Making a postmodern turn: Re-creating community cultural capital during economic restructurings

After Whirlpool Corporation officials acquired Maytag Corporation in 2006, Maytag operations in Newton, Iowa, the birthplace of Maytag and former home to Maytag headquarters office and a long-standing manufacturing plant, were subsequently closed. With the closings, Newton residents encounter a double victimization. In addition to losing the community's primary employer and tax base contributor, residents lost a primary source of community culture for over 100 years. This study examines residents' practices in recreating community cultural capital -- Newton's collective identities, senses of place, and general cultural ways -- following local Maytag closings. Along with focusing on the interplay between structure and agency during the re-creation of community culture, I examine Newton's post-Maytag transition as a community that is making a 'postmodern turn' due to residents' reliance on new methods of sustainability that reflects an emergence of a new stage of capitalism in Newton. In particular, I will explore the cultural consequences of Newton's postmodern turn and the implications of these cultural changes for rebuilding community sustainability as a whole.