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Norma Rae and Taylorism Norma Rae, stars Sally Field, Beau Bridges and Ron Liebman. It was directed by Martin Ritt who was known for making socially conscious films about working class struggles and labor unions. It was filmed in 1979, when many American jobs were being sent overseas and Americans were facing economic uncertainty and a crippling recession. The film is a story about a single mother who works in a textile factory in a small southern Baptist community who is frustrated by the unfair treatment by the factory and begins to organize a labor union. Martin Ritt effectively uses the setting of the textile factory to illustrate the points of Scientific Management developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the later decades of the nineteenth century and the stratification of class and gender. The movie takes place during the summer of 1978 and begins with Norma Rae on a work break. During this scene, we are introduced to her mother who also works at the factory. The factory is very noisy and has a very controlled atmosphere. The mother does not respond to Norma’s voice and is taken to the company physician. They are both told that her condition will go away by the doctor who does not seem to be very compassi