Deserting the Superstore: Everyday Agency and Moral Economy in Retail Work

Corporate retail chains, like Walmart and Target, are the largest employers of working-class Americans. And yet, this class of workers is rarely examined as political agents, in contrast to union workers or government employees. What is often presumed about retail workers—that they steal from their employers, are frequently absent for shifts, and present lazy attitudes—is seen as reflective of the personal character of these workers.

In Deserting the Superstore, Noah Shuster explores the political agency and power of corporate retail chains employees. He argues these employees are politically aware and politically active but tend to direct their efforts towards disobedience and desertion rather than reform. Through over two dozen interviews, Shuster presents narratives of corporate retail employees experiences of their work and how they take action to attain and preserve dignity in the workplace. This study finds retail workers articulating values that are contrary to capitalist ideology and that encouragingly point towards the possibility of a post-capitalist future among the U.S.’s post-industrial working class.

Noah Shuster is Guest Professor of Economic and Public Policy at Sarah Lawrence College.

Noah Shuster is Guest Professor of Economic and Public Policy at Sarah Lawrence College.