Unionization, Resistance, and Emotions: An Exploration
Private sector unionization has declined dramatically over the past several decades. This dissertation examines private sector union decline through two related but distinct studies. Using a content analysis of 300 cases from the National Labor Relations Board, the first study explores management�...
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| Format: | Others |
| Language: | English English |
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Florida State University
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| Online Access: | http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-4547 |
| Summary: | Private sector unionization has declined dramatically over the past several decades. This dissertation examines private sector union decline through two related but distinct studies. Using a content analysis of 300 cases from the National Labor Relations Board, the first study explores management's strategies of resistance to unionization and regional variation in this resistance. Using the same dataset, the second study investigates whether both movement proponents and movement adversaries use emotions, and if so, how, in the context of unionization movements. It further examines whether the priming of specific emotions by movement proponents and/or adversaries might be a contributing factor to the decline of union election wins. Key findings from the study of management resistance include evidence of widespread management resistance to union threat, and a resistance to union threat that is consistent with a regionally specific threat weakness explanation of movement repression. Key findings from the study of management and employee emotion priming include evidence of widespread emotion priming from both groups, and evidence that the priming of certain key emotions influences election outcomes negatively. Taken together, these studies contribute to the literatures on social movement repression, union decline, and emotions. The dissertation concludes with a review of study limitations and suggestions for future research. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Summer Semester, 2011. === June 13, 2011. === Emotions, Social Movements, Union Repression, Labor Relations === Includes bibliographical references. === Jill Quadagno, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jack Fiorito, University Representative; Daniel Tope, Committee Member. |
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