The notion of “Quality” has pervaded business, economic, and work life throughout the twentieth century–animating business people, consultants, policymakers, scientists, and workers, among others, to look and fight for such things as “quality of (work) life,” “quality work,” “quality control,” “quality assurance” (of products and commodities), or “air and water quality.” Some have even argued that after World War II, the social and economic program of American liberal capitalism itself shifted from being primarily concerned with matters of “quantity” towards matters of “quality.”
This roundtable will address the historical evolution of “quality” as a key notion in the relationship between business and labor in the twentieth-century United States. How, why, and when did business and labor become invested in the idea of ‘quality’? How did both (try to) define what ‘quality’ is, and what were they trying to achieve? Quality has both instigated conflicts between business and labor and fostered their collaboration, and we intend to scrutinize the extent to which the politics of "quality" have benefited business interests and how this, in turn, may have affected labor. In this context, we will examine the key paradox of addressing quality—namely, the use of quantitative methods to define and measure an inherently qualitative notion. We will conclude with potential implications of this history for contemporary concerns, ranging from the regulation of our commodities and natural environments to worker wellbeing and occupational mental health.
The Roundtable Format
At the beginning of the roundtable discussion, each participant will do a close reading of one artifact from their research – an image, a document, a physical object, etc.– which highlights how concerns about “quality” have played a central role in twentieth-century history of business and labor. We will proceed in chronological order. First, Wei will examine the ideology of “quality” work under Scientific Management starting in the 1920s. Then, Bachmann will analyze how, during the 1950s, scientific investigators of “human relations in industry” established the (re)creation of “quality jobs” as a therapeutic against the detrimental effects of technological change on worker wellbeing. Next, Dennis will unpack how “qualitative liberalism” came to define debates about environmental and occupational health in the 1960s. Finally, Marino will explore how a purportedly shared concern about “quality” products unified union and business leaders around a common goal as they sought to address the widening trade deficit with Japan in the 1980s.
Jiemin Tina Wei, Harvard University
"Producing Quality Work: Scientific Management’s Struggle to Create a Working Life of Efficiency and Satisfaction"
Richard A. Bachmann, University of Michigan
"Quality on the Line: Adjusting Man to Machines at General Motors, 1949-59"
Warren Dennis, Boston University
"The Effluent Society: Qualitative Liberalism and the Shaping of the Clean Air Act"
Julia Marino, The Ohio State University
"Quality as a Panacea: The UAW, the Big Three, and the Model of Japanese Products in the 1980s"