Industrial Man

Industrial Man (1973) by Tom Burns – Sold by Crappy Old Books

What really makes the modern worker tick? In Industrial Man, Tom Burns dives headfirst into the smoky factories, fluorescent-lit offices, and hierarchical power games of post-war British industry to find out. First published in 1973 by Penguin Books, this sociological study is a sharp, surprisingly readable analysis of how people behave, adapt, resist, and conform inside the concrete-and-steel machines we call organisations.

Drawing on real-world research and a keen eye for human detail, Burns explores everything from management structures and shop floor tensions to morale, motivation, and good old-fashioned clock-watching. This is not just a book about business—it’s a snapshot of class, ambition, and identity in the industrial age.

Condition: Dog-eared, underlined, and possibly dropped down the back of a filing cabinet in 1982. But the insights? Still uncomfortably relevant.

Crappy Old Books: Because sometimes yesterday’s sociology makes today’s HR manual look like light fiction.

Keep browsing: See more Non-Fiction books Other books by Tom Burns