Sorting Letters, Sorting Lives

Linda Benbow examines the organizational culture and various levels of diversity found in an urban United States Postal Service mail processing facility. She shows how employee perceptions of social differences and their interactions with coworkers contributes to their identity and work life within the organization. Painting detailed portraits of race, social class, and gender in a mail processing facility, Benbow looks at ways employees from different backgrounds relate to one another, identifying the issues and occasions that provoke conflict, the ways that participants view one another, and the forces and strategies that mitigate and conciliate conflicts.