Reveals the deep, historical roots of public distrust in former mining areas in the US, shedding new light on the corrosive feedback loops that persist today.
In Company Towns, Elizabeth Mitchell Elder examines the long-lasting political legacies of mining-company dominance in the Midwest and Appalachia. While the economic consequences of deindustrialization are well-known, Elder shifts the focus to a more insidious problem: the political dysfunction that took root long before the mines shut down.
Drawing on historical and administrative data, Elder shows that the coal industry hindered the growth of local government capacity in the places where it was dominant. Mining companies also engaged in outright corruption to shape local governments, practices which local elites then carried forward. When mining companies withdrew, they left behind not just economic decline, but local governments ill-equipped to govern.
These patterns have had enduring consequences for public life. Elder shows how these historical experiences have fueled a broader cynicism toward government, in which citizens expect little from public institutions and doubt the usefulness of elections. Company Towns underscores the consequences of corporate dominance for state capacity, public opinion, and democratic accountability today.
By:
Elizabeth Mitchell Elder
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780226844534
ISBN 10: 0226844536
Series: Chicago Studies in American Politics
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 09 March 2026
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Chapter 1. Politics and Power in the Company Town Part I. Governments Under Industry Dominance and Decline Chapter 2. Land, Wealth, and Labor in Coal Country Chapter 3. Coal and Capacity Chapter 4. Corruption and Control Part II. After the Company Town: Accountability and Trust Chapter 5. Asking for Better? Attitudes and Beliefs Today Chapter 6. The Elephant in the Room Chapter 7. Traveling Beyond Coal Towns Acknowledgments Appendix: Supplemental Information on Survey Methods Index
Elizabeth Mitchell Elder is a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Her work has been published in the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, among others.
Reviews for Company Towns: Industry Power and the Historical Foundations of Public Mistrust
“Company Towns examines how the coal industry’s dominance stunted the development of local government and eroded trust in big institutions, with effects on political attitudes that endure today. Examining local phenomena from a century ago is extremely difficult, and data are scarce, but Elder’s entrepreneurial approach produces a compelling account of how coal companies influenced the development of local governance. A powerful story that’s highly relevant to American politics.” -- Sarah Anzia | author of ""Local Interests: Politics, Policy, and Interest Groups in US City Governments"" “This is a brilliant and innovative study of how corporate power—in this case, in the form of company towns—shapes weak and corrupt local governance, fosters a lack of accountability, and contributes to public mistrust of government institutions. Writ large, Elder’s argument is highly relevant for broader contemporary debates on the links between the growing concentration of economic power and the weakening of democratic participation.” -- John Gaventa | Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex
