Trucking used to be one of the best working-class jobs in the United States. Drawing on more than 100 in-depth interviews and years of extensive observation, this book explains how this massive degradation in the quality of work has occurred, and how companies achieve a compliant and dedicated workforce despite it.
“Steve Viscelli’s The Big Rig is a remarkable book. It combines gripping fine-grained ethnographic accounts of the lived reality of long-haul truck driving in the United States today with a compelling analysis of the macro-structural conditions in which those lives are lived and an historical account of the political economic forces that generated those conditions. These intersecting analyses generate powerful insights into two of the most fundamental questions about the nature of inequality in the United States today: Where do so many bad jobs come from, and why do people put up with them?”—Erik Olin Wright, author of Envisioning Real Utopias
“This riveting account shows how truck drivers—seeking the American dream—end up being harmed by changes in government policy and business practices. The book is a vivid and readable ethnography. It is smart and well-informed. Excellent for a wide range of courses including “Introduction to Sociology.” Highly recommended!”—Annette Lareau, author of Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life
"Based on a terrific amount of research, including over one hundred interviews and a six-month stint of participant observation—personally logging thousands of miles crisscrossing the country in an 18-wheeler—Viscelli debunks popular stereotypes about truckers and effectively compels the reader to empathize with their plight."—Christine Williams, author of Inside Toyland: Working, Shopping, and Social Inequality
"This is a powerful and important book that brings clear insights into some of the machinations of contemporary American capitalism." -- Shane Hamilton, University of York
