History 474B

Devine

Fall 2014

Study Questions for Rivethead by Ben Hamper

1. In the Introduction, Michael Moore discusses the role of class in America, and states that because he and Ben were, “the sons of factory workers,” they, “were never supposed to get out, and you were never supposed to hear our voices.”(xv) How does “hearing” Hamper’s voice provide a new understanding of factory work and life in working-class America during the 1970s and 1980s?

2. Hamper describes a “cycle” of life beginning with birthright as a shop rat, educational segregation, and GM’s dominance as the only real employment option in Flint. Which part of this cycle is most responsible for what happened in Flint – the family, educational system, or the corporation? Who does Hamper see as being mostly responsible? Is it the individual? Or the institutions the individual must contend with?

3. Is Flint purely a “company town” where workers have little choice but to bow to GM’s wishes, or did “shop rats” like Hamper rely too much on GM as a type of insurance policy, expecting that it would always be there?

4. “That pay stub was like a concrete pair of loafers” (Hamper, 48) What is the author getting at here?

5. During the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, miners, steelworkers, and factory workers were often called “wage slaves” – they were paid, but both their status and working conditions were arguably little better than slavery. Could the workers in Flint be described as “wage slaves,” or middle-class employees who worked for wages? Or, were they “slaves” to their good wages? How might they describe themselves?

6. If a blue collar worker makes more than a white collar worker, does that make him “middle class” or is he still “working class”?

7. What was Ben Hamper ultimately battling while he was working on the line? The GM bosses? His own demons? Boredom? “The system”?

8. Why do you think the GM bosses diverted their eyes from some of the workers’ more egregious behavior, i.e. drinking, drug use, and sleeping on the job? Was it wise of them to do so?

9. Given the descriptions of “doubling up” of jobs, Hamper’s writing ability, Bud’s college work, and Dale’s pursuit of farming, how “unskilled” was the labor force at GM? Why didn’t GM do a better job of recognizing and employing the latent talent of the workforce in its pursuit of quality instead of trying to motivate them by introducing Howie Makum the “quality cat”?

10. Why did the guys on the line and the GM execs and middle managers simply fail to understand each other? Could anything have closed this gap?

11. How is the United Auto Workers Union portrayed in the story? Was it there for the benefit of the workers, or the corporation, or for some other purpose?

12. Would Ben Hamper have been better off if had more liberty or more equality? Did the government and the safety net it provided help Hamper or harm him?

13. Something was definitely amiss in the U.S. auto industry during the 1970s and 1980s. What do you believe were the industry’s most significant problems and why was little done to address them?

14. How might one make the case that the auto industry’s troubles reflected larger problems plaguing American society during the 1970s and early 1980s?

15. Are the workers in this book – Hamper included – heroic? Tragic? Pathetic? Part of the so-called Silent Majority? Something else?