Richard Edwards (professor)

Edwards received his BA in economics from Grinnell College.[1] Later, he received his PhD from Harvard University.[2] In 1979 Edwards published the book Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the Twentieth Century, which emerged from his dissertation research. In a review of the book published in the journal Organizational Studies, the work was described as "a contribution to understanding the social relations of production in their own right."[3] Another review published in Social Science Quarterly wrote that the book offered "a salient explanation of the evolution of management and job structures over the last 150 years."[4]

Early in his career he held positions at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.[1] Edwards served as the chair of the economics department at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst,[5] teaching at the faculty from 1974 to 1991. From 1977 to 1978 he was a Fellow in Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study of Princeton University.[6] He later moved to the University of Kentucky, where he became the dean of Arts and Sciences.[5] He then moved to the University of Nebraska to become the school's Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, as well as serve as a professor of economics.[5] During this time Edwards led the team that founded the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management.[7] In November 2011 Edwards was named the director of Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska.[5] He is now professor emeritus at Nebraska.[8]

In 1982 Edwards co-authored the book Segmented Work, Divided Workers. A review of the work stated that "The development of segmentation theory has reached its highest level with the publication of this work."[9] In a review of his 1985 co-authored textbook Understanding Capitalism: Competition, Command, and Change, stated that the authors evoked a "real-world capitalism" that differed from their contemporaries.[10] From 1987 to 1988 he held the German Marshall Fund Research Fellowship.[11]

A study published in 1989 ranked Edwards as one of the 100 most cited economists in the United States.[12] A review of his 1993 book Rights at Work: Employment Relations in the Post-Union Era, commented that the book highlighted the coming shift away from union-driven industries in the US and the need to plan for the consolidation of worker's rights in the absence of large-scale union organizing.[13] Edwards' work has received honors including the Leslie Hewes Award. He is one of the leaders of the Homestead Records Project, a consortium of institutions including the University of Nebraska, Homestead National Monument, the National Archives and Records Administration, and several private firms.[5]

In 2013 Edwards contributed an essay to a Congressional volume prepared for the inauguration of President Barack Obama.[14] In 2015 he published the book Natives of a Dry Place: Stories of Dakota Before the Oil Boom, and in 2017 he was one of six authors on the book Atlas of Nebraska.[2] That year he also published the book Homesteading the Plains: Toward a New History.[15] In 2023 Edwards' released his book First Migrants: How Black Homesteaders' quest for land and freedom heralded America's Great Migration, the result of a five-year research project into black homesteaders in the American mid-west.[8]

• Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the Twentieth Century (1979)[3]
• Segmented Work, Divided Workers (1982)[9]
• Understanding Capitalism: Competition, Command, and Change (1985)[10]
• Rights at Work: Employment Relations in the Post-Union Era (1993)[13]
• Natives of a Dry Place: Stories of Dakota Before the Oil Boom (2015)
• Atlas of Nebraska (2017)[2]
• Homesteading the Plains: Toward a New History (2017)[15]
• First Migrants: How Black Homesteaders' quest for land and freedom heralded America's Great Migration (2023)[8]