Date of Award

2001

Degree Name

Sociology

College

College of Liberal Arts

Type of Degree

M.A.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Lynda Ann Ewen

Second Advisor

Julia Fox

Third Advisor

Kenneth Ambrose

Abstract

Portsmouth, Ohio, is an Appalachian city with a long history as a member of the U.S. manufacturing production hierarchy with a large working class population. Its largest manufacturing employers were shoe and steel companies. Historically, Portsmouth depended on manufacturing jobs for its economic survival. During the late 3 I 970s and early 1980s, Portsmouth's manufacturing base was diminished due to the deindustrialization process. This structural transformation affected the total population involved in the manufacturing jobs and yielded a city that depended on outside forces for its economic livelihood. Portsmouth moved into a state of dependent deindustrialization and community strain. When manufacturing jobs left, the population decreased and jobs with good pay and benefits declined. Unemployment, persistent poverty, and homelessness grew. What was left was a decaying, jobless population suffering from what this study defines as community strain. The working classes, those working in shoe and steel manufacturing, were most affected by the structural transformation of the deindustrialization process and subsequent community strain. Portsmouth is an urban Appalachian area lagging behind the rest of the state in terms of employment, wages, and education since 1930. Currently, Portsmouth is developing what this analysis defines as coping mechanisms as it increasingly becomes dependent on outside sources for its economy under community strain

Subject(s)

Portsmouth (Ohio) -- Economic conditions.

Deindustrialization -- Portsmouth (Ohio).

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