"Labour history or labor history is a sub-discipline of social history which specializes in the history of the working classes and the labour movement."
Examining the role of work and labor movements throughout history.
Industrial Revolution: A period when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation had a profound effect on socioeconomic and cultural conditions in Britain and subsequently spread throughout Europe and North America.
Trade Unions: Groups of workers who come together to achieve common goals of higher pay, better working conditions, and more benefits through collective bargaining with their employers.
Child Labor: A practice of employing children, usually under the age of 14, in hazardous or exploitative working conditions that impede their education, health, and development.
Working-Class Movements: A broad range of popular movements that emerged in response to the exploitation and oppression of working-class people by the capitalist class, including anarchism, communism, syndicalism, and socialism.
Strikes: A collective action by workers to withhold labor in order to protest against unfair treatment, low wages, poor working conditions, or other grievances.
Labor Movements in America: A history of the struggles and achievements of workers and their organizations in the United States, beginning with the colonial era and continuing into the present day.
Labor Legislation: A body of laws and regulations passed by governments to protect workers' rights, promote more equitable labor conditions, and resolve disputes between employees and employers.
International Labor Movements: A network of workers' organizations, including trade unions, workers' parties, and social movements, that advocate for workers' rights and social justice on a global scale.
Race, Gender, and Labor: An exploration of the intersections between labor exploitation and oppression based on race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, age, and other social identities.
Globalization and Labor: A study of the economic, political, and social transformations linked to the growth of global capitalism and how it affects the conditions and struggles of workers worldwide.
"The central concerns of labour historians include industrial relations and forms of labour protest, the rise of mass politics, and the social and cultural history of the industrial working classes."
"Labour historians chiefly focus on urban or industrial societies, which distinguishes it from rural history."
"Labour historians may concern themselves with issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and other factors besides class."
"Labour history developed in tandem with the growth of a self-conscious working-class political movement in many Western countries in the latter half of the nineteenth century."
"Whilst early labour historians were drawn to protest movements such as Luddism and Chartism."
"The focus of labour history was often on institutions, chiefly the labour unions and political parties."
"Exponents of this institutional approach included Sidney and Beatrice Webb."
"The work of the Webbs, and other pioneers of the discipline, was marked by optimism about the capacity of the labour movement to effect fundamental social change and a tendency to see its development as a process of steady, inevitable and unstoppable progress."
"Early work in the field was 'designed to service and celebrate the Labour movement.'"
"Labour historians concern themselves with issues of industrial relations and forms of labour protest such as strikes and lock-outs."
"Labour historians focus on the rise of mass politics, especially the rise of socialism."
"Labour historians delve into the social and cultural history of the industrial working classes."
"The growth of a self-conscious working-class political movement involved the rise of mass politics."
"Labour historians may concern themselves with issues beyond the labour movement, such as gender, race, ethnicity, and other factors besides class."
"The work of the Webbs was marked by optimism about the capacity of the labour movement to effect fundamental social change."
"Labour historians chiefly focus on urban or industrial societies."
"Labour history distinguishes itself from rural history, focusing more on urban or industrial societies."
"The focus of labour history was often on institutions such as the labour unions and political parties."
"The work of the Webbs and other pioneers saw the development of the labour movement as a process of steady, inevitable, and unstoppable progress."