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Using data from a national sample of American workers, the authors develop measures for "prosocial unionism"—the belief that unions contribute to the common good—and use regression analysis to determine its impact on public support for unions and on workers' likelihood of supporting a union in a representation election in their workplace. Results show that the public's support for unions is stronger when the public believes that unions act in the interests of all working people instead of just their members. The analyses also show that workers who believe unions have social benefits are significantly more likely to say they would vote "yes" in a union election than those who do not hold this belief. These findings imply that if unions address political and social justice goals that transcend the workplace, their legitimacy and their success in attracting public support and members may be enhanced and help stem the tide of shrinking union density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

US unions have often been characterized as 'exceptional' in their weakness and conservatism compared to their Western European counterparts. American organized labor is associated with a 'business unionism' philosophy that assumes American workers are only pragmatic and materialistic, seeing their unions as vehicles for improving the terms and conditions of employment at their workplaces. Such an analysis omits the potential power of a belief that unions work to improve society. Applying an experimental vignette design based on a survey of over 1000 employed persons, this article examines whether 'workplace instrumentality' is the only motivation for workers to support unions. The authors consider the likelihood of voting yes in a union representation election to test the efficacy of two less studied predictors – perceiving unions as positively influencing society and perceiving them as facilitating workers' voice in union policies and practices. Logistic regression shows that the most influential beliefs associated with union support were that unions improve terms and conditions of employment for represented workers ('union instrumentality'), that unions positively influence society ('prosocial unionism'), and that unions offer workers substantial influence on union policies and practices ('worker say'). Researchers and union organizing campaigns should consider devoting greater attention to the social benefits of unionism and to union democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace incivility, also called bullying, mobbing, and harassment, is pervasive and takes a high toll on employees. This study draws on 18 in-depth interviews with women in the precarious, low-wage, service sector in jobs such as customer service representative, retail sales, food service, pharmacy technician, and bank teller. Women service workers are a particularly vulnerable group, and yet most research on workplace problems of this type focus on professional women's experience. We find that in this sample, most incivilities came from supervisors, followed by customers and then coworkers. Among supervisors, women were the most common perpetrators, while customer and coworker perpetrators were largely men. The type of incivility varied depending on role: Disparagement was common on the part of supervisors and customers, while coworkers were far more likely to engage in sexual harassment, which was virtually nonexistent among supervisors. Consequences for targets of these incivilities included anxiety, which most had experienced, and income loss. We offer suggestions for future research and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paternalistic forms of labor control have become less viable according to many macro and mid-range analyses. This is true to a point, but it is exaggerated and this exaggeration results, we argue, from common theoretical premises. In the Weberian perspective, paternalism is one of several univocal forms of legitimized authority. The assumption follows that paternalized managerial strategies will be univocally paternalist, and thus will become obsolete as institutional rationalization, and the associated differentiation of forms of authority legitimations, advances. Instead, paternalism remains one element in a multivocal strategic repertoire that presents workers with a variety of rationales and justifications for management actions. To illustrate some of the features of the multivocal employment of paternalism, we present and analyze material from interviews with workers in two secondary labor market firms., The Weberian analysis of paternalism contains two emphases that have become liabilities. First, as a macrotheory of social modernization,(1) it regards paternalism as an anachronism, a form of traditional authority [...]

The spatial rearrangement of women agricultural workers' employment across 380 labor market areas is examined during the period of agricultural transformation in the 1970s. Labor market maps of women's employment changes show regional declines and increases in accord with the dynamics of agricultural industrialization. Case studies selected from the maps demonstrate the gender-specific and locality-specific ramifications of these transformations.

This study examines the spatial rearrangement of women's sectoral employment across 380 labor market areas during the 1970s period of economic restructuring. U.S. labor market maps of women's employment changes are interpreted in the context of deindustrialization and service sector expansion. Case studies selected from the maps demonstrate the gender- and locality-specific ramifications of these transformations. The effect of national economic restructuring on women's work roles is found to be differentially translated into locales, dependent on the sectoral specialization of the labor market area and in accordance with place-specific traditions in the gendered division of labor.

This case study examines the determinants of women's response to opportunities to transfer permanently to high-paying traditionally male plant jobs. Economic factors were a very important motivating force, especially for black women. Preferences for certain work attributes and childhood exposure to typically male tasks increased women's interest to a lesser extent. Efforts to recruit and retain black and economically needy women for these high-paying jobs could substantially improve their economic position and reduce the extreme sex segregation in the jobs.

Objectives Popular responses to the pandemic illustrate ageism's pervasiveness and the extent of collective acquiescence to its newest expressions. We explore these themes by analyzing Twitter reactions to "calculated ageism"—a term we use to refer to a political figure's edict that older adults should sacrifice their lives if it will mitigate the pandemic's economic damage to younger people. Method Using thematic analysis, we examine tweets (n = 188) responding to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick's March 23, 2020, statement that encouraged generational self-sacrifice. Themes that emerged included positions of support or opposition and tweeters' critiques. Results The large majority of tweets—90%—opposed calculated ageism, while only 5% supported it and 5% conveyed no position. Opposition centered on moral critiques, political-economic critiques, assertions of older adults' worth, and public health arguments. Support centered on individual responsibility and patriotism. Discussion While prior research reveals ageism's entrenchment in popular culture, our study finds that it has limits and identifies the reasons underlying them. The most common reasons for opposing calculated ageism center on its immorality and on its privileging of the economic interests of the powerful few over the many, patterns suggesting that the boundaries of ageism are influenced by core beliefs about fairness. They also are shaped by a bedrock conviction that older lives have value. This intergenerational solidarity could be leveraged to reduce ageism during the pandemic and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When social scientists argue that "families" reproduce and sometimes challenge gender and sexual norms, they tend to refer to biological, cisgender, and heterosexual families. We consider how one alternative family form—stepfamilies—might, like gay and lesbian families, challenge these norms. Interviews with 20 biological and stepparents reveal that whereas biological parents held relatively intense feelings about their children's gender and sexual conformity, stepparents were indifferent and far less inclined to police their children's behavior. We conclude that stepfamilies, similar to gay and lesbian families, might be a source of less rigid expectations and greater liberty than biological families, and we consider the implications for the future of traditional gender and sexual norms in the face of the proliferation of alternative family forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]