Plurality of Power

In the social sciences, pluralism is a framework of interaction in which groups show sufficient respect and tolerance of each other, that they fruitfully coexist and interact without conflict or assimilation. Pluralism is arguably one of the most important features of modern societies and social groups, and may be a key factor of progress in science, society and economic development.§In a pluralistic society, power and decision-making (and the ownership of the results of exercising power) are more diffused. While power is often characterized as an opposition between domination and resistance, the material culture found at this industrial site demonstrate that power can be shared for the greater good of the community. §Issues surrounding power and agency are explored in regard to three categories of power. §In the first category, the company imposed a system of structural, class-based power that is most visible in hierarchical differences in pay and housing, as well as consumer behavior. §A second category addresses disciplinary activities surrounding health and the human body. The class system extended to discrepancies in the company s regulation of employee health, as observed in medicinal artifacts, disposal patterns of industrial waste, incidence of intestinal parasites, and unequal access to healthcare. In addition, landscape analysis shows how the built environment served as a disciplinary technology to reinforce hegemonic and naturalized class divisions, to regenerate these divisions through symbolic violence and workers daily practices, and to impose self-regulation. §The third ensemble of power relations is pluralistic, heteroracical, and determined by personal identity (e.g., consumer behavior and gender). Individuals drew upon non-economic capital to bolster social status and express identity apart from the corporate hierarchy. §Research methods for the project include GIS-based analysis of the built environment and artifact patterns; the development of a historical ethnography for the town; and archaeological excavations of household refuse excavated from three class-based neighborhoods.