Technological Choice and Environmental Inequalities: The New England Textile Industry, 1880–1930

There is a wealth of literature about the American cotton textile industry that highlights the centrality of the market to industrial strategy and the importance of specific machines to industrial structure and strategy. Somewhat surprisingly, other forces that shaped the direction of capitalism, particularly locally specific forces, have received little attention. Similarly, the interface between business and the environment, both within and outwith the factory, has been marginalised.² A notable omission is the relationship between individual urban peculiarities, business and the workplace environment that created environmental inequalities between towns and firms, making some places healthier places in which to work