From Steel to Slots

Casino Capitalism in the Postindustrial City

Chloe E. Taft

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Hardback

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English

Harvard University Press
06 April 2016

Social & cultural anthropology; Urban economics; Sport & leisure industries

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once synonymous with steel. But after the factories closed, the city bet its future on a new industry: casino gambling. On the site of the former Bethlehem Steel plant, thousands of flashing slot machines and digital bells replaced the fires in the blast furnaces and the shift change whistles of the industrial workplace. From Steel to Slots tells the story of a city struggling to make sense of the ways in which local jobs, landscapes, and identities are transformed by global capitalism.

Postindustrial redevelopment often makes a clean break with a city's rusted past. In Bethlehem, where the new casino is industrial-themed, the city's heritage continues to dominate the built environment and infuse everyday experiences. Through the voices of steelworkers, casino dealers, preservationists, immigrants, and executives, Chloe Taft examines the ongoing legacies of corporate presence and urban development in a small city-and their uneven effects.

Today, multinational casino corporations increasingly act as urban planners, promising jobs and new tax revenues to ailing communities. Yet in an industry premised on risk and capital liquidity, short-term gains do not necessarily mean long-term commitments to local needs. While residents often have few cards to play in the face of global capital and private development, Taft argues that the shape economic progress takes is not inevitable, nor must it always look forward. Memories of corporations' accountability to communities persist, and citizens see alternatives for more equitable futures in the layered landscapes all around them.

By: Chloe E. Taft
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 1
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 27mm
Weight: 726g
ISBN: 9780674660496
ISBN 10: 0674660498
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 06 April 2016
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Chloe E. Taft is a Mellon Postdoctoral Associate in the Integrated Humanities in the American Studies Program at Yale University.

Reviews for From Steel to Slots: Casino Capitalism in the Postindustrial City

A highly revealing and intellectually ambitious interpretation of a post-industrial landscape in flux. <i>From Steel to Slots</i> offers a fascinating look at the transformations that have occurred on the site of Bethlehem s once iconic steel industry and its implications for those who live or work in its shadows. This ethnographic account makes unique and important contributions to a range of academic literatures and will become a critical text for those interested in deindustrialization, post-industrial economies, neoliberalism, or casino capitalism. --Christine J. Walley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology