Class unknown : undercover investigations of American work and poverty from the progressive era to the present / Mark Pittenger.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

I.A world of difference: constructing the underclass in progressive America, 1890-1920. Writing class in a world of difference -- II. Between the wars, 1920-1941. Vagabondage and efficiency: the 1920s -- Finding facts: the Great Depression, from the bottom up -- III. The declining significance of class, 1941-1961. War and peace, class and culture -- Crossing new lines: from Gentleman's agreement to Black like me -- IV. Conclusion. Finding the line in postmodern America, 1960-2010.

"Since the Gilded Age, social scientists, middle-class reformers, and writers have left the comforts of their offices to 'pass' as steel workers, coal miners, assembly-line laborers, waitresses, hoboes, and other working and poor people in an attempt to gain a fuller and more authentic understanding of the lives of the working class and the poor. In this first, sweeping study of undercover investigations of work and poverty in America, award-winning historian Mark Pittenger examines how intellectuals were shaped by their experiences with the poor, and how despite their sympathy toward working-class people, they unintentionally helped to develop the contemporary concept of a degraded and 'other' American underclass. While contributing to our understanding of the history of American social thought, Class Unknown offers a new perspective on contemporary debates over how we understand and represent our own society and its class divisions"--Provided by publisher.

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