- From Steel to Slots: Casino Capitalism in the Post Industrial City by Chloe Taft
The turn of the twenty-first century witnessed the decline of much of what was left of industrial America. Social changes, along with new innovations, together transformed the old structure based on industrial output into a system based [End Page 403] more on information and service. This transformation occurred in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where a tsunami of casino capitalism overtook the city and the decayed Bethlehem Steel site. For those of us who lived there at that time, it was easy to feel overwhelmed. The change was far and away more than those caught up in it could comprehensively see, study, analyze, or recount.
Bethlehem Steel seems to be a model of the transition from an industrial to a postindustrial society. In From Steel to Slots: Casino Capitalism in the Post Industrial City, Chloe Taft describes and analyzes this transformation in a case study of Bethlehem Steel. Don't expect easy answers. She argues that the transition of Bethlehem from an industrial center to casino capitalism "is a complicated narrative" of economic rebirth that "is not necessarily a firm break from the past, nor is it inevitable." What emerges from Taft's analysis is a "blurred understanding of past present and future" (4). Overall her narrative is an expression of loss and perhaps betrayal by unrelenting historical forces.
Part of south Bethlehem is a time capsule stocked with the crumbling infrastructure remnants of "The Steel," populated with the memories of those whose lives depended on it. This is what stands out most in the story. Taft does her finest work when portraying the conflict between the old guard, represented by former steelworkers, and the newcomers, representing the casino interest. Former steelworkers were burdened by the sentimental memory of what once was. Taft notes this at a ceremony for the opening of the casino. A former steelworker spoke: "Bernie subverted the celebration to instead emphasize his grief at the plant's closure." Even if you are unfamiliar with social change and the pain that often comes with it, Bernie's words and feelings should not have surprised anyone.
This transition helped to create greater inequality, visible in the disruption of Bethlehem's labor markets. The displacement of industrial labor has intensified the gap between returns to capital and returns to labor. On the other hand, it is also possible that technology's displacement of workers may, in aggregate, result in a net increase in safe and rewarding jobs. Labor may still be a factor, but based more on talent and ability than physical labor. This will lead to market segmentation with "low skill/low pay" and "high skill/high pay," which in turn will lead to an increase in social tensions. In the short run at least, what's left is the memory of a once thriving, once dominant, once seemingly permanent industrial steelmaker synonymous with a city.
For me, what stands out in Taft's analysis in this transformation is the view from the position of its victims—blue-collar America. There is something disturbing about the sense of loss and hope between those caught up in [End Page 404] the past and those trying to manage in an uncertain future—the transition between hope and aspirations and the reality of a casino capitalism. It may be that I am somewhat cynical about what appears to me to be a blind worship of the past. Still, I cannot help but be moved by a book that so compellingly tells a story of loss and change.
Bethlehem, according to Taft, has always been a player in the global marketplace beginning with its founding in 1741 by Moravian Church missionaries. As the headquarters for the Moravians' North American operations, the Church played an influential role in the development of the city. Similarly, Bethlehem Steel was a global company that just happened to be located in Bethlehem. Because they were both closely connected to the city, in turn they...