Escaping the traditional focus on Paris, the author examines the
divergent political identities of two occupational groups in Lyon, metal
and silk workers, who, despite having lived and worked in the same city,
developed different patterns of political practices and bore distinct
political identities. This book also examines in detail the way that
gender relations influenced industrial change, skill, and political
identity. Combining empirical data collected in French archives with
social science theory and methods, this study argues that political
identities were shaped by the intersection of the prevailing political
climate with the social relations surrounding work in specific
industrial settings.