companies created settlements like coal mining towns in Eastern Ukraine, Butte in Montana for copper, and Texon in Texas for oil. Company towns became emblematic of the industrial age, with settlements for extracting enterprises serving as a novel iteration of European colonization in Latin America, Central Asia, Oceania, and Eastern Europe during the 20th century. Academic literature has defined a set of characteristics of company towns. They are often located far from major cities and employ primarily migrant workers. They are dominated by a single industry, and the company that established the town performs municipal functions. It is also responsible for building and maintaining most economic, social, and cultural infrastructure and typically runs company-owned stores. The development of the towns follows pre-conceived plans, which geographically segregate various layers of the population. The company owns or controls the housing stock, a source of leveraging power over its employees and their families.
The paper will examine how the extraction of natural resources dictates the life cycle of these towns and shapes the relationships between businesses, workers, the state, and nature. It will investigate the impact of technologies on the lives of workers and residents in company towns. Additionally, the paper will delve into the responses of key players to emerging environmental and social issues.