Book Review: Niagara Falling

Rural Sociology

Niagara Falling: Globalization in a Small Town, by Carol D. Miller, Lanham MD: Lexington Books, 2007. 134 pp. $50.00 (cloth). ISBN: 0-7391- 2168-5.

Small towns across America seem to be under siege by forces beyond their control.Social change may be particularly painful in traditional "company towns" because the historically paternalistic relationships between towns and their industrial employers are breaking down. Workers and families are facing the loss of housing subsidies, job security, handsome benefit packages, civic engagement by their employer, and encouragement to make a lifelong commitment to a job.The demise of such codependent relationships may not be all bad, but the transition out of them may be difficult.Car ol Miller argues in Niagara Falling that corporate withdrawal from these provisions breaches an implied social compact between industrial employer and worker, a compact that workers are loathe to part with. She pins the "blame" for the breach on international globalization forces and capital mobility.

The case study that Miller presents is a scenario familiar to rural sociologists. First, a small town in America depends on a single manufacturing employer for sustenance. Then, global competition and economic pressure on the employer compel renegotiation of the benefits upon which workers have come to depend. Finally, increased competition in the global economy compels the employer to restructure its work force, close its doors, and/or sell out to a (sometimes overseas) competitor. The perceived high quality of life realized under the auspices of the original manufacturing employer is never recovered. What remains is an aging town with limited resources and unhappy residents.

Niagara, WI, population 1,805 in 2005, with 20 percent of its male employment in paper manufacturing (www.city-data.com), is one such town and it is the focus of Miller's study. She first chronicles historical changes in this town and then turns to its residents' perceptions of their quality of life after the town's paternalistic relationship with the paper mill has broken down under the strain of changing ownership four times between 1975 and 2005. Using cross-sectional survey research methods and straightforward statistical analysis, Miller points out the differences in perceptions of quality of life between long-term and short-term residents. She also compares the perceptions of residents who were and were not employed by the paper mill. Moreover, she analyzes responses to open-ended questions. Of particular interest to rural sociologists attracted to the longitudinal study of social capital may be Miller's analysis of the decline in Niagara's social capital in the context of changes in paper-mill ownership and civic involvement. Using historical data, Miller argues that said decline was instigated by the cessation of the mill-initiated and mill-sustained social structure of clubs and organizations.

The major strength of Niagara Falling is its century-long story of a small town and its mill in historical context-with supporting anecdotal recall. Readers with a penchant toward research likely will walk away with new researchable questions about mill towns. Why was this town unable to recover from the loss of its original mill owners? What is the source of the residents' deep resentment? Is the anger (expressed mostly by long-term resident respondents) based on a comparison of present-day conditions to the memories of the past? Do residents simply miss the feeling of financial security? Why did the workers and residents ignore the environmental degradation caused by the mill?

Niagara Falling also may be a useful addition to course reading, particularly for undergraduates in upper-level sociology or communitydevelopment courses. Its statistical analysis is fundamental. There are discussions of globalization, social capital, and how the paper mill impacted the natural environment. The relationship between the town or its residents or the workers and the paper mill can be viewed from both the conflict and the functionalist perspectives. Lively discussion could ensue.

The book's major weakness is its failed attempt to explain the social changes experienced in Niagara. Miller wants us to believe that "globalization and foreign ownership of this manufacturing enterprise is not perceived [by town residents] as good for the workers or the community and the size and scope of the multinational corporation has translated into a decline in community support in this small northeastern Wisconsin city" (p. 32). Yet Miller presents no evidence to support these claims.

While the respondents to the survey complained about the declining quality of life, the lack of job security, and reduced benefits (particularly compared to what was provided by the first mill owner), no resident mentioned "globalization" or "foreign ownership" as problems for their town. Nor was the "size and scope" of the series ofmill owners pointed to as a reason for discontent. These connections were not made by the survey respondents. Miller even quotes respondents who took pains to exonerate the foreign owner at the time of the survey, headquartered in Finland; for instance: "Stora Enso [the fourth owner-based in Finland] is no worse or no better at it, than what I am seeing, what Consolidated [the third owner- based in the US] did" (p. 45). Those two owners were significantly different with respect to the key factors: "size and scope" and "foreign ownership." There simply are no convincing linkages made between globalization and residents' perceptions of the quality of life in Niagara. That does not mean that there are none, only that Miller's argument does not exceed speculation.

Postscript

Since the writing of Niagara Falling in 2005, Niagara has suffered a severe blow to its economy. On December 21, 2007, Stora Enso NorthAmerica, the mill's Finland-based owner, sold the Niagara papermill, along with six other small-town mills, to NewPage Corporation, headquartered in Miamisburg, Ohio (http://www.storaenso.com/ 2007). In July of 2008, NewPage permanently shut down the Niagara mill, let go all of its 319 employees, and gave the reason that business was down because advertisers (who tend to buy a lot of the type of paper produced by the Niagara mill) were dealing with an uncertain economy (http://www.leadertelegram.com/story-news 2008). Perhaps now, Niagara has fallen.

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