Japanese Working Class Lives is an ethnographic study of the lives of Japanese workers in small firms and examines their experiences of working life, leisure and education. This case study of the Shintani Metals Company illustrates the ways in which employees' lives extend beyond their work....

Jeff Torlina challenges the conventional wisdom about the attitudes of blue-collar men toward their work. Torlina highlights the voices of pipe fitters, welders, carpenters, painters, locomotive assemblers, and factory workers to reveal the complexities-and advantages-of working-class life. This...